ARCHIVE Nº 012·Curated wing · 西山经·WESTERN RANGE
Textual source · 《山海经·西山经》
Realms, signal values and guardian matches are creative interpretations, not claims made by the source.
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《山海经·西山经》：「阴山……有兽焉，其状如狸而白首，名曰天狗，其音如榴榴，可以御凶。」
AI-assisted contemporary artwork, not a reconstruction of an ancient illustration.
On Mount Yin lives a beast like a wild cat with a white head, whose cry wards off evil. Tian Gou is the earliest firewall — it chases nothing; it simply stands there, and malice walks around it.
You need not chase every threat. You only need to stand in front of what you protect.
Some evils, seeing you still standing there, simply turn away.
Textual source · 《山海經·西山經》
The Tian Gou of Mount Yin has a white head and is compared to a li, rather than described simply as a domestic dog. The text supplies an imitated cry and a protective function against misfortune. Name, appearance, and function are separate clues; translating the name as 'heavenly dog' does not settle its anatomy.
This entry contains no scene of swallowing the sun or moon and no long-nosed mountain ascetic. Comparisons with other Tian Gou or Japanese tengu traditions need their own contexts. The site's protection motif draws on the passage, while promises made in fictional character dialogue are not practical guarantees.