Houtu

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title: "Houtu" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["taoist-deities", "chinese-goddesses", "earth-goddesses", "four-heavenly-ministers", "classic-of-mountains-and-seas"] description: "Chinese deity of the deep earth" topic_path: "geography/china" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houtu" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Chinese deity of the deep earth ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Chinese"]

Field	Value
title	Houtu
pic	后土皇地祗.jpg
piccap	Painting of Goddess Houtu with attendant in White Cloud Temple of Beijing China
c	后土
l	Queen of the Earth
p	Hòutǔ
mi
ci
kana	こうど
romaji	Kōdo
kanji	后土
hangul	후토
hanja	后土
rr	Huto
mr	Hut'o
::

| title = Houtu | pic = 后土皇地祗.jpg | piccap = Painting of Goddess Houtu with attendant in White Cloud Temple of Beijing China | c = 后土 | l = Queen of the Earth | p = Hòutǔ | w = | mi = | y = | ci = | poj = | oc-zz = | oc-bs = | kana = こうど | romaji = Kōdo | kanji = 后土 | hangul = 후토 | hanja = 后土 | rr = Huto | mr = Hut'o Hòutǔ () or Hòutǔshén (), also known as Hòutǔ Niángniáng (in Chinese either , Aoshen or ), otherwise called Dimǔ () or Dimǔ Niángniáng (), is the deity of all land and earth in Chinese religion and mythology. Houtu is the overlord of all the Tudigongs ("Lord of Local Land"), Sheji ("the State"), Shan Shen ("God of Mountains"), City Gods ("God of Local City"), and landlord gods worldwide.

In Taoism, Houtu is one of the Four Heavenly Ministers, which are four of the highest-ranking gods in Taoism.

Role

Houtu was originally a male earth god in early Chinese mythology, later absorbed into Taoism as one of the Four Heavenly Ministers. Over time, the earth goddess Dimǔ emerged, and the name "Houtu" came to refer to all earth deities.

However, in folk customs, Dimǔ is not called Houtu. People seem to intentionally distinguish between Dimǔ and Houtu, and "Houtu" is often used to refer to male earth deities, even though "Houtu" is also a name for Dimǔ. Furthermore, in some historical records, Houtu is sometimes not synonymous with Dimǔ, but retains its original identity as a male earth god.

In early mythology

According to early Chinese classics Zuo Zhuan (late 4th century BC), Book of Rites and Classic of Mountains and Seas, Houtu is the son of Gonggong, being able to control the flood by installing mountains of Earth. He is also the assistant god to one of the Great Five Emperors, the Huang Di, being the god of the Earth element in the Wuxing system.

In early myths Gonggong also was related to the first Tudigong, his son who was appointed as a god of the soil by Zhuanxu.

In Taoism

In Taoism, Houtu is one of the Four Heavenly Ministers, along with Jade Emperor, Gouchen Emperor and Ziwei Emperor. In some Taoist scripts, another two gods, Changsheng Emperor and Qinghua Emperor (青华大帝), are added to constitute "Six Heavenly Ministers" (六御). The Daochang of Houtu is at Mount Jiuhua.

Due to the belief that Tian (sky) represents yang and Di (earth) represents yin, most people believe Houtu is a female deity.

In Buddhism

Some scholars link Houtu to the Buddhist goddess Bhumi, which is the personification of Earth.

Worship

Houtu was first worshipped by Emperor Wen of Han (in Fenyin County, modern-day Wanrong County, Shanxi) and by Emperor Wu of Han in 113 BC.

Yellow River Map

Houtu is featured in some versions of the myth of the Great Flood of China: Yu did not do such a great job of channeling the Yellow River into the sea, dredging the wrong way. Sacred Mother Houtu then made the Yellow River Map and sent one of her divine messenger birds to tell Yu what to do; specifically, that he should open a channel to the east, to allow the right drainage.

Gallery

|Image:Jiexiu Houtu Miao 2013.08.24 09-49-15.jpg|Temple of the Queen of the Earth in Jiexiu, Shanxi. |Image:Hue Vietnam Tomb-of-Emperor-Gia-Long-05.jpg|Stone for the deity Houtu at the burial site of Gia Long, former emperor of Vietnam.

Notes

References

References

1. (2025). "《朱子語類》". Chinese Text Project.
2. {{harvnb. Yang. An. Anderson Turner. 2005
3. {{cite book |script-quote=zh:共工氏有子曰句龙，为后土。|trans-quote=Gonggong had a heroic son whose name was Houtu. |script-title=zh:左傳 |trans-title=Zuo Zhuan |title-link=Zuo Zhuan |script-chapter=zh:昭公二十九年 |trans-chapter=Year 29 of Duke Zhao}}
4. {{cite book |script-quote=zh:共工氏之霸九州也，其子曰后土，能平九土，故祀以为社。 |trans-quote=Houtu, a son of Gonggong who swayed all nine provinces, was able to calm all the land and was sacrificed to as a god of the soil. |trans-title=Book of Rites |title-link=Book of Rites |trans-chapter=Law of Sacrifices |script-title=zh:礼记 |script-chapter=zh:祭法}}
5. {{cite book |script-quote=zh:共工生后土，后土生噎鸣，噎鸣生岁十有二。 |script-title=zh:山海经 |script-chapter=zh:海内经 |trans-chapter=History of the world |trans-title=Classic of Mountains and Seas |title-link=Classic of Mountains and Seas}}
6. {{cite book |script-quote=zh:中央土，其帝黄帝，其神后土。此黄精之君，土官之臣。后土，亦颛顼氏之子，曰犁，兼为土官。|trans-title=Book of Rites |title-link=Book of Rites |script-title=zh:礼记 |trans-chapter=Proceedings of Government in the Different Months |script-chapter=zh:月令}}
7. {{cite book |script-quote=zh:中央，土也，其帝黄帝，其佐后土，执绳而制四方。其神为镇星，其兽黄龙，其音宫，其日戊己。 |script-title=zh:淮南子 |trans-title=Huainanzi |title-link=Huainanzi |script-chapter=zh:天文训 |trans-chapter=Patterns of Heaven}}
8. Theobald, Ulrich. "Sheshen 社神, Local Deities (www.chinaknowledge.de)".
9. link
10. Shaw, Miranda Eberle (2006). Buddhist Goddesses of India. Princeton University Press. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-691-12758-3.
11. (2010). {{lang. zh. 华语教学出版社. [[Sinolingua]].
12. "Hou Tu - MSN Encarta". MSN.
13. {{harvnb. Yang. An. Anderson Turner. 2005

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