三足烏：漢畫像西王母仙境空間動物圖像及其象徵研究之一

The Three-Legged Crow: One of Studies on Animal Imagery and Symbolic Meaning in the Immortal Realm of the Queen Mother of the West in Han Pictorial Art

西王母是在中國神話與信仰文化上歷史悠久、地位崇高、影響深遠的女神。西漢以後，西王母信仰日趨普遍，西王母更成為漢代墓葬圖像中的主神之一，在漢畫像中最重要的神祇圖像無疑就是西王母圖像系統。*
經由已出土的考古圖像材料研究發現，在西漢中晚期以後的墓室或祠堂漢畫像西王母仙境圖像中，大多位居仙境空間中心的女神西王母，其旁多配置有動物圖像，且具有跨地域的現象。其在這些動物中，除了「兔」、「蟾蜍」、「九尾狐」等動物外，「三足烏」亦是漢畫像西王母仙境圖中重要的構圖單元之一。其中「三足烏」是唯一以「禽鳥」型態出現在漢畫西王母仙境圖中的神聖動物。出現在漢畫西王母仙境中的神禽異獸，與漢人對於西王母的神格職能及仙境空間建構想像間有密切的關係。本文研究以漢畫圖錄中所蒐錄相關「三足烏」考古圖像資料以及傳世文獻進行分析。由於歷來論者或有以「青鳥」與「三足烏」、「三足烏」與「金烏」相混之說，故本文溯源梳理《山海經》樂園空間的「西王母」與「青鳥」之關係，以及「三足烏」與太陽鳥、三足烏與西王母之關係，以見漢畫西王母仙境空間中「三足烏」的意象符號發展變化，以及在漢畫像西王母仙境圖中的圖像表現及其象徵文化意涵。

The Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu) is a goddess of long-standing prominence in Chinese mythology and religious culture. From the mid-Western Han period, belief in Xiwangmu became widespread, and she became one of the principal deities in Han tomb iconography. Archaeological findings show that in depictions of her celestial realm, Xiwangmu is often placed at the center, accompanied by various animals such as rabbits, toads, nine-tailed foxes, and notably, the three-legged crow (sanzu wu)―the only avian sacred creature in such images. These mythic animals reflect Han perceptions of Xiwangmu’s divine functions and the imagined structure of her paradise. This paper analyzes archaeological materials and transmitted texts to examine the iconographic role of the three-legged crow, its associations with the blue bird (qingniao) and the solar crow (jinwu), and its symbolic evolution. By tracing its origins in texts such as the Shanhaijing, the study explores the visual and cultural significance of the three-legged crow within Han representations of Xiwangmu’s celestial realm.*