Sha Wujing (English: Sha Wujing)

Japanese: 沙悟浄 - さごじょう（英語表記）Shā Wù jìng

The name of a monster that appears in the Chinese novel Journey to the West. He travels to the West to retrieve Buddhist scriptures, together with Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie, as a disciple of Xuanzang. His predecessor was Jinja-yashin (the Great General of Shensha), and is said to have been an incarnation of Bishamonten, who rescued Xuanzang from distress during his journey, but in the course of legend he became a monster that ate Xuanzang in his previous life. It is thought that the legend of the dragon-headed monster Atsuyu, which appears in the Shanhai Jing (Classic of Mountains and Seas), has also been mixed in, and there is also a theory that the image of a real animal is a dolphin from the Yangtze River.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

中国の小説《西遊記》に登場する妖怪の名。孫悟空･猪八戒とともに玄奘（げんじよう）の弟子として西天取経の旅に出る。前身は深沙神（じんじやしん）といい(深沙大将)，史実の玄奘の旅での遭難を救った毘沙門天（びしやもんてん）の化身とされるが，伝承の過程で前世の玄奘を食った妖怪に化した。《山海経（せんがいきよう）》に見える竜首の妖怪窳（あつゆ）の伝承も混入していると思われるほか，実在の動物のイメージとして長江(揚子江)産のイルカを指摘する説もある。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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