Penghou

The (c. 3rd century) Baize tu (白澤圖, "Diagrams of the White Marsh"), named after the Baize "White Marsh" spirit recorded in the Baopuzi, is no longer fully extant, but is identified with a Dunhuang manuscript (P2682).

Luo 2003: 4132) The (c. 4th century) Soushenji (搜神記, "In Search of the Supernatural") has a story about "The Penghou in the Camphor Tree": During the Wu Kingdom (Three Kingdoms Period, 220–280) Jing Shu felled a big camphor tree.

DeWoskin and Crump 1996: 215–216) Li Shizhen's (1578) Bencao Gangmu ("Compendium of Materia Medica") lists Penghou under Chapter 51, which primarily describes medicinal uses for monkeys.

The entry quotes the Baize tu and Soushenji and describes Penghou meat as "sweet, sour, warm, and nontoxic" (tr.

This tree spirit is included in the Konjaku Hyakki Shūi, one of Toriyama Sekien's collections of monster illustrations.

The hōkō illustration by Toriyama Sekien .