Kai Tsi
Also called Kai-Tsi, Kai Tsu, Sin You, Sin U, divine sheep, Chiai Tung, Hai Chai, Hai Chiai, Hiai Chai.
The Kai Tsi is the one-horned justice beast of East Asian tradition — a lion-like unicorn, also called the divine sheep, that knows right from wrong and gores the guilty.
At a glance
- Tradition
- East Asian folklore (general)
- Region
- East Asia (place of origin)
- Kind
- One-horned unicorn
- Trait family
- The Truth-Horned
- Symbols
- Unicorn
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Unicorn is image-domain The unicorn denotes untameable solitary purity, single-horned and swift, taken alive only by the trick of a maiden's lap, and appearing where rule is virtuous.
why
The Kai Tsi is the one-horned justice beast of East Asian tradition — a lion-like unicorn, also called the divine sheep, that knows right from wrong and gores the guilty.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Form
- Single horn discerns truth from falsehood
why
Its defining power is moral: it distinguishes right from wrong.
Offensive powers
- Horn attack
why
The exemplary story attaches it to the ancient judge Kau You, who, when a case was doubtful, handed the accused over to the beast — and it destroyed the guilty and spared the innocent, a verdict delivered by mauling.
Utility powers
- Moral perception
why
Its defining power is moral: it distinguishes right from wrong.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Father meets
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Kai Tsi."
- Charles Gould, Mythical Monsters, p. 357.
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Kai Tsi."