The four sacred mountains · 四大名山
Where the Way lives
Wudang, Longhu, Qingcheng and Qiyun are the four great mountains of Chinese Taoism. Each keeps a different part of the tradition — the warrior, the master, the hermit and the cloud — and each lives on in the symbols we carry.
01 · Hubei province
Wudang Shan
The mountain of the Perfected Warrior
Wudang is the mountain of Zhenwu, the Perfected Warrior of the North, who in legend cultivated here for forty-two years before ascending to heaven. From 1412 the Ming Yongle emperor rebuilt its palaces on an imperial scale, and in 1416 a hall of gilded bronze — the Golden Hall — was raised on Tianzhu Peak, where it still stands among the clouds.
The building complex has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994. Tradition also names Wudang as the home of the internal martial arts associated with Zhang Sanfeng, and pilgrims still climb the old stone paths to the Purple Cloud Palace.
Zhenwu · tortoise and snake · Golden Hall
Pieces in this tradition
02 · Jiangxi province
Longhu Shan
The mountain of the Celestial Masters
Longhu — “Dragon and Tiger” — is where, by tradition, Zhang Daoling refined the elixir and a dragon and a tiger appeared. For many centuries his descendants, the Celestial Masters of the Zhengyi school, lived at the Celestial Master’s Mansion in Shangqing and issued ordinations and talismans from here.
Its red Danxia cliffs, inscribed as part of the China Danxia World Heritage Site in 2010, still hold the cliff coffins of the ancient Guyue people. Many of the thunder seals and talisman forms in our collection follow the Zhengyi tradition centred on this mountain.
Celestial Master · Zhengyi talismans · thunder rites
Pieces in this tradition
03 · Sichuan province
Qingcheng Shan
The most secluded mountain under heaven
In the Eastern Han dynasty Zhang Daoling taught on Qingcheng, and it is honoured as a birthplace of organised Taoism — the Way of the Celestial Masters. Thirty-six peaks ring the mountain like a green city wall, which gave it its name.
“Qingcheng tianxia you” — Qingcheng is the most secluded under heaven — runs the old saying. With the Dujiangyan irrigation system below it, the mountain was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.
Zhang Daoling · Tianshi Cave · Jianfu Palace
Pieces in this tradition
04 · Anhui province
Qiyun Shan
The mountain level with the clouds
Qiyun — “level with the clouds” — rises in red Danxia sandstone above Xiuning in southern Anhui. Its temples have long been devoted to Zhenwu, and in the Ming dynasty the Jiajing emperor’s patronage made it one of the great Taoist mountains of the south.
Known in old texts as Baiyue, the White Peak, its cliff inscriptions and the Yuxu Palace carved into the rock still draw pilgrims and painters alike.
Zhenwu · Yuxu Palace · cliff inscriptions
Pieces in this traditionLetters · 山中来信
Letters from the mountains
A few letters a month: new pieces as they arrive, the story behind a symbol, and the festival days of the Taoist calendar — no noise.
