钟馗

钟馗 is the ghost-quelling figure discussed in 136. 春日明媚，聊聊鬼神. The episode presents the familiar Tang Xuanzong dream story: the emperor sees a large ghost eating a smaller one, wakes, and has Wu Daozi paint the ghost-catcher image that spreads into popular practice.

The source also notes a different explanation in which Zhong Kui may come from a ghost-driving object or cudgel name rather than an original person. That uncertainty makes him a compact example of Mythic Source Layering and Chinese Folk Religion Layering: an image, a court legend, a tool etymology, and ghost-control practice can converge into one durable folk figure.

Connections

• 136. 春日明媚，聊聊鬼神 - source episode.
• Chinese Folk Religion Layering - multi-origin frame for Zhong Kui.
• Mythic Source Layering - adjacent concept for figures built from several source lines.
• Underworld Bureaucracy - wider ghost-command field in the episode.
• [[DongyueDadi|东岳大帝]] - nearby ghost-marshal hierarchy discussed in the source.