Lightning-struck Wood Zhao Gongming Ruyi Tag

Zhao Gongming’s identity changed over time. In early Daoist texts he is listed among the plague gods, in charge of epidemics, and only later turns into a god of wealth — a shift that is not rare in folk belief. The Investiture of the Gods grants him a long title, True Lord of the Mysterious Altar of Dragon and Tiger, with four deputies under him — Recruiting Treasure, Gathering Rarities, Drawing Wealth, and Profiting the Market — and that is how the wealth god’s staff got assembled. Plague god to wealth god is several hundred years apart, and folk belief does move its furniture.

To recognize his image, look at three things: black face and heavy beard, a black tiger under him, an iron whip in his hand. Where only the head is made, look at hat and beard: the hat is an iron crown, the beard spreads wide. A tiger-riding composition takes space on a plaque, the tiger’s head usually forward and the tail closed at the edge; close it badly and it runs off the border. The iron whip is his mark; a Zhao Gongming without a whip has mostly been made into a civil official.

The ruyi was not originally an ornament. One account takes it from the back-scratcher, a hand-shaped stick for the place you cannot reach, so that things fall out as you wish — and the name settled there. Another says it developed from the memorandum tablet, on which business for the throne was written. By the Ming and Qing it was pure furnishing, the head in the shape of a lingzhi or a cloud, set on a desk for the lucky phrase. Make the head too full and it becomes a display piece; on a plaque you can only take a profile.

A ruyi plaque in lightning-struck wood is wide at the top and narrows below, with a cloud head curling at the crown, and the grain must run along the long side — cross grain breaks at the curl. The charred face stays at the edge so the front grain stays whole. Wood fears dryness: in the north, put it in a sealed bag before winter comes and do not leave it on the radiator, which is where those cracks usually start. The cloud head is the thinnest point and chips if knocked, so store it separately.

For a friend in business, Zhao Gongming is a shade less common than pixiu — after all he is a named god in the Daoist system, not just a lucky phrase. But I will say it flatly: this is folk belief, not a guarantee of performance, and anyone who wants to treat it as backing for a signed contract, I would rather not sell to. On a small face, use a dark cord and wear it inside the jacket, without display. Some customers put it behind the cash register and never wear it at all, which is also a use.