五行、五方思想體現了中國古老的天地觀,其中東、南、西、北四個方位各有青龍、白虎、朱雀、玄武等神獸作為代表圖像,但位於「中」的圖像則較少被辨識出來。本文以文獻為出發點,先整理位於四方中央(即「中方」)的記載,再檢視漢代繪畫藝術(包括壁畫與畫像石)中四神或四方較為完整的圖像,彙整出「中方」的圖像。將文獻與圖像比對之後,我們得知四神圖像的作用主要在四方護衛墓主出行,墓主的位置居中,前後由風伯、雨師、蚩尤、天帝(常以北斗代替)等護衛伴行,因此風伯、雨師、雷神、蚩尤、天帝與北斗等圖像,均為五行中央的代表圖像。也由於代表圖像眾多,故較難分辨。五行與其代表圖像一直是中國古代重要的哲學思想象徵。漢畫藝術衰退之後,五行護衛墓主的功能與圖像仍持續出現在墓葬繪畫中,並且進入到宗教藝術中,成為辟邪的圖案。

The Five Elements (wuxing) and the Five Directions (wufang) represent the cosmology of ancient China. In this system, the east was represented as a dragon, south as a phoenix, west as a tiger, and north as a turtle and snake, but the image of the central part was not very clear. This study first looks at depictions of the center in written sources, and then examines central imagery in Han pictorial art. It concludes that the function of the four mythological animals in the tomb was to protect the dead soul on its way to becoming immortal. The dead soul stayed in the central part with the gods of wind and rain, “Chi-you”( the god of weapons), “Tai-yi” (the big dipper, the highest god of the Han people) and “Huang-di” (an ancient emperor, the mythical Chinese ancestor). All of these are representative images in the central part, but because there are many of them, the images can be difficult to distinguish. The Five Elements and their representative images were characteristic of the philosophy of ancient China. Even after the decline of Han dynasty pictorial art, these images continued to exist as murals in tombs, to protect the dead and ward off evil. We can still find the images of the gods of wind and thunder in the Dunhuang caves and the other mural tombs.

漢畫；五行；風伯；雨師；雷神；蚩尤

funeral art of the Han Dynasty; Five Elements; god of wind; god of rain; god of thunder; god of weapons