The
Black Tortoise or
Black Turtle (
Chinese: trad. 玄龜; simpl. 玄龟
Xuán Guī) is one of the
Four Symbols of the
Chinese constellations. Despite its English name, it is usually depicted as a
turtle entwined together with a
snake. Further, in
East Asia, it is not called after either animal but is instead known as the "
Black Warrior" under various local pronunciations. It is known as
Xuan Wu (or sometimes
Xuan Gui) in
Chinese,
Hyeonmu in
Korean,
Genbu in
Japanese and
Huyền Vũ in
Vietnamese. It represents the
north and the
winter season.