In literary works, Nezha is depicted as having “lotus – leaf clothes and lotus – root bones”. But what exactly does this kind of clothing made of lotus leaves look like?

Ⅰ. Nezha and His Lotus – leaf Clothes

Nezha is made of lotus roots or perhaps lotus flowers. “The Investiture of the Gods” clearly states: The raw materials for Nezha are “two lotus flowers from the Five – Lotus Pond and three lotus leaves.” “The immortal plucked the petals of the flowers to form the Three Talents, and then broke the lotus – leaf stems into three hundred joints.” In “Journey to the West” , it is said that “his bones are made of green lotus roots and his clothes are made of lotus leaves”, thus Nezha’s “lotus incarnation” is formed. Anyway, Nezha is closely related to lotus flowers.

In ancient books, the terms “lotus” and “water lily” are often used interchangeably, but scholars don’t really care. Although “The Erya” (《尔雅》) and the annotations in the Jin Dynasty clearly state: The lotus is called fuqu (芙蕖), with an alias of furong (芙蓉). The stem of this plant is called qie (茄), the leaves are called xia (蕸), the thick underground stem is called ou (藕); the flower is called handan (菡萏); the fruit is called lian (莲). Just keep this in mind. For the convenience of writing and to avoid confusion, we will uniformly call it “lotus – leaf clothes” in the following text.

Ⅱ. The Ancients and Lotus – leaf Clothes

In the Ming Dynasty, some experts speculated that the creation time of “The Investiture of the Gods” might be later than that of “Journey to the West”. However, when these two novels were being written, they were likely to have referred to Qu Yuan’s “Li Sao” , which was the first time in literary works that clothes were made of lotus flowers: “Since I can’t enter the court and avoid blame, I’ll retreat and resume my original attire. I’ll make clothes from water – chestnut leaves and assemble lotus flowers into a skirt.” In the 2003 version of Nezha, there were still elements of lotus – flower petals on his body.

The underlined sentence of Qu Yuan means that I cut lotus leaves to make an upper garment and weave lotus flowers into a lower skirt. It doesn’t matter if no one understands me, as long as I know the fragrance in my heart. From this, we can see his noble character. By describing this “unique hanfu clothing” of “making clothes from water – chestnut leaves and assembling lotus flowers into a skirt”, Qu Yuan indirectly expressed his belief in not giving up his political ideals, his moral integrity of keeping himself pure, and his unique personality.

In the book *New Exegesis of Chu Sao*(《楚骚新诂》), Su Xuelin (苏雪林) pointed out: “Although Qu Yuan left the political center at that time and returned to his hometown, he didn’t retire to the forest to become a hermit, nor did he specifically regard clothes made of lotus leaves and flowers as the attire of hermits. His lotus – leaf clothes and lotus – flower skirt had a special meaning.” It can be seen that although the concept of “lotus – leaf clothes” was put forward, it might not be an actual piece of clothing. Stemming from the Chu people’s belief in fragrant herbs, the lotus – leaf clothes and lotus – flower skirt symbolized a noble and pure state of mind.

However, the concept of “lotus – leaf clothes” has evolved over time. Another meaning is “the clothing of hermits.” For example, Yang Xiong（扬雄）, a litterateur in the Western Han Dynasty, wrote in *Anti – Li Sao*, “I fasten the green clothes made of water – chestnut and lotus stems, and drape the red skirt made of lotus flowers. Their fragrance is intense but not noticed, so it’s better to fold them and hide them in the secluded chamber.” Here, “the secluded chamber” refers to the place where hermits live in seclusion. Lu Ji（陆机） of the Jin Dynasty wrote in Ode to Responding to Favorable Circumstances（《应嘉赋》）, “Free my heart from the worldly net, and put on the unique clothes (lotus – leaf clothes) of Qu Yuan.” Kong Zhigui（孔稚圭） of the Southern Qi Dynasty also recorded in The Call of Mount Bei（《北山移文》）, “Burn the clothes made of water – chestnut and tear the lotus – leaf clothes, showing a vulgar appearance and manner.” Originally, this sentence was to mock his friend Zhou Yong（周顒） for giving up the hermit’s clothes and wearing common clothes.

Ⅲ. The Evolution of Lotus – leaf Clothes

It was the records of later generations that truly established “lotus – leaf clothes” as the attire of hermits. For instance, Zhang Kejiu （张可久）in the Yuan Dynasty mentioned “lotus – leaf clothes” in “Half : Master Cangya’s Retirement”（《一半儿·苍崖禅师退隐》）: “Dew on the willow tips moistens the lotus – leaf clothes, and the slanting sun shines on the green mountains through the treetops.” In A Dream of Red Mansions, when describing the Goddess of Disenchantment, it says, “As the lotus – leaf clothes seem to stir, one can hear the clinking of jade pendants.” It’s almost like depicting the clothes of celestial beings.

Gong Zizhen’s Miscellaneous Poems (龚自珍,《已亥杂诗》) of the Yihai Year states, “The literary style of the Jiaqing era is vivid in my mind. I remember the deer – calling – for – mates feast with the people from Jingzhao. When we, now white – haired, meet on the winter mountain path, who would cherish those two young lads in lotus – leaf clothes.” Here, “lotus – leaf clothes” refer to the clothes of young people. What exactly do “lotus – leaf clothes” look like? Netizens have two speculations. One is to make clothes with lotus leaves, as shown in the top – left picture above, and the other is to make clothes with lotus petals, as shown in the top – right picture above.

The image of Nezha in the 1979 version of Nezha Conquers the Dragon King is quite in line with the descriptions in the two original works. In this version, Nezha wears lotus petals as an epaulette and lotus leaves as a skirt, which is the relatively authentic “Nezha” in people’s minds. Later animated versions of Nezha rarely adopted this image.

Summary

Looking at the current image of Nezha, lotus flowers are added to the front of the red hanfu, and lotus leaves are added to the back. In this new design, both lotus flowers and lotus leaves are incorporated, which can be regarded as the contemporary understanding of “lotus – leaf clothes”. However, perhaps we can draw on Qu Yuan’s spirit. The spirit of “righteousness and integrity, and keeping oneself pure” is the real “lotus – leaf clothes” in Nezha’s heart that has been passed down. But if there were really “lotus – leaf clothes” in the world, would they be really cool in summer?