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Concept
Fuji (planchette writing)
Summary
Fuji (), also colloquially known as "Chinese Ouija", is a method of "planchette writing", or "spirit writing", that uses a suspended sieve or tray to guide a stick which writes Chinese characters in sand or incense ashes.
Beginning around the Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644), the fuji method and written characters changed from 扶箕 "support the sieve" (spirit-writing using a suspended sieve or winnowing tray) to 扶乩 "support the planchette" (directing a stick or stylus, typically made from a willow or peach branch, and roughly resembling a dowsing-rod).
Chinese fuji spirit-writing involves some specialized vocabulary. Luan (鸞) "a mythical phoenix-like bird" is used in synonyms such as fuluan (扶鸞, "support the phoenix"), feiluan (飛鸞 "flying phoenix," and jiangluan (降鸞, "descending phoenix"). The fuji process involves specialized participants. The two people (or rarely one) who hold the sieve or stylus are called jishou (乩手, "planchette hands"), only one of whom is ostensibly possessed by a shen (神, "spirit; god") or xian (仙, "immortal; transcendent"). Their assistants include a pingsha (平沙, "level sand") who smooths out the shapan (沙盤, "sand table"), a dujizhe (讀乩者, "planchette reader") who interprets the characters, and a chaojizhe (抄乩者, "planchette copyist") who records them. Jiwen (乩文, "planchette writing") is a general reference to texts produced through Chinese fuji spirit-writing.
Spirit-writing has a long history in Chinese folk religion, and is first recorded (Chao 1942:12) during the Liu Song dynasty (420-479 CE). Fuji planchette-writing became popular during the Song dynasty (960-1279), when authors like Shen Kuo and Su Shi associated its origins with summoning Zigu (紫姑, "Purple Maiden"), the Spirit of the Latrine. Fuji divination flourished during the Ming dynasty, and the Jiajing Emperor (r. 1522–1566) built a special jitan (乩壇, "planchette altar") in the Forbidden City (Despeux 2007:428).
Official source
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