Four spirits and four directions
The Four Spirits originated from ancient myths and were originally called the Four Elephants, referring to the images of water, fire, wood and gold distributed in all directions. The Book of Changes says: Two musical instruments dominate the four elephants. The two instruments are yin and yang or heaven and earth. In ancient times, four groups of animals, namely East Dragon, South Bird, West Lake and North Tortoise (Wu), were used to represent the four regions of the sky. These four groups of animals are also ancient myths of China. According to the collocation relationship between five elements and five colors in Huangdi Neijing, wood = cyan, which is the color of tender leaves, fire = red, which is the color of burning bonfire, soil = yellow, which is the color of earth and gas in full bloom, gold = white, which is the color of metallic luster, and water = black, which is the infinite color of abyss, so the four elephants are also matched into Qinglong, White Tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu.
Oriental Qinglong is a wood with five elements and its color is blue.
Southern Suzaku's five elements belong to fire, and the color is red.
The five elements of the western white tiger belong to gold, and its color is white.
The northern Xuanwu five elements belong to water, and the color is black.
The five elements of the central Huanglong belong to the earth and the color is yellow.