Longma (龍馬)

Classical commentaries and annals narrate that the longma emerged from river waters (notably the Yellow River and Lo River) bearing a patterned scheme or 'map' (the Hetu) on its back. Texts cited in the tradition include a Yijing commentary describing 'the water of the Ho sent forth a dragon horse; on its back there was curly hair, like a map of starry dots', Kong Anguo's Shujing commentary that links the longma to Heaven-and-Earth's vital spirit and notes it appears when a holy man sits on the throne, and the Bamboo Annals' account that a dragon-horse 'appeared, bearing in his mouth a scaly cuirass... ascended the altar, laid down the scheme, and went away.' Variants in sources assign the recipient of the Hetu to different culture-heroes (e.g., Fu Xi, Shun), but the common theme is the river-borne longma bearing cosmological designs to sage-rulers.

Classical descriptions present the longma as a composite: the body of a horse covered with dragon scales and—in some accounts—wings at its sides. A Yijing commentary describes 'on its back there was curly hair, like a map of starry dots,' indicating the patterned marking (the Hetu) associated with the creature. Kong Anguo's Shujing commentary explicitly gives the horse body plus dragon scales and notes that a 'true dragon horse has wings at its sides.' Sources vary in additional embellishments, but the consistent image is horse form + dragon integument, sometimes winged.

In the source tradition the longma's primary role is portent-bearing and mediation of divine patterns: it appears from rivers bearing the Hetu (Yellow River chart) or other schemes and thus functions as a natural-supernatural messenger validating or signaling sage-rulers. Classical commentaries attribute to it liminal powers connected with water—emerging from the river, and in Kong Anguo's Shujing commentary it 'walks upon the water without sinking'—and some accounts describe wings and flight. Later narrative usages sometimes extend the dragon-horse motif (for example, winged dragon-horses drawing imperial carriages in later legend), but the core attested behaviors in the supplied sources are river-appearance, bearing sacred patterns/maps, and acting as an omen of auspicious rulership.