Taowu is one of the Four Perils, drawn in texts like the Shenyijing as a ferocious beast with a human head, a tiger’s legs, a boar’s long tusks, and a long tail. Stubborn and ceaseless in its fighting, it is said that no one can tame it.
Taowu figures untamable savagery itself. Its refusal of any reform or order symbolizes the uncontrollable, raw force that remains outside civilization.