Tradition: Chinese mythology
Alternative names: Riji
Category: Cow
The Myth
The Riji is a legendary strange ox said to have lived among the Yuezhi of the Western Regions.
The creature possesses an extraordinary ability: if one or two jin of meat are cut from its body, the wound heals by the following day, allowing the flesh to regenerate. According to the Xuanzhongji, when Han people entered the land of the Yuezhi, the inhabitants showed them the Riji as a rare delicacy.
The name Riji is also used for the hibiscus flower. This connection comes from the flower’s unusual daily cycle: it opens in the morning and closes in the evening. Because of this, it was associated with the idea of something that appears anew each day.
The surviving accounts therefore associate the Riji with extraordinary regeneration, although the sources provided here do not give a further description of its appearance beyond identifying it as an unusual ox.
Sources
“日及.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia (Chinese Wikipedia). Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed August 29, 2026. https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E5%8F%8A