Yanluo

The King and Judge of the Underworld

Domain: Death & Judgment
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Element: Darkness
Relics of Power: Brush and Book of Death

Speak with Yanluo

The full Codex

4 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

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The People

People

Chinese

Region

China

Period

c. 1600 BC – present

The Chinese deities bring together traditions of Taoism, Buddhism, and folk religion, worshipped for millennia across China. Presided over by the Jade Emperor, they form a vast celestial bureaucracy mirroring the earthly empire. They are honored in temples, at Chinese New Year, and at the altars of homes and ancestors.

Chinese New Year greets the gods with fireworks, dancing lions, and offerings to the Kitchen God, who ascends to heaven to report on the family's conduct. The Dragon Boat Festival honors the poet Qu Yuan, and at Qingming families sweep the tombs and venerate the ancestors.

At a glance

Yanluo Wang (King Yanluo, also known in English as King Yama of China) is the sovereign underworld deity and presiding magistrate of the Fifth Court of Purgatory (Diyu) in Chinese Buddhism, Daoism, and traditional Chinese folk religion. Derived through phonetic and theological transmission from the Vedic and Indian Buddhist deity Yama (Yamarāja), the figure was incorporated into the Chinese Mahayana canon as Yanmo Luoshe and systematically bureaucratized during the Tang and Song dynasties. In the pivotal 'Scripture on the Ten Kings' ('Shiwang Jing', recovered from ninth- and tenth-century Dunhuang manuscripts), Yanluo presides over the fifth judicial tribunal on the thirty-fifth day following death, where souls are brought before the Karma Mirror (Niepan Jingtai or Yejing) that reveals all hidden deeds performed during earthly existence. Beyond liturgical scripture, Chinese popular religion euhemeristically identified historically incorruptible magistrates with Yanluo Wang—most notably Sui dynasty general Han Qinhu and Northern Song judicial official Bao Zheng—establishing King Yanluo as an enduring cultural archetype of unyielding moral rectitude and cosmic justice.

8 min read · Reviewed on September 29, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

The book of destiny, the red brush, the infernal throne and the scales of souls

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Anonymous (attributed to the monk Zangchuan 藏川), Shiwang Jing (閻羅王授記四眾逆修生七往生淨土經 / The Scripture on the Ten Kings). translation: Stephen F. Teiser, The Scripture on the Ten Kings and the Making of Purgatory in Medieval Chinese Buddhism, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994. read
Wei Zheng (魏徵) et al., Sui Shu (隋書 / Book of Sui), Chapter 52 (Biography of Han Qinhu). translation: Zhonghua Shuju edition, Beijing, 1973 (Chinese Text Project). read
Tuo Tuo (脫脫) et al., Song Shi (宋史 / History of Song), Chapter 316 (Biography of Bao Zheng). translation: Zhonghua Shuju edition, Beijing, 1977 (Chinese Text Project). read
Wu Cheng'en (吳承恩), Xiyouji (西遊記 / The Journey to the West), Chapters 3, 10 and 11. translation: Anthony C. Yu, The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012.
Li Fang (李昉) et al., Taiping Guangji (太平廣記), Chapters 375 to 385. translation: Zhonghua Shuju edition, Beijing, 1961 (Chinese Text Project). read

Studies

Stephen F. Teiser, . University of Hawaii Press, 1994. open
Angela Falco Howard, . Weatherhill, 2001. open
Stephen R. Bokenkamp, . University of California Press, 2007. open
Anne Swann Goodrich, . Monumenta Serica Monograph Series, 1981. open
Wolfram Eberhard, . University of California Press, 1967. open

Name and epithets

The Chinese theonym Yanluo Wang (閻羅王 / 阎罗王) is an abbreviated compound derived from the Chinese phonetic transcription of Sanskrit Yamarāja, initially rendered as Yanmoluoshe (琰魔羅社 or 閻魔羅社).

In the ancient sources

Shiwang Jing (The Scripture on the Ten Kings), 9th–10th century CE. Canonical text describing the bureaucratized purgatory of Ten Kings, assigning Yanluo to the Fifth Court on the 35th day.

The myths

The Fifth Court and Judgment before the Karma Mirror. According to medieval illustrated texts of the 'Shiwang Jing', deceased souls pass through a sequence of ten judicial tribunals in the underworld.

Worship and archaeology

The veneration of Yanluo Wang is deeply intertwined with Chinese ancestral rites and mortuary liturgy. During the traditional mourning cycle of 'Zuo Qi' (the seven post-mortem observances conducted every seven days), th…

How the god was depicted

In standard Chinese visual art developed between the Song and Ming dynasties, Yanluo Wang is portrayed as a dignified, stern Chinese imperial magistrate.

What scholars debate

Sinicization and Bureaucratization of Purgatory. Scholars of medieval Chinese religion, notably Stephen F. Teiser ('The Scripture on the Ten Kings', 1994), analyze how the Indian theological concept of Yama—originally a…

After antiquity

Yanluo Wang remains an omnipresent figure across East Asian vernacular literature, regional opera, and contemporary popular culture.

Did you know?

The 35th-day post-mortem rite (Wuqi) in traditional Chinese funerals is specifically focused on propitiating King Yanluo's court, during which families make their most elaborate offerings.

Codex relic

Brush and Book of Death. The ledger holding the destiny and lifespan of every soul, and the brush that decides its judgment.

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