Riyou Shen (Day Patrol God)

Riyou Shen and Ye You Shen are jointly known as the 'Two Patrol Gods of Day and Night'—divine constables serving under the City God and Dongyue Dadi (the Great Deity of Mount Tai). By day, Riyou Shen assumes duty, inspecting human conduct for virtue and wrongdoing and apprehending demonic entities and malevolent spirits; all observations are formally reported to both the Underworld Bureaucracy and the Celestial Court. In traditional folk belief, it was thought inauspicious to break ground or undertake construction in the direction where Riyou Shen was believed to be stationed—a notion that gave rise to the so-called 'crane god directional taboo'. In Chinese opera and vernacular fiction, Riyou Shen frequently appears on missions to capture supernatural monsters or to summon souls, embodying the popular conviction that 'divine scrutiny looms just three chi above one’s head.'