---
node: garment_feiyufu
type: garment
slug: feiyufu
title: "Feiyufu"
lead: "The feiyufu is a Ming robe patterned with the flying fish, a winged dragon-like creature, granted by the emperor rather than earned by rank. It is remembered as the uniform of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, though it was never theirs alone."
published: 2026-08-18
updated: 2026-08-18
---

## Overview

The garment is defined by its motif, not its cut: the feiyu is a four-clawed dragon with fish fins and a split tail, woven or embroidered across the chest, shoulders and skirt. It ranked just below the python robe and above the fighting-bull robe in the hierarchy of bestowed patterns, and its colour and ground were set by the grant, not chosen. It was made up in several shapes, most often the yisan, a pleated riding coat, and the round-collar robe.

## How it is worn

It was put on over an inner robe and belted, with the pattern arranged so the creature's head sits square on the chest and the tail runs into the skirt. It was court and duty wear rather than armour: worn to audiences, escorts and arrests, over boots, with a hat of office. Because it was a gift, wearing one without the grant was a punishable offence, and Ming records complain steadily about officials who did it anyway.

## History

Bestowed robes appear across the Ming, and the flying fish enters the schedule in the fifteenth century as the second rank of imperial gift. The Embroidered Uniform Guard, the emperor's secret police, received them often enough that fiction and film now treat the two as one thing. Modern hanfu revivalists reconstruct it constantly, and the wuxia film Brotherhood of Blades put it back into popular view — which is where most of the search demand for it comes from.