Which of the Eight Immortals carries a gourd and an iron crutch?
Answer
Li Tieguai
Answer
Li Tieguai
Which of the Eight Immortals carries a gourd and an iron crutch? Li Tieguai carries a gourd and an iron crutch. These two objects are his defining emblems and make him one of the easiest members of the Eight Immortals to identify in Chinese art and folklore.
Li Tieguai is commonly depicted as an ugly, disheveled old beggar leaning on his crutch, with a calabash or bottle gourd hanging from his shoulder. The gourd may contain magical medicine, and some stories say it can produce healing substances or even hold Li’s liberated spirit. His association with medicine and healing helped make him a particularly recognizable immortal.
Legends describe Li as irascible and eccentric but compassionate toward the poor, sick, and oppressed. In one tradition, Laozi gives him the magical gourd and an iron crutch after he has completed years of spiritual discipline. The crutch is not merely a sign of age: it represents the transformed identity of a man whose physical body was lost or changed in the course of his legend.
The other options have different attributes. Cao Guojiu carries courtly tablets, Han Xiangzi is linked with a flute, and Zhang Guolao is associated with a paper mule and a fish drum.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026