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50. Roaming to the Eight Corners (of the Earth)
- Biyu mode,2 slacken 3rd string: 1 2 3 5 6 1 2 |
八機遊
1
Baji You |
| Lu Yan roaming in the clouds 3 |
Baji You is the title of two unrelated qin melodies. For convenience the present text generally refers to the former, in
biyu mode, as Baji You; and to the latter, in mangong mode,4 by its more recent title, Xia Xian You (Embrace Immortal Roaming).5 In either case the sort of roaming described cannot be by ordinary walking or riding: it must be done by riding in the air, perhaps on a chariot or a crane, but more specifically on a breeze, or perhaps on clouds, as in the illustration at right. Although this illustration more specifically refers to the later Xia Xian You melody
(comment), since Zhu Quan's 1425 preface makes no mention of a specific person it perhaps might be appropriate here as well.
Versions of Baji You survive in at least seven handbooks from Shen Qi Mi Pu (1425) through Zangchunwu Qinpu (1602) but then suddenly, except for a reprint of 1425 in Qinyuan Xinchuan Quanbian (1670), seem to disappear.6 Versions of Xia Xian You, i.e., the ones using mangong tuning, survive in over 20 handbooks from 1609 (where it is called Baji You) through 1931, where it is called Xia Xian You.7 Zha Fuxi's Guide is sometimes confused on these, mixing them in its lists, and also including a separate listing for The Spirit Roams to the Eight Boundaries (Shen You Baiji), though the melodies under this title actually belong with the other two listings.8
Some of the later handbooks attribute the biyu mode Baji You to the Yellow Emperor. Some of those with the mangong mode Xia Xian You, in contrast, attribute it to the Tang dynasty recluse Lü Yan, who came to be counted as one of the eight immortals.9
Technically the ba ji (eight corners or boundaries) are those to north, east, south and west plus the four intermediary directions, but this is also a term found in ancient Taoist writings to refer to everywhere. As for the Yellow Emperor, sources such as Liezi tell of his spirit roaming in the dream in which he travels to the land of the Huaxu Clan (see #3 Huaxu Yin), but these stories make no mention of ba ji (or liu he). And the Yingzhou10 of the section titles was thought to be an island in the Eastern Sea where immortals lived; the first emperor of the Qin dynasty (Qin Shi Huangdi) sent a mission there to search for the elixir of immortality.
Although there are modern recordings of the Meian version of Xia Xian You, other than my own there are none of the old Baji You.
Original Preface11
The Emaciated Immortal says
this tune is probably a very lofty old one. The theme of the tune is in hoping to travel beyond the furthest distances, and rambling along the edge of the universe ("eight vastnesses"). It is like riding in a whirlwind cart pulled by heavenly wind-blown cloud horses, roaming freely on heaven and earth, and sightseeing around the universe; there are no limitations or obstacles. If one is not a person who, having thoughts of wandering, has left ordinary society, how could one express such sentiments?
Music
Six sections (titles from Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu
12)
(00.00) 1. Obscured by the cloudy skies
(00.26) 2. Rise up and fly far away
(01.04) 3. Travel around the world
(01.58) 4. Over four seas and even Yingzhou
(02.33) 5. (Look down on) Lakes Dongting and Poyang
(02.59) 6. Whirling and driving the chariot
(03.42) -- harmonics
(04.04) -- Piece ends
Return to the Shen Qi Mi Pu ToC or to the Guqin ToC.
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a
separate page)
1.
Baji You, references
八極遊 1475.377 has only 八極, with quotes from several sources including 莊子 Zhuangzi, 荀子
Xunzi and 淮南子 Huainanzi. In the Zhuangzi story (near the end of #21 田子方 Tianzi Fang) 伯昏無人 Bohun Wuren tells Liezi the higher man is unchanged no matter where he goes, even to all eight extremities (of the universe). Liezi (#2 黃帝 Yellow Emperor) has basically the same story but there the man is called 伯昏瞀人 Bohun Maoren.
A net search for 八極遊 mainly turns up references to a martial arts novel 八極遊龍 Baji You Long by 雲中嶽 (云中岳) Yun Zhongyue. The title could mean "Dragon - i.e., martial arts hero - who is roaming everywhere", but perhaps it refers to the martials arts form called Eight Extremes Fist (八極拳 Baji quan;
Wiki).
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2.
Biyu mode (碧玉調 biyu diao)
In the Shen Qi Mi Pu Folio I melody Dun Shi Cao this lowered third string tuning is called 慢角調
manjiao diao. For more on biyu (and manjiao) mode see Shenpin Biyu Yi as well as Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature. Note also that Xilutang Qintong uses a different tuning for its biyu mode melodies.
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3.
Image: Lü Yan roaming in the clouds
Although this image, from 中國的神仙
Immortals in Ancient China, p. 296, relates more specifically to the not so much to the present melody as to the later Baji You now known as Xia Xian You, it might also be used here for reasons mentioned in the text above. Compare the illustrations with those for Ascending the Great Void
(Lingxu Yin) and Liezi Rides the Wind
(Liezi Yu Feng).
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4.
Mangong mode (慢宮調 mangong diao)
This tuning ( 3 5 6 1 2 3 5 ) is attained by slackening the 1st, 3rd and 6th strings one half tone each from standard tuning, giving 7 2 3 5 6 7 2, then transposing upwards so that the the notes have the names of notes in the Chinese pentatonic system (1 2 3 5 6). In Shen Qi Mi Pu this mode is used only for #11 Huo Lin).
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5.
挾仙遊 Xia Xian You (Embrace Immortal Roaming): 八極遊 Baji You in 慢宮調 man'gong mode
Also written Xiaxian You, Xie Xian You and Xiexian You. Other translations of the title include Voyage with the Immortal. To achieve mangong tuning from standard tuning lower the first, third and sixth strings, giving 3 5 6 1 2 3 5. Later this mode is given other names (details).
挾仙遊 12405.xxx (.48 is 挾賢 but no 挾仙 or 挾僊); 6/605xxx. Also nothing for 夾仙. 挾 can also be pronounced jia and jie as well as xia and xie. An internet search for 挾仙 does not seem to add anything. However, 391.180 仙遊 says xian you means, in addition to "travel like an immortal", the same as 仙逝 xianshi, i.e., pass away (die: immortal roaming!). It should be added that, although the translation here may seem ambivalent, there is nothing in the introductions to versions of the melody that suggest death. (As an aside, 12405.32 挾琴 xia qin ["embrace a qin"] relates a story from 列子湯問 Liezi, Tangwen, about 師曠 Shi Kuang.)
The earliest version of the man'gong melody is the Baji You in the 1609 edition of Boya Xinfa, part of Zhenchuan Zhengzong Qinpu, also called Qinpu Hebi (VII/208). Nevertheless, it is listed in the Zha Guide together with the old biyu versions of Baji You. In all, mangong tuning versions survive in over 20 handbooks (details) from 1609 to 1931 (Mei'an Qinpu). The earliest version to use the title Xia Xian You is the one in 1634 (IX/365; no commentary).
Some introductions to this man'gong version connect it with the Huaxu story from Liezi. Only the first one, 1609, seems to connect it with Lü Chunyang (depicted above). The second surviving commentary, in Youshengshe Qinpu (early Qing; XI/158), discusses only the tuning/mode. Youshengshe Qinpu often refers to "嚴譜 the tablature of Yan", i.e., 嚴澂 Yan Cheng, whose Songxianguan Qinpu has only melodies using standard tuning. This makes Xia Xian You (which Youshengshe Qinpu says is "夷則，宮調 yize, gongdiao") different from the melodies of Yan Cheng. However, Youshengshe Qinpu refers to 嚴澂 Yan Cheng as 嚴徵 Yan Zheng (see XI/180 "嚴徵評"). Since this "徵 zheng" can also be "徵 zhi" (i.e., zhi mode), it is not always clear when the text here, which writes only 徵, is referring to the person rather than the mode. There seems to be no discussion of what makes it "gong diao".
After this it only has the poem, in twelve couplets, as follows (not yet translated):
Although I have not been able to identify the source of this poem, it seems largely to consist of phrases already found in lyrics accompanying the older version of Baji You included in 1585 (in ToC). It might be mentioned that both handbooks were published in Nanjing.
After the 1609 preface, at the beginning of Section 1, is the statement "關中琴友王龍泉校 revised by qin friend Wang Longquan of Guanzhong" (the central 陝西 Shaanxi plain). Precisely what Wang did is not clear.
There are modern silk string recordings of the Meian version of Xia Xian You by Zhu Xichen and Wang Duo.
1609 music
12 Sections, untitled.
There are problems determining notes because Yang Lun's handbooks
generally use only "half" for intermediate notes instead of using the more precise
older system. Interesting, in the first occurrence of "6 1/2" meaning "6.2" (see Section 5, 1st line) there is a note in the column saying "小半", which only makes sense if interpreted to mean that the "半" here is a little one, i.e., less than half (6.2). Other qualifying comments are not so clear (e.g., 妥 in the next column).
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6.
Tracing Baji You in biyu mode
Tracing this version as well as the one in mangong mode is complicated by the fact that there are three separate but inconsistent listings in Zha's Guide
The Baji You listing, which gives alternate titles as Xia Xian You and Shen You Baji, includes these titles in 15 handbooks, but mixes the biyu versions with completely different ones in mangong mode. In fact there seem to have been only seven or eight in biyu mode, as follows:
It can thus be seen that the biyu versions were all published prior to the mangong versions, discussed above and traced below, except for the reprint of the biyu version in the 1670 handbook. It might also be noted that although both of these versions are sometimes connected to the Yellow Emperor, only the latter melody (see next) mentions the Huaxu lands.
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7.
Tracing 挾仙遊 Xia Xian You (八極遊 Baji You in 慢宮調 man'gong mode)
This melody is introduced above. As mentioned, although the Zha Guide gives a separate listing for Xia Xian You (33/255/---) it is necessary also to look at the tablature listed under 8/83/133 Baji You and 28/225/--- Shen You Baji to get a relatively complete list of the melodies related to the present one, which actually survives in about 20 handbooks from Yang Lun Taigu Yiyin (1609 edition) to Mei'an Qinpu (1931). Although its earliest surviving version is called Baji You and this name is also used with some of the later mangong versions, it is unrelated to the earlier melody of this name, which uses 碧玉調 biyu tuning (lowered third string).
The versions descending from 1609 (thus related to the melody known today as Xiaxian You) are as follows (note the various titles used: BJY 八極遊 Baji You; XXY 挾仙遊 Xia Xian You; SYBJ 神遊八極 Shen You Baji; SYBG 神遊八卦 Shen You Bagua. For modes: 慢宮調 mangong mode; 太簇 taicu (1549 is different); 夷則 yize; 南呂 nanlü):
Although the mode names beginning 1702 vary, all seem to use mangong tuning.
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8.
神遊八機 Shen You Baji
25211.315 神遊 shen you discusses Yellow Emperor's spirit going to Huaxu country (see Huaxu Yin, Liezi and Huainanzi). Zha's Guide
(28/225/---) lists Shen You Baji as a separate melody, giving two entries:
It is not clear why Zha Fuxi made a separate entry for this title.
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9.
Lü Yan 呂巖、呂岩、呂喦 (also: 呂純陽 Lü Chunyang and 呂洞賓 Lü Dongbin; Wiki)
The earliest version of the Xiaxian You melody connects it to a story about Lü Chunyang, one of the nicknames of Lü Yan. Lü is considered the leader of the so-called "八仙 Eight Immortals" (Wiki). Giles: Lü was born ca. 750, became a recluse on 華山 Hua Shan, from there becoming an immortal at age 50; as 呂祖 Patriarch Lü "he is worshipped by barbers".... This site also mentions a story of him from a Chinese opera.
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10.
Yingzhou 瀛州 19047.6
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11.
The original Chinese text is on a separate page.
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12. Section timings are from my CD. The original Chinese titles are:
Return to the Shen Qi Mi Pu ToC or to the Guqin ToC.