You Lan

I once saw that a written list called "21 Hejian Zage" (Miscellaneous Melodies of Hejian) included a You Lan Cao (! Actually it is #6 of the Hejian Yage!). Perhaps a gentleman who wandered afar lost his way and didn't meet dark and hidden, humble ___ fragrant orchid in a valley did not display itself see its meaning hitherto have . ... (Translator's note: Help!!!⁶)

Ten sections
(untitled)

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8.
Coda
end

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 幽蘭 You Lan
See You Lan references
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2. Gong mode (宮調 gong diao)
For further information on gong mode see Shenpin Gong Yi and Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature.
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3. Tracing You Lan
See Zha's Guide 19/181/--. It does not include the afterword here, and some of the characters are not clear in the original. The seven occurrences are mentioned in the chart under the 1425 Yi Lan.
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4. There seem to be rather a few fingering errors. (Return)

5. The original Chinese is:
嘗觀載記所稱『河閒雜弄二十一』中有《幽蘭操》。蓋遠引之士絕道不偶沈晦側微_1_芳蘭在谷不自顯見其意_2_有所_3_云。 (Return)

6. Notes:

河閒 17634.148 place name; nickname of 玄俗 Xuan Su, an immortal with a body that cast no shadow (see 列仙傳 Liexian Zhuan)
河閒雜弄 17634.xxx ? 琴操 Qin Cao, a qin melody list attributed to 蔡邕 Cai Yong, has a list of five tunes (曲 qu), twelve laments (操 cao), nine preludes (引 yin) and then 21 melodies called 河澗雜歌 Hejian Zage. Qinxue Congshu (1910; see Qin Fu, p. 746 ff.) has introductions to the melodies in all four categories. However, Taiyin Daquanji (QQJC I, pp. 70 - 71), replaces the Hejian Zage with a list of 二十一章 21 completely different titles called 河澗雅歌 Hejian Yage.
遠引 wander afar
絕道 = 棄絕事理
偶 ou: image, mate; accidental; 不偶 = 不遇
沈晦 shenhui: 5/1004 隱而不露 dark and hidden
側微 low, humble
_#_ unidentified characters: 1. 加? 如? 於? ;
2. 向? 自? ;
3. 戶+鳥﹕雇? hu, type of bird; gu, engage; 焉?.
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