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Su Shi
1
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蘇軾
Zhong Kui with qin (Su Dongpo?) 2 |
Su Shi (1037 - 1101), better known as 蘇東坡 Su Dongpo, was one of the Song dynasty's most influential poets and essayists. His brother Su Che was also a poet.3 There is some discussion of Su Dongpo's connections to the qin in Xu Jian's Introductory History of the Qin, 6a2.
A collection of writings by Su Shi about the qin, under the title Miscellaneous Accounts of Qin Matters, was included in Folio 100 of the 14th century encyclopaedia called Shuo Fu. This volume still exists.4
Poems by Su Shi directly mention qin at least 61 times.5 Qinshu Daquan (QQJC Vol. V) includes at least 22 such poems and essays he wrote concerning qin. These poems and essays include (original texts are in a footnote below):6
Qinshu Daquan also has stories by other people that mention Su Dongpo and qin, sometimes quoting him. For example, see (original text below):7
Some handbooks say he wrote the melody He Wu Dongtian. And his lyrics set to qin melodies (by others) include the following,
Explanations for the melody Xiangsi Qu (Gu Qin Yin)10 have several different introductions, all concerning Su Dongpo and a female ghost who played the qin. In the version translated by Van Gulik,11 Su Dongpo hears someone playing a sad song outside his window. When he goes to look he sees a young woman, who immediately disappears. In the morning when digging in that area he finds an old qin.
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a
separate page)
1.
Su Shi 蘇軾 (蘇東坡 Su Dongpo, sometimes written Su Dongbo)
33250.234 眉山人,洵子,轍兄,字子瞻 from Meishan, son of Su Xun, brother of Su Che, style name Zizhan. Sources (see also
Wiki) include:
The references quoted here come from various poetry collections and The Collected Writings of Su Dongpo (東坡文集 Dongpo Wenji).
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2.
Japanese image: Zhong Kui with qin (Su Dongpo?)
This image for a standing screen was copied from a
Japanese web page. The text there says (in part),
The last line says "Chosenji Temple, Drawing of Zhong Kui embracing a qin". On the left side of the screen the writing says: 七十叟野某姚宋敬 .
I do not understand this inscription, or the relationship between Su Dongpo, the Eight Immortals, the inscription and the image, which is clearly Zhong Kui
(Wiki), who was not one of the 8 Immortals.
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3.
Su Che 蘇轍 (1039 - 1112)
Su Che, style name 子由
Ziyou, though overshadowed by his older brother Su Shi, was one of the "Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song". (Indiana Companion, p.727)
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4.
Miscellaneous Accounts of Qin Matters (雜書琴事,十三則 Zashu Qinshi, 13 entries; 一卷 one folio)
Qinshu Cunmu entry 103 (4 lines) bases its discussion of this work attributed to Su Shi on the version in Folio 100 of 說郛本 Shuo Fu, where it is the fifth entry. There are 13 essays in the Shuo Fu edition, as follows:
元豐四年六月二十三日,陳季常處士自岐亭來訪予,攜精筆佳紙妙墨求予書。會客有善琴者,求予所蓄寶琴彈之,故所書皆琴事。
Some of these are quoted again below.
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5.
Qin mentioned in Su Shi's poetry 61 times
See Stuart H. Sargent, Music in the World of Su Shi (1037-1101): Termiology, Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies 32, p. 46 (2002; online).
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6.
Su Shi qin-related poems and essays in
Qinshu Daquan
There are at least 22 such items in that 1590 compendium, as follows:
Folio 17, #56 (V. 384)
Folio 17, #57 (V. 384)
與次公同聽賢師琴。賢求詩,倉卒無以應之。次公言古人賦詩,皆歌所學,何必己云。次公因誦歐陽公贈李師詩,囑予書之以贈焉。元祐四年九月二十一日,東坡居士記。
Folio 18, #55 (V. 403)
Entry 31 from Folio 19 concerned the 3rd month, 18th day; for the 19th day see below
Folio 19A, #33 (V. 419)
Folio 19B, #91 - #93 (V. 431-2; 3 poems),
Folio 19B, #161 (V. 441)
Folio 20A, #53 - #55 (V. 447, 3 poems)
7.
Stories by others concerning Su Dongpo and qin
These two stories were included in Qinshu Daquan (1590),
Folio 17:
However, there does not seem to be a clear division in the text. The entire text seems to concern Su Dongpo and a 13-string qin / zheng, so the second subtitle may simply refer to the included poem(s).
元祐六年三月十九日,余自杭還朝,宿吳松江,夢長老仲殊挾琴過予,彈之有異聲,熟視琴頗損,而有十三弦。予嘆息不己。殊曰:「雖損尚可修。」曰:「柰十三絃何?」殊不答。
In the 6th year of Yuanruo, the 19th day of the 3rd month, I returned from Hangzhou to....
誦詩曰:
「度數形名豈偶然,破琴今有十三絃。
此生若遇邢和璞,方信秦箏是響泉。」
予夢中瞭然,識其所謂,既覺而忘之。明日晝臥,復夢珠來理前言,再誦其詩,方驚覺,而殊適至,意其非夢也。問之殊,蓋不知。是歲六月,見子玉之子子文於京師,求得其畫,乃作詩並書所夢其上。子玉名瑾,善作詩及行草書,復古名迪,畫山水草木蓋妙絕一時。仲殊本書生,棄家學佛,通脫無所著,皆奇士也。
In a dream I....
(The original Dongpo Ji text then continues: 詩曰:
「破琴雖未修....Broken qin...., see
above).
Folio 17, #39 (V.380/1)
昭德樸齋錄 Zhaode Record of Puzhai
There is a 昭德文集 Zhaode Wenji by Zhao Gongwu (晁公武 14239.5: 12th c.), while 樸齋錄 Puzhai Lu is perhaps a work by 蒲瀛 Pu Ying called 蒲氏漫齋錄 Pushi Man Zhailu (32271.17 pushi: a type of fan), but I have not been able to find the connection between that and this text, which mentions Su Dongpo in connection with his friend 王晉卿 Wang Jinqing (王詵 Wang Shen Bio/108; Jin is written here with two 口 instead of two 厶) and two Daoist priests, 武崇穆 Wu Chongmu (Bio/xxx; 16623.xxx) and 費世隆 Fei Shilong (37565.xxx).
道士武崇穆善鼓琴,亦能攧竹騁。兹二伎頗結貴游然風貌不甚灑落。王晉卿賞其伎,與之往還。由此識蘇東坡。東坡因聽琴嘗以詩為贈。道士費世隆亦攻琴別無他業其不韻尤甚於武。武欲蔫之於二公令揮絃求詩共要虛譽。一日晉卿約東坡飯。上清宮時武、費與蔫飯起瀹(音藥)茗稍雍容間晉卿乃索琴求武、費各作一操。東坡據振衣索馬欲退。晉卿堅留聽琴。東坡曰:今日只求赴飯,意非聽琴。請俟他日,清集耳竟上馬去。翼日晉卿復見東坡,詰其所以。東坡謂晉卿曰:觀其人可以知其琴矣。何必更聽耶。
Daoist priest Wu Chongmu was a skilled qin player who was also fast at dianzhu (a game involving sketching bamboo?)....
There are probably also other references in Qinshu Daquan that I have not yet found.
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8.
Poem on the source of qin sounds (see above)
The translation is based on that of Xu Yuanzhong, Song of the Immortals, p.212. The original (see p.423) is:
9.
水調歌頭 Shui Diao Ge Tou
This is the name of a cipai; the lyrics by Su Shi are the most famous (see in Wiki). There are several melodic settings for qin of this title (Zha
Guide 32/244/470), the first being the one in Lixing Yuanya (1618; QQJC VIII/337) setting the Su Shi lyrics for
1-string qin. As indicated by the preface there, it is one of the poems written by Su Shi during Mid-Autumn (details). The lyrics are as follows:
Zha also lists this title in handbooks dated
1677,
1682 (2) and
1802, but these latter have completely different lyrics. 1677 begins, "君山已不作,獻曲久無人...."; 1682 begins,
"鐵篴老仙去,無復採花船...."; the others are same as those.
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10.
Xiang Si Qu 相思曲
Also called 古琴吟 Gu Qin Yin. See details in the introduction to the 1585 version, including the
original lyrics.
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11.
Su Shi and Ghost
Translation in Lore, pp.159-160. See detais.
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