Cai Yong

Yuefu Shiji includes in its qin melody section a Caishi Wunong (Five Melodies of the Cai Clan). Here these five are said to be the following melodies:

You Chun (Spring Travel)
Lu Shui (Green Water)
You Ju (Retired Life)
Zuo Chou (Sit in Sadness) and
Qiu Si (Autumn Thoughts)

The Caishi Wunong listed in at least one Song dynasty source changes one of the above titles. And as can be seen by following the link in the next paragraph, surviving versions of Caishi Wunong include still different melodies.

Surviving qin melodies with which Cai Yong has sometimes been connected include the following:⁵:

Guangling San
Qiuyue Zhao Maoting
Xiao Hujia and Da Hujia (through his daughter Cai Yan)
Chang Qing⁶
Caishi Wunong

Qin illustration 29 in Taiyin Daquanji shows what it says is a qin he had made, named Scorched Tail (焦尾 Jiao Wei).

The Qin Shi essay is as follows:⁸

Cai Yong, style name Bojie, was from Yu in Chenliu (south of Kaifeng⁷). As a youth he had a broad education. He treated Grand Tutor Hu Guang⁹ as his teacher. He wrote with a polished style, was expert in divination, astronomy, and was a great master of music. He wrote a Rhapsody on the Qin¹⁰ which says,

(165 characters from his 琴賦 Qin Fu, not yet translated)

At the time of Emperor Huan (r.147 - 168) five lords such as the minister¹¹ Xu Huang (d.164 CE) and Zuo Guan (d.165 CE), who were willful and unrestrained, heard that Cai Yong was a good qin player. (Eunuchs then controlled the emperor.) One day the emperor ordered the prefect of Chenliu to send a dispatch (ordering Cai Yan to come to the court). (To avoid this) Cai Yong then stopped traveling in 偃師 Yanshi (east of Loyang), said he was ill, and returned home (for 12 years). (In 172) he did respond to a summons to court, where he rose to the position of Court Gentleman of Consultation.¹² Here (ca. 175 CE) he submitted an essay criticizing the eunuchs and as a result was (condemned to death but eventually) sent north; he returned after a general amnesty.

(I have not yet translated the next section, which tells of Cai Yan hearing a wutong tree burning and from the sound realizing it would make a good qin. So he took the wood and made a 焦尾 jiaowei burnt tail qin. Then there is an episode concerning Dong Zhuo [d. 912], then in control of the government, ordering Cai Yong into the government, Cai's pleading illness, Dong Zhuo ordering Cai Yong to play qin, and Dong Zhuo ordering Governor 王允 Wang Yun to execute Cai Yong (in 192).) The whole world mourned him.

(Earlier) at Chen Liu a neighbor who was having food and wine (with guests) invited Cai Yong. But as he was going in there was a guest playing the qin behind a screen. Cai Yong went to the door and secretly listened to the player. He said, "Hey, the music beckoned me over but (the player) has the idea of killing someone. What is this?" He then returned home and sent his servant to tell the host (he had gone home). (The host) then hurried over (to Cai's house) and asked him the reason. Cai told him all about it. (The host was) completely amazed. (Later) the qin player said, As I was playing on the strings I saw a preying mantis approaching a singing cicada that was about to leave but had not yet flown off. The mantis followed it, stepping forward and back. My heart was stirred up, afraid the mantis would lose the cicada (whose noise was bothering him). Could it be that that this murderous heart was transmitted onto the qin? Cai Yong in amusement laughed and said, "That must explain it." ¹³

(The biography includes some more information not yet translated, most of it apparently commentary by Zhu Changwen himself. It also mentions by name the Caishi Wunong.¹⁴)
Preying mantis and cicada:
Qicuo from QFTGYY

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 蔡邕 Cai Yong; his style name 伯喈 Bojie means something like Sir Melody. He is discussed in Xu Jian Chapter 2.A. (pp.16-18).

R. H. Van Gulik, Lore of the Chinese Lute
Van Gulik (p. 177) discusses Cai Yong as the reputed author of Qin Cao; although it survives only in a rather late (18th century) copy, it was quoted enough in early sources that it is generally considered quite authentic. Van Gulik also discusses Cai as father of Cai Yan (p. 94), composer of Chang Qing (p.96), owner of a jiaowei qin made from a burnt log (p.101), maker of qin strings from widow's silk (p.155), and as a ghost appearing before Xi Kang (p.157).
Herbert A. Giles, A Chinese Biographical Dictionary, #1986
Cai Yong 蔡邕 (T. 伯喈) A.D. 133 - 192. A native of Chen-liu in Henan, said to have been a re-incarnation of Zhang Heng (78 - 139!?), the features of the two being so much alike. He was distinguished as a youth for his filial piety and his love of study. Entering public life he rose by 170 to be a Reviser in the department of historiography. He was employed among other things in superintending the work of engraving the authorized text of the Five Classics, which he wrote out on stone in red ink for the workmen to cut. In 175 he incurred the resentment of a cabal, and being accused of magical practices was thrown into prison and condemned to death. This punishment was commuted to that of having his hair pulled out, coupled with banishment to Gansu. He reached (Wu Yuan) 五原 in Inner Mongolia; but it was represented to the Emperor that his work on the annals of the E. Han dynasty had been very valuable, and in the following year he was pardoned. He then appears to have led a wandering life, mostly as a refugee in the Wu State, until the year 189 when the Emperor Ling Di died and Dong Zho summoned him to take office. At first he declined on the grounds of sickness. Dong Zho however would hear of no refusal and forced him to accept office, rapidly promoting him to the highest posts and transferring him from one to another in an unprecedented manner. He had just been ennobled as Marquis when Dong Zho himself fell, and for words of regret which he thoughtlessly uttered h was once more thrown into prison where he died in spite of great efforts to obtain his release. He was a hard drinker and consumed daily an almost incredible amount of wine, earning for himself the nickname of the Drunken Dragon. He was an excellent musician, on one occasion fashioning a (qin) out of a half-burnt firebrand, on another a flute out of a bamboo lance-handle.
Liang Mingyue, The Chinese Ch'in, pp. 89-94.
Mentions two students, Duan Yu () of Wei and Gu Yong (顧雍) of Wu.
ICTCL, pp.787/8 (some terms are translated from there)
The article says his family was wealthy and powerful

Also: do a net search for "Cai Yong" and "Ts'ai Yung". (Return)

2. (Return)

3. Although the 琴操 Qin Cao by 蔡邕 Cai Yong is the best-known, there seem to be several different versions of it. It is also confused with Qin Cao by other people. This is discussed in a separate article. (Return)

4. 琴經一卷 Qin Jing (Return)

5. I do not know how all the qin melodies mentioned here became attributed to him. (Return)

6. Chang Qing is one of four melodies with related titles associated with both Cai Yong and Xi Kang:

These four are included in one version of the Qin Cao attributed to Cai Yong (see Hejian Yage, #8-11). (Return)

7. 陳留圉 Yu in Chenliu. ICTCL says the three commanderies of Chenliu, 汝南 Runan (to its southwest) and 潁川 Yingchuan (south) formed "a center for the leading intellectuals of the time". Historical Atlas II, p.19, shows Yu actually in 淮陽國 Huaiyang Princedom, at the center of the three commanderies. It is about 75 km SSE of Kaifeng, so it should be the same as the 圉鎮 Yuzhen Town on modern maps of 杞縣 Qi County. I haven't been able to find any indication of commemoration. (Return)

8. The original Chinese begins,

蔡邕字伯喈陳留圉人也。少博學。師事太傅胡廣。好辭章、數術、天文，妙操音律。嘗作琴賦曰﹕

（爾乃）言求茂木，周流四垂，觀彼椅桐，層山之陂，丹華煒燁，綠葉參差，甘露潤其末，涼風扇其枝，鸞鳳翔其巔，玄鶴巢其岐，考之詩人，琴瑟是宜，爾乃清聲發兮五音舉，發宮商兮動角羽，曲引興兮繁弦撫，然後哀聲既發，秘弄乃開，左手抑揚，右手徘徊，指掌反覆，抑案藏摧，於是繁弦既抑，雅韻乃揚，仲尼思歸，鹿鳴三章，梁甫悲吟，周公越裳，青雀西飛，別鶴東翔，飲馬長城，楚曲明光，楚姬遺嘆，雞鳴高桑，走獸率舞，飛鳥下翔，感激茲歌，一低一昂。

桓帝時，中常侍徐璜、左悺等五侯擅恣，聞邕善鼓琴，遂白天子，敕陳留太守督促發遣。邕行次偃師，稱疾而歸。後應辟奄宦。謫徒朔方，既會。赦還。

（漢靈帝時）乃亡命江海，遠跡吳會稽。嘗經會稽高遷家。。。。天下惜之。

（蔡）邕在陳留其鄰人有以酒食召邕。此往客有彈琴於屏，邕至門試潛聽之，曰：「憘！以樂召我而有殺心，可也？」遂反。將命者以告主人（曰：「蔡君向來，至門而去。」邕素為邦鄉所宗，主人）遽自追而問其故，邕具以告，莫不憮然。彈琴者曰：「我向鼓弦，見螳螂方向鳴蟬（，蟬）將去而未飛，螳螂為之一前一卻。吾心聳然，惟恐螳螂之失（蟬）也。此豈為殺心而形於聲者乎？」邕莞然而笑曰：「此足以當之矣。」（看圖）

由此觀之，人之善惡存於思慮，則見於音聲。。。。
(Return)

9. 太傅湖廣 Taifu means he tutored royalty. ICTCL says Hu Guang held positions under two of that time's leading intellectual figures, 桓帝 Emperor Huan (r.147 - 168) and 朱穆 Zhu Mu (100 - 163; Bio. p552 says Cai Yong and others commemorated him after his death). (Return)

10. 琴府 Qin Fu. See also Qinshu Daquan, Folio 16, #3 (V, p.386). Van Gulik in Hs'i K'ang's Essay on the Lute (sic), p.60, says that in addition 傅毅 Fu Yi (1st C. CE), 孫該 Sun Gai d. 261 CE), 成公綏 Chenggong Sui (231 - 273) and 閔洪 Min Hong (3rd C. CE) are all said to have written Qin Fu, but apparently the only one to survive is the one by Xi Kang (223 - 262). (Return)

11. The text has 中常侍 (76.495) 徐璜左悺等五侯. (Return)

12. The Giles and ICTCL biographies differ on details here. (Return)

13. Kenneth DeWoskin, A Song for One or Two, Music and the Concept of Art in Early China, 1982, p.182 translates a more complete version of this story from Cai Yong's biography in Hou Han Shu. Some years ago I heard a similar cicada - preying mantis story but with different people involved; I haven't been able to trace that yet.

A similar story has Confucius playing the qin while watching a cat chase a mouse. In another room Minzi tells Zengzi that he hears some anxious sounds in the qin play. This fable can be found in 孔叢子 Kong Congzi (see Qinshu Daquan, Folio 16, #27). (Return)

14. 蔡氏五弄
(Return)

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