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Qin Shi

Yu the Great
- Qin Shi #3

大禹 ¹
琴史 #3 ²

Yu is also called 夏禹 Yu of Xia (Xia, as in Xia dynasty, can be considered the name of the country at that time). As the successor to Shun, Yu had to take responsibility for saving the country from the great flood after his father 鯀 Gun had failed in the task.

Qin Shi attributes to Yu a qin melody called Yu's Melody (Yu Cao³), mentioned here in connection with the task of controlling the flood. It does not survive in any handbooks.

The other melody mentioned here, Great Xia (Da Xia⁴), is said to have been written in response to the flood. There is no surviving qin melody of this title. However, the melody Yu Hui Tu Shan deals with a great meeting called by Yu after he had solved the problem of the flood.

Another surviving title connected to Yu is Melody of Xiangling (Xiangling Cao). Xiangling, which literally means "overflow the hills", was a city in Henan province. Yuefu Shiji has several lyrics with this title.⁵

One commentary in Yuefu Shiji on Xiangling Cao says an alternate title is Yu Shang Kuaiji. However, Song dynasty melody lists include this as a separate melody (Yu Ascends Mount Kuaiji), and Seng Juyue's melody list, while attributing it to Yu, seems to say that it concerns searching for his grave, or a cave.⁶

The original biography in Qin Shi is as follows.

The Great Yu grieved because his father Gun's achievements had not been accomplished, and he sympathized with the great danger felt by the people of Yao (i.e, the Chinese people). So he spent four years traveling through the nine districts, often passing by his home but never going in. Because the water and land were level you could see that the flood waters overflowed the hills and covered the mounds. So (Yu) took his qin and created a melody. Its sound was clear, like a lot of bubbling water. His aim (in playing the song) was in deepening the river. He called the song Yu Cao, sometimes called Xiangling Cao. The work of the successor to Shun led to (the melody) Great Xia, describing Xia's greatness. It said that the work in controlling the flood was great.

Further details in preparation. 7

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1 Anne Birrell, Chinese Mythology, discusses him extensively, translating his name as Reptilian Pawprint (Return)

2 (Return)

3 禹操 Yu Cao; 25449.xxx (Return)

4 大夏 Da Xia; 5960.924 Music of Yu (Return)

5 襄陵操 Xiangling Cao; 35354.49
Xiangling Cao is included in Song dynasty melody lists, but the only surviving melody is in 1549, which has an afterword quoting from Yuefu Shiji. YFSJ has lyrics for it in Folio 57, #10 (p. 828). The entry there is as follows.

襄陵操 Xiangling Cao
"also called 禹上會稽 (the Great) Yu ascends Kuaiji"

"書 Shu" (?) says,

湯湯洪水方割，湯湯懷山襄陵，浩浩淫天。

Gujin Yuelu says,

Yu controlled the flood, ascended Mount Kuaiji, looked around and created this song.

Xie Zhuang, Qin Lun says,

Xia Yu controlled the waters and so created Xiangling Cao

Qin Ji says,

Yu Ascends Kuaiji is what Xia Yu created upon making an imperial tour of the east.

Yu of Xia (lyrics):

嗚呼，洪水淫天，下民愁悲，上帝愈咨。三過吾門不入，夫子道衰，嗟嗟不欲煩下民。
(Return)

6 禹上會稽 Yu Shang Kuaiji Emperor Yu Ascends Mount Kuaiji (25449.xxx)
No tablature survives for this melody. A comment in its entry in the melody list of 僧居月 Seng Juyue, in TKW's edition, says, 禹制，探古穴也 "By Yu; looking for the old cave." (The Shuo Fu edition has 禹制操古穴也 ?). 25449.10 禹穴 Yu Xue says it is the name of caves in two places, one of which is near Shaoxing in Kuaiji. It then quotes Shi Ji, Sima Qian's Preface, saying, 二十而遊江淮。上會稽，探禹穴。 "When I was 20 and traveling in Jiang Huai, I climbed Kuaiji and looked for Yu's cave." (See Watson, Sima Qian, the Grand Historian of China, 1958.) (Return)

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