Introduction to Zheyin Shizi Qinpu

Preface to Zheyin Shizi Qinpu
Qin Handbook of Music of the Zhe(jiang School) Elucidated through Lyrics¹

by Zha Fuxi,² Qinqu Jicheng, Second Series, Vol.1, pp. vi-vii;
Beijing, Zhonghua Shuju Chuban Faxing, 1981 (printed in Shanghai)

This handbook is in the ancient Tian Yi Ge (Heaven First Pavilion) of the Fan family in Ningbo.³ The Tian Yi Ge Book Catalogue mistakenly calls it Qu Xian's Shen Qi Mi Pu (hereafter SQMP).⁴ Printed in the Ming dynasty, only two folios survive. The first folio had 66 (double) pages, but is missing 1 to 4 and 15 to 21. The last folio goes from pages 67 to 143 (but ends in the middle of a piece). Because the first folio is missing the first page, we have no way of knowing its hangkuan (original page layout and heading format).⁵ However, based on the final folio's hangkuan, where the first column says, "Zheyin Shizi Qinpu, Final Folio", and in the next column "Edited and interpreted by Nanchang Banze Antiquarian Gong Jing, a Confucian devotee,"⁶ we know that this book's original title is Zheyin Shizi Qinpu (hereafter ZYSZQP). Altogether it preserves 40 pieces, four of them incomplete.⁷

Although this book has the hangkuan of Antiquarian Gong, he is only the book's "editor/interpreter”.⁸ Because the introductory explanations to several of the qin (seven string zither) pieces in this book refer to Zhu Quan as Zu Wang (royal ancestor), we have concluded that this book was printed before the fourth year of the Hongzhi era (1488 - 1492) by Zhu Dianpei, the Ning Kang prince.⁹ In this book Gong Jing takes all (sic.) the pieces of the SQMP and several other qin pieces and composes (or compiles) lyrics by a method of one character for one note.¹⁰ (This technique) is an obstacle which makes (the pieces) difficult to sing. But one can conclude that the original tablatures included here of several qin pieces not found in the SQMP are tablatures transmitted from the Song and Yuan dynasties.

Recent research suggests that the actual compiler along with Gong Jing was the fourth generation descendant of Zhu Quan, Zhu Gongwei.

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. 17881.xxx; 17881.17 is 浙派 "Zhe pai", Zhejiang art style
釋字 shizi 41025.xxx

The original text is:

八浙音釋字琴譜
寧波范氏天一閣舊藏，天一閣書目誤作《臞仙神奇秘譜》。明刊本，僅存二卷。上卷六十六頁，原缺第一至第四頁；第十五至第二十一頁；下卷自六十七起至一百四十三頁。上卷因缺首頁，行款不得知；但據下卷行款首行爲「浙音釋字琴譜卷之下」，次行爲「南昌板澤稽古生龔經效孔編釋」，故知此書的本名實爲《浙音釋字琴譜》。共存四十曲，其中四曲殘缺不全。

此書雖有龔稽古的行款，但他祇是書的「編釋」人。因爲書中許多琴曲解題提到朱權是他的「祖王」，我們推定此書是明寧靖王朱奠培在弘治四年（公元一四九一）以前所刻。書中把朱權《神奇秘譜》中各曲和一些其他琴曲，由龔經按一字一音編寫文辭，捍格難於演唱。但其中所收《神奇秘譜）以外許多琴曲的原譜仍可推定是宋、元間流傳下來的。

This almost exactly duplicates what Zha Fuxi wrote in his 存見古琴曲譜輯覽, Beijing, 1958; pp.579-80.
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2. 查阜西 Zha Fuxi; edited by 吳釗 Wu Zhao.
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3. 天一閣 Tian Yi Ge
A famous book collection started by the scholar 范欽 Fan Qin during the Ming dynasty Jiaqing era (1522/67). See further details.

Zha's
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4. 神奇秘譜 Shen Qi Mi Pu
14779.924 "The Emaciated Immortal's Handbook of Spiritual and Marvelous Mysteries" was compiled by "Ningxian Prince" Zhu Quan, 17th son of the founder of the Ming dynasty, and first published in 1425.
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5. 行款 hang kuan "Column-items".
Dictionaries say simply "layout" or "page layout". More specifically this refers to the standardized page-layout format of a traditional printed book, including line count, juan ("folio") headings, and attribution lines; it can be used, as here, as bibliographical evidence when title pages are missing. This is especially the case in its mention in the second paragraph, which seems to refer to the part of the layout that includes the content of the page.
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6. 南昌板澤稽古生龔經效孔編釋; 28248.80 編釋 bianshi.
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7. This is discussed in detail in Introduction to Zheyin Shizi Qinpu.
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8. All pieces are prefaced with an introduction attributed to one 希仙 Xi Xian, a style name of Zhu Gongwei. Tong Kin-Woon suggests translating Xi Xian as "Soundless Immortal", the reference being to Laozi, Chapter 11, which says of the Tao: "One looks but is unable to see it, so it is called 'formless'; one listens but is unable to hear it, so it is called 'soundless'; one grasps but is unable to hold it, so it is called 'intangible'. These three, being unresolvable, are mixed together as one." (老子，十四﹕視之不見，名曰夷；聽之不聞，名曰希；搏之不得，名曰微。此三者不可致詰，故混而為一。 See also 9025.25 希夷﹕無聲曰希，無色曰夷；謂道之本體也。 "[Xi Yi]: 'without sound' is called xi; 'without appearance' is called yi; this is the basic nature of the Tao."
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9. 朱奠培 Zhu Dianpei, grandson of Zhu Quan, so also living in Nanchang; no mention in 7432.82 or 14779, but see Mingshi (especially 12/117/3591, the main biography of Zhu Quan). Zhu Dianpei is said to have been an accomplished writer, but what evidence is there besides the texts in ZYSZQP?
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10. Actually, one character for each right hand stroke plus one or more for certain left hand strokes, for example, two characters for each duiqi and one for taoqi.
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Return to the Zheyin Shizi Qinpu index or to the Guqin ToC.