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Art Illustrating Guqin Melodies

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Illustration for Guan Ju (Cry of the Osprey)1 關雎圖 Guan Ju Tu
  A classical illustration for Guan Ju (see source)            
The text in the illustration at right2 gives a basic introduction to the "雎鳩 jujiu". There are also other illustrations that show other forms of "鳩 jiu" from other poems in the Book of Songs.3 The origin of the translation of "jiu" and "jujiu" as "osprey" dates at least to the 1879 translation by James Legge, but there is no explanation as to why he selected that bird.4

On the other hand, perhaps based on the osprey being said not to have made a sound like "guan guan", it has been suggested that the jujiu is maybe more likely to have been a mallard.5

Then again, An Unexpurgated Translation of Book of Songs, by Xu Yuanzhong, translates the opening of this song/poem as follows:6

By riverside are cooing
    A pair of turtledoves;
A young man is wooing
    a fair maiden he loves.

"Turtledove" and other possibilities are discussed further here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Illustration From Mōshi himbutsu zukō
The image here was copied from a modern printing of a Japanese edition of the Revised version of Illustrations of living objects in the Mao [edition of the Book of] Poems (毛詩品物圖改 Mōshi himbutsu zukō). It was 輯 compiled by the Japanese Sinologist 岡元鳳 Genpō Oka (1737-1787) of 浪華 Naniwa (Osaka), hence the marks in the text giving the pronunciation in Japanese syllables. I do not know from what this edition was "revised".

毛詩品物圖改 卷四
        浪華 岡元鳳 輯
鳥部
關關雎鳩
三(kana)
傳。雎鳩,王雎也。鳥摯而有別。 集傳,水鳥也。狀類鳧鷖。今江淮間有之。生有定偶而不相亂。 偶常並遊而不相狎,故毛傳以為擊而有別。 摯與鷙通。雎鳩。鷙鳥也。翱翔水上。扇魚攫而食之。大小如鴟。

Not yet translated, but it begins saying 傳雎鳩,王雎也 "traditional commentary has it that jujiu are the same as wangju (princely) ju." This is discussed further here.

Other images here from the same source include ones for these melodies:

Chinese original sources for such images are also mentioned below.
(Return)

2. Original Chinese version (see Appendix)
In Chinese 毛詩品物圖改 is Mao Shi Pin Wu Tu Gai and the compiler's name pronounced 浪華岡元鳳 Gang Yuanfeng of Langhua.
(Return)

3. Illustrations that show other forms of "鳩 jiu"
Examples include,

  1. 維鳩居之 Wei jiu ju zhi: "A dove will be dwelling in it"
    From "召南鵲巢" poem 12 "Magpie's Nest" in "Airs of Bei", which begins, "維鵲有巢,維鳩居之 Wherever the magpie has a nest, a dove will be living in it." "Dove" is elsewhere translated as "cuckoo".
  2. 鳲鳩在桑 Shi jiu zai sang "The turtle dove is in the mulberry tree"
    From 曹風鳲鳩" poem 152 "The turtle dove" (also translated at "The Cuckoo"), each section of which begins, "鳲鳩在桑、其子七.... The turtle dove is in the mulberry tree, her sons are...."

These examples suggest "鳩 jiu" can refer to a wide range of birds and 雎鳩 jujiu is just one of them. There is no 關鳩 guanjiu, but it is still not completely certain what kind of bird the 雎鳩 jujiu is.
(Return)

4. Translation as "osprey"
James Legge (1815-1897), The Chinese Classics: With a Translation, Critical and Exegetical Notes, Prolegomena and Copious Indexes (Volume 4, She King), Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1871.
(Return)

5. A mallard (as here?)
Also compare mandarin ducks (鴛鴦 yuan yang, with the yuan being male and the yang being female) are associated with romance. 47745.28 鴛鴦 has the Latter Han History as its earliest reference. More commonly ducks are called 鴨 ya, of which there are many types. "Osprey" is commonly translated as 魚鷹 yuying.
(Return)

5. An Unexpurgated Translation of Book of Songs, by Xu Yuanzhong
Panda Books, Beijing, 1994.
Professor Xu says "turtle doves coo in spring" but does not explain further why he selects that translation here.
(Return)

 
Appendix
Illustrations from 毛詩品物圖改 Mao Shi Pinwutu Gai
Revised Mao (edition of the Book of] Poems Illustrated

  Compare from online Chinese edition (source)
My copy of this book is a non-color edition published in Taiwan; the title is also translated as the Revised illustrations of Plants and Animals in the Mao [edition of the Book of] Poems. (Compare with 毛詩、草木鳥獸蟲魚疏 the Mao [Edition of the Book of] Songs, Commentary on flowers, trees, birds, animals, insects and fish.) It was apparently copied from a Japanese work, with the title pronounced "Mōshi himbutsu zukō". It was compiled by the Japanese Sinologist 岡元鳳 Genpō Oka (1737-1787) of 浪華 Naniwa (Osaka), with marks in the text being kana that give the pronunciation in Japanese syllables. There are three prefaces, signed,

西播   那波師曾撰並書
東讚柴邦彥撰
浪花岡元鳳撰 (Genpō Oka)
I do not know from what this edition was "revised", and I am not sure about the marks in the text. They seem to be kana giving Chinese pronunciations for Japanese readers, but there may also be bopomofo, the Taiwan system of indicating pronunciation.

Primary sources for illustrations of plants and/or animals mentioned in the Shi Jing
The three books mentioned here are all said to be similar, but information on them is not clear, starting with 17141.166, which has only 毛詩 Mao poems, nothing about illustrations or book names. Nevertheless, the main sources seem to be three books with similar names and similar images. The first dates from the 18th century; the other two seem to be 19th century versions of the same.

  1. 毛詩名物圖說 Mao Shi Ming Wu Tu Shuo, attributed to(清)徐鼎 Xu Ting (completed in 1771; see China Knowledge).
    The text of this work, in three volumes, has been copied into ctext.org. There is an example here.
  2. 毛詩品物圖改 Mao Shi Pinwutu Gai.
    This is the name both for the Japanese book in black and white described above and also the one in color at right, which was downloaded from digitalarchive.npm.gov.tw. (Or: go to Index and search for "毛詩品物圖". It seems to be attributed to 岡公翼, another name for 岡元鳳 Genpo Oka, mentioned above).
  3. 毛詩品物圖考 Mao Shi Pinwutu Kao
    This is the title printed on books I have found online under the previous title. The images seem to be the same but with some textual differences and printed in color.

See also Images of Confucius.

Study of such images is not complete. The online original of the image at right, downloaded from digitalarchive.npm.gov.tw is itself not clear.