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| Scenes Illustrating Guqin Melodies Standard tuning Yu Ge Ruibin tuning Yu Ge Diao - Yu Ge Image 1 More | 首頁 |
| Illustrations for the qin melody Yu Ge (Fisherman's Song) 1 | 漁歌圖 |
| A long scroll by Bai Yunli | Title beginning the Yu Ge scroll by Bai Yunli |
This long scroll, "Fisherman's Song" (Yu Ge Tu), was inspired by a Yuan dynasty scroll painting called "The Fisherman" (漁父圖 Yufu Tu) by 吳鎮 Wu Zhen (1280-1354),2 said in turn to have been 仿 made in the style of an earlier one by 荊浩 Jing Hao (850?—911? Wiki). Online one can read of at least four extant versions of this scroll, though after Wu Zhen they tend to say they are 仿 made in the style of Wu Zhen rather than Jing Hao. Three are in museums in Washington, Shanghai and Beijing, one was sold at an auction in 2024 (details below).3
The Hangzhou painter Bai Yunli based the scroll linked here specifically on the one in the Freer Gallery of the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, D.C. At that time the Freer version was not online so he made his version based on several sources, including the copy printed in Masterpieces of Chinese Painting Overseas (see III/56).
As can be seen below, Wu Zhen's painting had 16 images of a fisherman, each inscribed with its own poem (each poem is numbered and listed below the copy of his painting). Because the standard tuning Yu Ge as published in Xilutang Qintong (1525) has 18 sections, Bai Yunli's scroll replaces Wu Zhen's 16 images and their poems with 17 images (no image for #18) and the 18 titles of the 18 sections of the qin melody. Note, further however, regarding these images on Bai Yunli's scroll, images 2 and 3 seem to share one title while image 6 seems to have two titles. Thus there is not a complete correspondence between the images and the 18 titles from the 1525 melody. Also, although the overall construction of Bai Yunli's scroll is quite similar to that of other existing scrolls, especially the one by Wu Zhen, the correspondences are not precise.4
| Links to images corresponding to titles of the standard tuning Yu Ge | Image 1 in the Yu Ge scroll by Bai Yunli |
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# 1 遯蹟滄浪
A secluded life along clear waters
# 2 放情煙水 Losing oneself in the misty waterscape # 3 洗耳清湍 Cleaning one's ears along the rushing streams # 4 濯纓迴漵 Washing one's cap in the whirling waters # 5 緩棹溯遊 Rowing gently up the stream # 6 高歌欸乃 Loudly sing a fisherman's song (harmonics) # 7 響遏巖雲 The melody fills the cliffs and clouds # 8 聲分淞浦 The sounds spread to the Songpu (river) # 9 擊遠疝江 Striking the oars on a misty river #10 扣舷雲渚 Hitting the side of the boat by a cloudy islet #11 施罛橫渡 Turning the boat to stop and extend the fishing net #12 撒網絕流 Casting a net at the bend in a river #13 得魚沽酒 Having caught fish, buying some wine #14 燃竹烹鮮 Burning bamboo to boil the fresh fish #15 醉倚蓬窗 Drunkenly leaning on a boat window #16 閒眠柳岸 Snoozing under the willows by the shoreline #17 蠡和同志 Gathering people of similar intentions #18 軒無軒冕 No interest in an official position |
See also 00-12
and 13-18 
|
In contrast, the 18 titles and poetic text (lyrics?) of the ruibin tuning Yu Ge are less focused on the fisherman himself and more focused on the surrounding scenery. Its titles and accompanying lyrics are listed here, with just the titles below.5
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a
separate page)
1.
The scroll title: 漁歌圖 Yu Ge Tu: The Fisherman's Song
Distinguish the title of the present scroll with that of titles for the common earlier scroll: The Fisherman (漁父圖 Yufu Tu, literally "Father Fisherman", suggesting he has been around for a while).
(Return)
2.
Wu Zhen (1280-1354): The Fisherman (吳鎮，漁父圖 Yufu Tu)
吳鎮，字仲圭。號梅花道人 Wu Zhen, courtesy name Zhonggui, nickname Meihua Daoren
(see Wikipedia) was one of the most famous Yuan dynasty painters (one of the Four Masters of the Yuan).
(Return)
3.
Other long scrolls with the present theme
Introductory information about the three paintings called "The Fisherman" that are now in museums came from from the shuge.org website, here and also
here. The shuge.com websites (as of 2023) included some images and also some comparison of the three versions.
The three museum versions are as follows: https://www.shuge.org/view/yu_fu_tu/#to-tab-1-2
- In the Freer Gallery of the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, D.C. (q.v.; "after Jing Hao")
Image below; this version has the 16 inscriptions shown below; note that #8 adds "無船" because it has no boat (or fisherman) - In the Shanghai Museum (see on their website?)
15 fishing boats, 14 fishermen? Commentary on shuge.org apparently makes a connection between the Shanghai version and 柳宗元 Liu Zongyuan (773 - 819), but I am not sure if this is perhaps only a reference to his poem Song of the Fisherman, not to any scroll painting. - In the "Palace Museum". Details of this are not quite clear. The shuge.org site shows the Palace Museum Beijing having only a single image on a vertical scroll (expand and compare here; I could not find it through the Palace Museum search page) rather than a long horizontal scroll, while the digital archive of the Palace Museum in Taiwan shows only fragmented images. (Could not find more in a search of their Collection).
- In addition, in April 2024 Sotheby's sold a painting by 金鉉 Jin Xuan (1610-1644) called 漁樂圖 The Joy of Fishing but in the style of Wu Zhen's version (but compare poems). Details are here (including this image).
To sum up, information on this is not yet clear to me.
Meanwhile, the Freer version (expand) is copied here but without some of the colophons at the end.
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4.
Inscriptions on the Wu Zhen painting
These inscriptions, all poems in the form 7 7 3+3 7, cannot be paired using the
standard pairing method to the tablature of the standard tuning Yu Ge of Xilutang Qintong (1525), which itself also has no lyrics. They are also not connected to the lyrics that
Zheyin Shizi Qinpu (>1505) paired to its tablature. Instead the lyrics below can be found only with the paintings that have them as inscriptions. Here they are copied from this webpage, which seems in places to add some comparative commentary. Meanwhile a ChapGPT translation is added below.
- 洞庭湖上晚風生，風觸湖心一葉橫，蘭桌穩，草衣輕，只釣鱸魚不釣名。
- 重整絲綸欲桌船，江頭明月正明圓，酒缾倒，草花懸，拋卻漁竿踏月眠。
- 殘陽浦里漾魚船，青草湖中欲暮天，看白鳥，下平川，點破瀟湘萬里煙。
- 如何小小作絲綸，祗向湖中養一身，任公子，龍伯人，枉釣如山截海鱗。
- 極浦遙看兩岸斜，碧波微影弄晴霞，孤舟小，去無涯，[阿]那箇汀洲[是]下是家
- 雪色鬚鬚一老翁，能將短桌撥長空，微有雨，正無風，宜在五湖煙水中。
- 綠楊灣里夕陽微，萬里霞光浸落暉，擊桌去，未能歸，驚起沙鷗撲鹿飛。
- 月移山影照漁船，船載山行月在前，山突兀，月嬋娟，一曲漁歌山月連。（無船。）
- 風攪長江浪攪風，魚龍混雜一川中，藏深浦，繫長松，直待雲收月在[中]空。
- 舴艋為舟力幾多，江頭雲雨半相和，殷勤好，下長波，半夜潮生不那何。
- 殘霞返照四山明，雲起雲收陰復晴，風腳動，浪頭生，聽取虛蓬夜雨聲。
- 無端垂釣定潭心，魚大船輕力不任，憂傾側，繫浮沈，事事從輕不要深。
- 釣得紅鱗拽水開，錦鱗敤較逐鈎來，搖赬尾，噞紅腮，不羨嚴陵坐釣台。
- 五嶺風光絕四隣，滿川鳧鴈是交親，雲觸岸，浪搖身，青草煙深不見人。
- 舴艋舟人無姓名，葫蘆提酒樂平生，香稻飯，滑蓴羹，桌月穿雲任性情。
- 桃花波起五湖春，一葉隨風萬里身，釣絲細，香餌均，元來不是取魚人。
A ChatGPT translation of these poems is as follows:
Note the use of rhyme; and as yet I have made only a preliminary study of this translation.
The Jin Xuan version has the same 18 poems paired to images of the fisherman but, as can be seen on the Sotheby's site, they are all in a different order, as indicated:
Here is another ChatGPT translation, this time without rhyme:
Here all 16 poems have images.
5.
Ruibin tuning
Yu Ge titles
The corresponding melody and its lyrics could work with the images in the above scroll, but perhaps better (especially given the title of the first section) would be a scroll more similar to one such as
Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers.
A single leaf drifts where the wind prefers.
With steady oar and clothes of grass,
Fishing for perch, not fame that lasts.
Under the moon, full and aglow at the dome.
The wine jar tips, wildflowers sway,
Abandoning the rod to sleep in moon’s ray.
In verdant lake, twilight’s hues devote.
White birds descend, lowlands meet,
Breaking Xiang’s mist where rivers greet.
Just to sustain one’s life, no more.
Let nobles and gods fish the vast,
I’ll leave their quest for wealth unasked.
Sunlit ripples reflect a dreamy gleam.
A lone boat glides to endless skies,
Is that sandbank a home that lies?
With a short oar navigates the air he’s crossed.
Light rain falls, no wind’s refrain,
Content in Five Lakes’ smoky domain.
Ten-thousand clouds stain twilight skies.
The oar strikes forward, not yet home,
Startling gulls into startled roam.
The boat carries hills where light is born.
Mountains loom tall, moonlight pure,
A fisher’s song and moon endure.
Fish and dragons in chaos discern.
Hiding in coves, anchored to trees,
Waiting for clouds to clear, moon’s tease.
As rain and clouds with tides blend.
Faithful in rowing, through waves vast,
Midnight tides rise, unstoppable cast.
Clouds gather, disperse, dark then light.
Winds shift paths, waves arise,
Listen: rain whispers in night skies.
A large fish pulls, the boat spins round.
Fearing capsizes, afloat yet bound,
Taking all lightly, no depth profound.
Its shimmering form leaps toward the chain.
Shaking red tails, breathing gills,
No envy for Yenling’s famed hill.
Flocks of ducks and geese are neighbors nearby.
Clouds brush shores, waves rock the heart,
In misted green smoke, men depart.
A gourd of wine fulfills life’s plan.
Scented rice, slippery water-shield stew,
With moon through clouds, leisure imbues.
A leaf adrift where winds may swing.
Lines thin, bait laced in fragrant hue,
Not fishing for fish—seeking truth anew.
On Dongting Lake, evening wind arises—
a breeze strikes the lake, and one leaf drifts crosswise.
An orchid-decked table, a light grass cloak:
he fishes only for perch, not for fame.
Recasting his line, he’s about to anchor his boat—
the moon at river’s edge is round and bright.
Wine jar overturned, wildflowers hang—
he tosses down his pole and sleeps beneath the moon.
At dusk near a cove, his fishing boat drifts,
on Green-Grass Lake, as evening sky descends.
Watch the white birds drop into the plain,
piercing through ten thousand li of Xiang mist.
just enough to feed a man on the lake.
As for those nobles and dragon-chasers,
they vainly hook fish the size of mountains and oceans.
From a distant cove, slanting shores appear,
jade waves toy with a clear sunset haze.
His skiff is small, the journey endless—
this sandbank or that—is either one his home?
A white-bearded elder, snowy-whiskered,
can row his short boat into boundless sky.
A hint of rain, yet no wind at all—
perfect for drifting on Five Lakes, in mist and water.
In the Green-Willow Bay, the sun sets faint,
ten thousand li of light bathe in the dusk.
He rows away, not yet willing to return,
startling sand gulls into wild flight.
The moon moves; mountain shadows shine on his boat—
he sails with the mountain, the moon ahead.
Mountains loom; the moon is luminous—
a single fisher’s song binds mountain and moon. (No boat shown.)
Wind stirs the Yangzi, waves stir the wind—
fish and dragons churn the whole river.
He hides in a deep cove, ties up to a tall pine,
waiting for clouds to clear and the moon to rise.
How much strength can a skiff provide?
At the river’s mouth, cloud and rain mingle.
He drifts gently into long waves—
at midnight, when the tide rises, what can be done?
Evening glow reflects, and four hills brighten—
clouds gather, clouds part, gloom and sun alternate.
Wind’s tail stirs, wave crests rise—
listen to the empty rush-hut in the night rain.
Without cause he fishes mid-pool, holding still—
the fish is large, the boat light, the effort too great.
He fears tipping or imbalance, so he secures float and sinker—
in all things, favor lightness, avoid going deep.
He catches a red-scaled fish, pulling wide through the water—
brocaded scales scramble to chase the bait.
They thrash crimson tails, gulping with red gills—
he envies not Yan Ling on his grand fishing terrace.
Scenery at the Five Ridges outshines its neighbors—
the river is full of geese and ducks, all kin.
Clouds brush the bank, waves rock the body—
in the deep green mist, no one can be seen.
The skiff-man has no name—
he carries a gourd of wine, joyfully content with life.
Fragrant rice, slippery water-shield soup—
he rows through moonlight and cloud, following his nature.
Peach-blossom waves rise—spring on the Five Lakes.
A single leaf in the wind, his body drifts ten thousand li.
His line is fine, his bait perfectly balanced—
for in truth, he is not fishing for fish.
(Return)
This is the earliest version of the melody later called Ao Ai:
(Return)