Dugu Ji
 T of C 
Home 		My
Work		 Hand-
books		 Qin as
Object		 Qin in
Art		 Poetry
/ Song		 Hear,
Watch		 Play
Qin		 Analysis History Ideo-
logy		 Miscel-
lanea		 More
Info		 Personal email me search me
Qin biographies   首頁
Dugu Ji
- Qin Shi #124		 獨孤及 1
琴史 #124 2

Dugu Ji (725 - 777) was from a Turkic family that, having married into the Sui and Tang royal families, was living in Luoyang.4 He had an important official career under the Tang, but is "known mainly as a literary critic, an advocate of free prose, and an early, though indirect, influence on the great free-prose writer Han Yu."5

There are several stories about Dugu Ji as a qin player.7 The one in Qin Shi tells of his taking his qin to Matui Shan (elsewhere Ma Shan6); it then adds several lines from a poem by Dugu Ji.8

See also Qinshu Daquan,

Folio 20B, #25 (a related but completely different poem, at Ma Shan)
Folio 16, #55 (another version of the story told under Shi Jingshan).
Folio 17, #47 (he beats on iron and plays qin while a gibbon howls).

The original biography in Qin Shi, under the title Dugu Xian Gong, is as follows.

Dugu Ji, style name Zhizhi, from Luoyang, was noted for his essays.... He was also fond of playing qin. He once wrapped up his qin and carried it up Matui Shan. There is a poem (about this?) that says,

微風度竹來，韻我鐘期弦。
曲終予亦酣，起舞山水前。

.... He was canonized Xian Gong.

Full poem below.

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Bio/1757 獨孤及，字至之，謚憲公; ICTCL, p.820: scholar official, became 太常博士 (Erudite in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices), and finally had prefectureship of 常州 Changzhou. Canonized "Exemplary Duke". (Return)

2. The original text was, (Return)

4. Other members of this family were also involved with the qin. For example, his cousin Dugu Mian had a son, Dugu Shi, who wrote a Jiu Diao Cao. (Return)

5. Influence on Han Yu
ICTCL, p.820. Dugu Ji had argued for a return to earlier writing styles, a precursor to Han Yu and the advocacy of 古文 gu wen.
(Return)

6. Matui Shan (Mount Matui)
45550.431 馬退 Matui says it is a mountain north of 南寧 Nanning, near Kunming (which is in fact quite far from Nanning). Elsewhere the mountains are called simply 馬山 Ma Shan; 45550.44 lists several, including one in Henan, 內鄉縣.

On the other hand Dugu Ji is sometimes credited with having written an essay called, 邕州馬退山茅亭記 Notes Written at Maoting Pavilion on Matuishan in Yongzhou (Hunan), an essay generally attributed to Liu Zongyuan.
(Return)

7. Other stories about Dugu Ji playing qin
For example, 太平廣記 Taiping Guangji (3) says,

常州獨孤及，末年尤嗜鼓琴，得眼病不理，意欲專聽。（出《傳載》）
Dugu Ji of Changzhou in his later years was very fond of playing qin. Even when afflicted by an eye disease he wouldn't get treatment as he did not want to be distracted from his listening.

Dugu Ji served as an official in Changzhou.
(Return)

8. Poem by Dugu Ji
The full poem is as follows:

初晴抱琴登馬退山對酒望遠醉後作

年長心易感，況為憂患纏。
壯圖迫世故，行止兩茫然。
王旅方伐叛，虎臣皆被堅。
魯人著儒服，甘就南山田。
挈榼上高磴，超遙望平川。
滄江大如綖，隱映入遠天。
荒服何所有，山花雪中然。
寒泉得日景，吐霤鳴湔湔。
舉酒勸白雲，唱歌慰頹年。
微風度竹來，韻我號鍾弦。
一彈一引滿，耳熱知心宣。
曲終余亦酣，起舞山水前。
人生幾何時，太半百憂煎。
今日羈愁破，始知濁酒賢。

Not yet translated.
(Return)

 

Return to QSCB, or to the Guqin ToC.