| Jingchu Suishiji | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 《荊楚歲時記》 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 《荆楚岁时记》 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Record(s) of the Seasons ofJingchu | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Japanese name | |||||||||
| Kanji | 荊楚歲時記 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Jingchuji | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 《荊楚記》 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 《荆楚记》 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Record(s) ofJingchu | ||||||||
| |||||||||
TheJingchu Suishiji, also known by variousEnglish translations,[a] is a description ofholidays in centralChina during the 6th and 7th centuries. It was compiled byDu Gongzhan in theSui or earlyTang (early 7th century) as a revised, annotated edition ofZong Lin's mid-6th-centuryRecord of Jingchu orJingchuji. The originalRecord is now lost; the original text of theJingchu Suishiji seems to have been lost as well, with current editions consisting of various attempts ofMing andQing scholars to recover the text from fragments in other works.
Zong Lin(宗懍,Zōng Lǐn,w Tsung Lin; AD 498–561)[2][b] was a member of theNanyang immigrants toJiangling,Hubei,[10] who composed hisRecord of Jingchu under theLiang.[11] It seems likely he wrote the book after moving toChang'an in 554.[12][c] Aside from theJingchu Suishiji and other fragments, the original text is now lost.[3]
Du Taiqing(t杜臺卿,s杜台卿,Dù Táiqīng,w Tu T‘ai-ch‘ing; bornc. 536) drew from Zong's work in composing his own seasonal calendar, thePrecious Canon of the Jade Candle(t《玉燭寶典》,s《玉烛宝典》,Yùzhú Bǎodiǎn,w Yü-chu Pao-tien), shortly after 581.[14] It survives in an incompleteJapanese manuscript, probably from the 14th century.[14]
His nephewDu Gongzhan(杜公瞻,Dù Gōngzhān,w Tu Kung-chan; died after 590)[14] used thePrecious Canon to revise and annotate Zong's text sometime in the lateSui or earlyTang.[10] Du's family came fromBoling[15] (probablyDingzhou,Hebei)[16] and some of his notes are about the differences in the festivals' observance in northern China.[15] The original text of this work—in which it is sometimes difficult to distinguish Zong's text from Du's emendations[13]—seems to have been lost under theSong (10th–13th centuries).[15] Surviving editions of the work differ greatly and appear to beMing andQing (14th–20th-century) attempts to recreate the work from fragments elsewhere[15][d] in sources like theYiwen Leiju andTaiping Yulan.[6] Du died in office as themagistrate ofAnyang.[17]
Jingchu was the area reckoned as the former territory ofChu, now mainly inHubei andHunan around the middle stretches of theYangtze River.[4] TheSuishiji is an annotated record of its major festivals in the mid-6th to early 7th century,[3] during the chaos ofSui's creation and collapse and just before the stability and grandeur of theTang. The surviving 37 or so paragraphs also draw fromliterary sources to outline the history of the festivals as then understood. Some are traced togods and legendary ancestors, others toagricultural rhythms, and others tohistorical figures or events.[6] The work also includes irregularly observed rituals and celebrations concerning disease, bodily functions,marriage, childbirth,dancing, and theexorcism ofevil spirits.[6]
Importantly, theJingchu Suishiji records changing Chinese rituals,cuisine, andentertainment as religious andcalendrical changes led to a "new canon" of major festivals.[3] TheChinese New Year,Lantern,Tomb Sweeping,Dragon Boat,Double Seven,Ghost, andDouble Ninth Festivals all took most of their present form during the periods leading up to the composition of theJingchu Suishiji (from the late Han to the Six Dynasties).[15] The Double Seven and Double Ninth Festivals reflect the growing use from thelate Han onward of monthly dating rather than the oldsexagenary cycle ofheavenly stems andearthly branches.[15] Similarly, the new reckoning gave added importance to the proper new year festival, which added features from the old popular "new year"La sacrifices andexorcisms that had occurred in the 12th month after midwinter.[18]
TheJingchu Suishiji is one of the first sources to record the combination of the stories of "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" andZhang Qian with his magicalraft.[1] Similarly, an edition of theJingchu Suishiji from the end of theSix Dynasties period ofChinese history is one of the few sources of the era that mention theGhost Festival, aBuddhist holiday on the 15th day of the7th lunar month supposedly started by thediscipleMoggallāna to free his dead mother from her status as ahungry ghost. Zong quoted theapocryphalYulanpen Sutra and described the holiday during his time: people offeredtemples flowers,flags, andbowls and joinedmonks andnuns indrumming andsinging.[2]
Du's commentary on Zong's section about theCold Food Festival supports the idea that it derived from an oldZhou ritual about banning fire in the capital[19] during the last month of spring.[13] This derives, however, from an ignorance that the festival had originally been observed around midwinter and continued so as late as theHan.[20]
The best edition of theJingchu Suishiji is that compiled as part ofMitsu Moriya'sStudy of China's Old Seasonal Records.[13][21] It has been translated intoGerman byTurban[22] and intoJapanese byMoriya & al.,[23] which includes helpful commentary.[13]
TheJingchu Suishiji was very influential on writings about the seasons and festivals of China throughout theTang andSong, being quoted greatly more than any other non-classical text.[24]
The book is sometimes credited as the earliest reference to theKorean traditions concerningred-bean porridge[11] and the beverages that becameseju.[7] The consumption of red-bean porridge around thenew year had been common in China in order to stave off disease—particularlysmallpox—spread by the pestilent son of the monsterGonggong; the practice spread to Korea under theGoryeo and has continued as part of theKorean New Year celebrations.[25]
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