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Classic mountain and sea maps and ancient paintings

Shan Hai Jing is the earliest illustrated classic in China. Some people say that Shan Hai Jing is a wonderful book with pictures and texts. Unfortunately, the ancient map of Shan Hai Jing was lost in the dust of history. The pictures of Shan Hai Jing, which once existed in ancient times, and the pictures on the unearthed cultural relics contemporary with Shan Hai Jing opened the cultural tradition of ancient narrative in China.

According to documents, Guo Pu (AD 276-324), a scholar and exegetist in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, first mentioned that Shan Hai Jing had pictures. In his notes on Shan Hai Jing and Shan Hai Jing Tu Zan (3 17-323) [1], he called the Shan Hai Jing Tu he saw "a painting of fear of animals". In many places, he mentioned the famous book of mountains and seas-The Painting of Fear of Animals;

"Xishan Jing": "There is a beast with a long arm. Good casting is called Xiao. " Guo Note: "Therefore, it is also painted in fear of animals, like a macaque throwing it."

"Four Classics of the Western Regions": "There is a beast named Zero. It eats tigers and leopards and can resist soldiers. " Guo note: "Ф is also in the painting of fear of animals, and has also been revised."

"Beishan Jing": "There is a beast whose name is Meng Huai, and it can resist fierce." Guo Note: "Evil spirits are also exiled. Still afraid of animal painting. " Guo Pu's Tu Zan said, "Meng Huai is like zero, but his breadth is red. Elephants are afraid of animals, and what goes around comes around. "

"The Great Northern Wilderness Classic": "There is a snake with a god's mouth named Liang Qiang." Guo Note: "This is also afraid of painting animals." Guo Pu's "Tu Zan" said: "Well, a strong beam, a tiger head and four hooves. Demons are kings, only ghosts have mouths. Holding a snake is fierce and afraid of the strangeness of the beast. "

Besides, in Guo Pu's annotation and Tuzan, the words "painting", "painting" and "image" also refer to "fear of animals". For example, in Nanshan Jing: "There is a beast that looks like a jade ear, and its name is Yue." Guo Pu's note: "Yu is as big as a macaque, with a jealous tail, and there are many mountains in the south of the Yangtze River today. The speaker can't understand this thing, and Mingyu is a cow, and the picture is also a cow or a monkey, so it is lost. " "Northern Classics II": "There is a beast named cannibal." Guo Note: "Greedy for things, eating people endlessly, is also harmful to people. For example, in Ding Xia, the so-called gluttony in Zuozhuan is also true. " His "Tu Zan" said: "The picture is wonderful, but the meaning is not good." "Overseas South Classic" Guo made a note for the Republic of China: "You can fly not far, lay eggs, and paint like a fairy." "Overseas South Classic" Guo made a note for the first country: "Painting is also like a fairy." Guo Wei made a note: "Words can spit fire and paint like macaque black." Guo Wei in the Overseas Chinese South Classic commented: "This picture shows Hong Niao." Guo wrote a sentence for Bing Yi in Haibei Jing: "Draw a hearse and drive two dragons on all sides." [2]

Guo Pu's "fear of animals" refers to those who have the power to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters. Here, we might as well borrow the mythologist Tsung i Jao's definition of fear animals and fear animal paintings:

The beast of fear is a powerful beast, which can dispel the evil spirit and ominous ... The ancients were afraid of beasts, so they destroyed the evil spirits ... Shan Hai Jing is a book with many magical things. Ancient animal-fearing paintings, the protectors place their hopes on this! [3]

The most striking feature of "animal-fearing painting" is that it has the functions of exorcism, resistance and sharpening, so it has the nature of witchcraft. The ancient paintings of fear of animals were preserved by Shan Hai Jing.

Another Jin Dynasty writer who wrote Tu Zan for Shan Hai Jing was Zhang Jun, the former cool king (307-346 AD). According to the materials provided by the researchers, Zhang's Tuzan was written in the reign of Xiankang, later than Guo's Tuzan. There are only two books marked "Tuzan". [4]

Another person in Jin Dynasty clearly recorded a picture in Shan Hai Jing and named it Shan Hai Tu, that is, Tao Yuanming (AD 365 or 372-427), a famous poet in Eastern Jin Dynasty. In the first poem of "Reading Thirteen Classics of Mountains and Seas", he wrote a famous article that has been passed down through the ages: "The biography of Zhou Wang has spread all over the mountains and seas. I am not happy to throw the ball to the end of the universe. " I don't know how many generations have been inspired by this poem "Looking at the Mountains and Seas" to pursue this picture of mountains and seas.

Guo Pu, Zhang Jun and Tao Yuanming's paintings of animals and mountains and seas have long since disappeared. But painting mountains and rivers has a long tradition in our country. In addition to the lost ancient paintings of The Classic of Mountains and Seas, there are also many pictures with this theme in the cultural relics unearthed in the 20th century, such as ancient rock paintings, decorative patterns on bronzes, strange gods in silk paintings, fear of animals, etc., all of which record the spectacular scenes of the primitive picture era of human beings in the form of pictures, and the ancient fear of animals also appears in these ancient paintings. Here, we select some ancient paintings contemporary with The Classic of Mountains and Seas from archaeological relics, such as lacquer paintings on lacquerware in the early Warring States period and needle depictions on bronzes in the middle of the Warring States period, and introduce and compare them, which may lead us into the painting world of our ancestors, appreciate the elegance of the ancient painting era and have a face-to-face exchange with ancient animals.

First, the fear of animals in silk paintings and books.

Two silk paintings and Chu bamboo slips found in Changsha Chu Tomb are the earliest known physical remains of Chinese paintings. [5] From the silk calligraphy and painting [Figure 1, God's Map in December, Chu Silk Book Unearthed from the Warring States Tomb in Changsha Ammunition Depot], we can see the earliest mythical images such as Phoenix Bird, Zhu Rong, Fei Yi, Three Gods Face, Ru Shou, Yu Qiang, etc.

Second, the fear of animals in lacquer painting during the Warring States Period

Lacquer paintings are mainly works of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, unearthed in tombs in Hubei, Hunan, Henan, Shandong and other places from the Spring and Autumn Period to the early Warring States Period. There are wonderful lacquer paintings on the lacquer coffins related to the funeral, as well as musical instruments and daily utensils buried with the funeral.

(1) Lacquer painting on the lacquer coffin of Zeng Houyi's tomb in Sui County, Hubei Province. The head, feet, east and west walls of the tomb owner's inner coffin are covered with patterns. Its image modeling mainly includes two series:

A, water god and its family [figure 2] [6].

What is selected here is the pattern on the foot stop of the tomb owner's inner coffin. The picture seems complicated, but in fact it is mainly composed of two parts: the water god and his huge family of dragons, snakes and birds. First, let's take a look at the Lord God. There is a face god on each side of the foot stall; On the lower left and upper right, there are two faces, one small and the other big. These human face gods all have the same morphological characteristics: human face bird body (bird body is deformed), or using snakes to manipulate snakes, or practicing snakes through snakes. Shan Hai Jing Overseas North Jing says: "Beiqiang has a bird, two green snakes and two red snakes." We speculate that Yu Qiang, the water god, may be the coffin head, coffin foot and bird face on the east and west walls of Zeng Houyi's tomb. Secondly, around the Lord God, there is his huge family of dragons, snakes and birds, with dragons and snakes as the main body. According to the statistics of Zeng Houyi's tomb, dragons and snakes account for 84. 13% of the total. This is the place where the water god lives, and it is also the ecological environment of the ancient myth world! They are often in groups of two, or entangled, or opposed, or entangled, or intertwined, or a single activity. In this huge family of dragons, snakes and birds, there are two fat snakes (located on the left and right sides of the coffin cover) recorded in Shan Hai Jing Bei Shan Jing. Five birds in the east longitude (one in the middle of the left and right sides of the coffin); Four-winged snake with "Zhong Ci Er Jing" (one below each of the above five birds); There is a snake-shaped four-legged fish with Three Classics of the Western Regions (located under the head of five birds in the middle of the right side of the coffin); There are two snakes with heads before and after the overseas west longitude (under the rattlesnake in the middle of the right side of the coffin), and so on. As the image feature of Yu Qiang, the dragon snake bird is also the divine symbol of Yu Qiang's control of the aquarium and the dragon snake bird. As members of the water god family, dragons, snakes and birds are also animal partners of Yu Qiang, the water god.

Second, the wizard and the water god family [Figure 3]. [7]

The combination of these images shows that wizards, like water gods and their families, play the role of town tombs. What is selected here is the design of the lower left part of the east side wall of the tomb owner's inner coffin. The picture consists of four squares. The two squares on the left have the same theme as the one on the lower right. They are all water gods and their dragon, snake and bird families. On the upper right are six masked wizards with double halberds in their right hands. Tsung i Jao said, "Oracle Bone Inscriptions has no words ... under the zero word, and wears a mask on his head. With the lacquer painting of the coffin of the tomb of Zeng Houyi in the county, the mask is horrible in shape and similar to the positive pole. The speaker said that this image is a fraction, in order to drive away evil spirits and protect the dead. " [8] Among the six masked wizards, the upper and lower images in the left column deserve special attention (see close-up). Er Shen's hands are bird-winged, with scales on his body and fishtails on his lower body. In addition, Er Shen wearing a mask with sharp horns and huge ears can also be considered as the deformation of the two snakes. This snake god with the dual characteristics of fish and bird may also be Yu Qiang, a sea god and a wind god. When Guo Pu commented on Yu Qiang in Overseas Northern Classics, he once quoted a passage: "Yu Qiang in the north, with black hands and feet, rode two dragons." Yuan Ke thinks "black" is the mistake of "fish body". This image of "fish body, hands and feet" coincides with these two water gods with faces, fish birds and hands and feet. The water god also has the function of a wizard, which is very common among ancient gods.

Hubei is full of water, and it is most appropriate for the water god and his dragon and snake family to play the role of town tomb. Therefore, painting water gods, dragons, snakes, birds and masked wizards on tombs and coffins is also to ward off evil spirits and protect the dead.

(2) Among the funerary musical instruments and daily utensils, the most noteworthy is the lacquer painting of Jinse unearthed from Chu TombNo. Changtaiguan 1 in Xinyang, Henan Province. Jinse is a relic of the early Warring States period, about 124 cm long. There are exquisite paintings on the head, tail and vertical wall of Jinse. The following are six pictures of Thursdorf. Can they be named wizards and their animal companions [Figure 4]? Now the order of introducing the pictures is as follows [9]:

Figure 1, shooting and hunting map. The hunter wore a hat with a yellow top and a flat waist, with a bare chest and a silver-gray bottom. Hold the bow in your right hand and pull the string in your left hand, making an archery gesture. In front of the hunter is a monster with a bow, thin waist and long legs.

Figure 2, guide map. The wizard has a square face, big eyes, bent eyebrows, a high nose and an open mouth. The lower limbs are like the claws of birds (original reporter: such as animals), so that they are horizontal. This human face bird foot god may be a mountain god from Jingshan to Qingushan 23 in Zhong Ci's Eight Classics.

Figure 3, the guide is holding the instrument. The wizard on the right in the picture is wearing a hat with a high top and a thin waist, a long coat and wide sleeves; Stand up straight, take the instrument and stand on the snake. In front of the wizard, a dragon stood up, held his head high and waved his claws, as if dancing with the wizard's musical instruments. The long snake standing beside the wizard coiled around the dragon.

Figure 4. The wizard plays the part of a snake. The wizard in the middle of the picture is wearing a hat with a bird's head in front and a magpie's tail behind. His eyes are flat, his mouth is open and he makes a roar. Hands like bird claws, each holding a snake. The image in front of the guide was considered by the original reporter to be a thin-waisted woman who stepped forward quickly. If we look at this image carefully, will it be the three-legged mountain god involved in Qishan in the Eight Classics of Zhongci?

Figure 5, the guide is holding the instrument. The wizard wears a hat with a high top and a thin waist, and his mouth is straight; Hold the instrument with both hands. A waiter in a tall hat and a long coat followed him.

Figure 6, the wizard plays with the dragon map. This painted paint is located on the side of the wallboard near the left side of the head. A giant holds a dragon in his hands, with a protruding faucet and scales on his body. On its right, there is a scaly beast that opens its mouth and bites the dragon's tail. There is a curly-tailed puppy under the beast's stomach. It is looking up and barking.

The above six pictures are only a small part of the whole golden lacquer painting. From this picture of the life of Chu wizards and their animal companions during the Warring States period, we can see that wizards occupy an extremely important position in the life of Chu people; As a wizard's animal companion and assistant, the dragon snake is a wizard's tool, and the wizard's ability to serve the dragon snake is a sign that he is qualified as a wizard. These also explain the important position of the dragon snake in the witch map.

Third, the animal fear on the bronze wares of the Warring States Period

(1) The Tomb of the Warring States Period in Gaozhuang, Huaiyin, Jiangsu Province belongs to the remains in the middle of the Warring States Period. Among the unearthed bronzes, there are more than 20 pieces with exquisite needle carvings on them. Here, two of them are quoted and compared with the birds and animals recorded in Shan Hai Jing.

The first picture: bronze carvings of birds and beasts [Figure 5]. [ 10]

The picture is divided into four parts by horizontal lines, and the background is mountains and trees, where birds and animals haunt. The mountain is a stepped hillside with a flat top; These trees are tall and straight and very decorative. In the third part of the picture, there is a face god in the cave, wearing a snake body and holding a snake in both hands, with two beasts around him to serve. The author thinks that this snake-holding human face god may be a mountain god. On the left side of the picture is a bird's head with a long tail behind it. At the top of each corner is a bird with wings and a crossbar with nine teeth on its shoulder. The second part of the picture is mainly about horses, birds, snakes and various deformed monsters. In the middle of the picture, there is a horse-shaped double-faced monster with a face on the left, a snake, two ears and a snake on its head (some scholars think it has horns on its head). This god may be the 20 gods of the horse body and human face that governs Taihang Mountain to Wufeng Mountain 46 in the Three Classics of the Northern Dynasties. Above the horse's face is a four-legged snake, which may be a four-legged fish in the three western classics. Below the horse god are two snakes with their heads facing outwards. In the center of the picture is a face with two horns, with a snake in his left hand and a bow in his right. Could it be the human claw mountain god from Hushan to Wulin Mountain in the Three Classics of the East? There is a quadruped on the right in the picture. Looking back, the long tail is divided into nine branches, which may be the nine-tailed fox that appeared many times in Shan Hai Jing. On the right side of the picture is a bird-headed man, holding a horse in his left hand and a snake in his right. Haineijing, a primitive tribe in the ancient East, has a bird name and a bird head. This personal image of the bird's head appears many times in the needle drawing of other bronzes in Gaozhuang Warring States Tomb, which may be related to the ancient bird's name.

The second picture: bronze grate engraving [Figure 6] [1 1].

This painting also takes mountains, rivers and trees as the place and background for the activities of animals and birds. We don't intend to introduce the beasts on the screen one by one, but only discuss three interesting mythological images on the screen.

First, about Fang Shoushen. There are quite a few square heads in the bronze needle depiction of the Warring States Tomb in Gaozhuang, most of which are characterized by square heads with distinct facial features and horns on their heads. Or play with dragons, or play with wild animals, or carry a toothed crossbar. [Figure 6] In the first half of the picture, Fang Shoushen holds the dragon tail with both hands and practices dragons with both feet; There are five corners on the square head at the top right of the picture. There is also a square-headed god on the silk December God map unearthed from Changsha ammunition depot. Some scholars believe that Fang Shou on the bronze wares in Gaozhuang Tomb is the ancient god of war Chi You [12]. There are also several square heads (including square teeth) in the Classic of Mountains and Seas: for example, 1, and the Qishan god in the Eight Classics of Zhong Ci is involved in zero, which is three-legged in shape. For example, 2, Ju Mang, the god of Haruki, is close-up overseas in East longitude, and looks like a bird and a face; Guo Pu note, plain clothes. Example 3, The Wild South Classic has a square tooth and a tiger tail, which is a famous ancestor corpse. Example 4, Hai Jing contains the son of a worker: "Emperor Yan. . . . . . * * * workers. * * * Industrial and biological instruments, the first side of the instrument is turned over, and the composite soil reaches the river. " The first side jump, Guo note: the head is flat. Song Lomi's Historical Road. In the last four years, it is said that the instrument has a flat top and a square head. If we infer from the image features of the inscriptions on the tombs of the Warring States Period in Gaozhuang, Fang Shou is mostly the face of Fang Shou with horns on his head, then Fang Shou may be Ju Mang, the God of Spring. If we infer from Fang Shou's ability to serve animals, dragons and snakes, it may also be a mountain god.