Shi Jing, The Book of Odes: Minor Odes of the Kingdom, Decade of Tong Gong

[x_los]

* I found the best option for the weekly reminder emails, via Gmail. The external service options are more involved than our purposes require. Does anyone know anything about how to arrange an Apps Script? Basically all it has to do is tell ten people, on Saturdays, to come and get their juice/poems.

Until someone knows what to do there, I'll send out manual messages weekly. If you'd like to receive these and are not getting them, please let me know.

* If you haven't read it yet, chapter one, on tetrasyllabic shi poetry, in How to Read Chinese Poetry is hugely useful for the Book of Odes, imo.

* IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS WHO MIGHT LIKE TO JOIN or have other ideas, please let me know on this post.

* Every week I search the poems' English results to see if I can find any scholarship or neat bits and pop the results in Resources. Here is this week's collection.

* I recently wrote about the China History Podcast, which has a whole series on Tang Poetry, and might well be of general interest.

**NEXT BATCH APRIL 12.**

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177. 六月 - Liu Yue

[x_los]

六月棲棲、戎車既飭。
四牡騤騤、載是常服。
玁狁孔熾、我是用急。
王于出征、以匡王國。

In the sixth month all was bustle and excitement.
The war carriages had been made ready,
With the four steeds [of each], strong and eager;
And the regular accountrements had been placed in the carriages.
The Xian-yun were in blazing force,
And thence was the urgency.
The king had ordered the expedition,
To deliver the royal kingdom.

比物四驪、閑之維則。
維此六月、既成我服。
我服既成、于三十里。
王于出征、以佐天子。

Matched in strength were the four black steeds,
Well trained to observe every rule.
On this sixth month,
We completed our accountrements.
Our accountrements were completed,
And we marched thirty li [every day].
The king had ordered the expedition,
To help the son of Heaven.

四牡脩廣、其大有顒。
薄伐玁狁、以奏膚公。
有嚴有翼、共武之服。
共武之服、以定王國。

The four steeds were long, and stout,
And large-headed.
We smote the Xian-yun,
And achieved great merit.
Severely strict and careful [was our leader],
Discharging his military service, -
Discharging his military service,
And settling thereby the royal kingdom.

玁狁匪茹、整居焦穫。
侵鎬及方、至于涇陽。
織文鳥章、白旆央央。
元戎十乘、以先啟行。

Badly reckoned the Xian-yun,
When they confidently occupied Jiao and Huo,
And overran Hao and Fang,
As far as to the north of the Jing.
On our flags was their blazonry of birds,
While their white streamers fluttered brightly.
Ten large war chariots,
Led the way in front.

戎車既安、如輊如軒。
四牡既佶、既佶且閑。
薄伐玁狁、至于大原。
文武吉甫、萬邦為憲。

The war carriages were well made.
Nicely balanced, before and behind.
Their four steeds were strong,
Both strong and well trained.
We smote the Xian-yun,
As far as Tai-yuan.
For peace or for war fit is Ji-fu,
A pattern to all the States.

吉甫燕喜、既多受祉。
來歸自鎬、我行永久。
飲御諸友、炰龞膾鯉。
侯誰在矣、張仲孝友。

Ji-fu feasts and is glad;
Great happiness is his.
In returning from Hao,
Distant and long had been our march.
He entertains and feasts his friends,
With roast turtle and minced carp.
And who are there?
There is Zhang Zhong, the filial and brotherly.

Re: 177. 六月 - Liu Yue

[x_los]

Who's the Zhang zhong?

Horses will continue to be vital to Chinese military survival against raiders up until the Mongolian conquest: the whole tea-horse trade with Tibet is about supplying border nations with tea for their thick nutrient rich-breakfast slurry beverage in exchange for a constant stream of good horses. Maintaining these numbers was the office of an entire special government division.

Re: 177. 六月 - Liu Yue

[superborb]

Zhang Zhong is glossed by Baike as Zhou Xuan wang's qingshi. When I looked up qingshi, it's a particular level of high ranking official

Re: 177. 六月 - Liu Yue

[superborb]

Baike: about the northern expedition of Yin Jifu to repel the Xianyun during the time of Zhou Xuan wang. He's said to be main person involved in collecting the Shijing and considered the ancestor of Chinese poetry.