Yílǐ shū 儀禮疏
Sub-Commentary on the Yílǐ
by 賈公彥 (等撰)
About the work
Jiǎ Gōngyàn’s 賈公彥 (fl. 650–655) Táng sub-commentary on the Yílǐ (KR1d0025) in 50 juan, transmitted in the Sìbù cóngkān (SBCK) as a stand-alone shū without the canonical text and Zhèng Xuán’s note (which appear together in KR1d0028 Yílǐ zhùshū). This is the dānshū 單疏 (“sub-commentary alone”) format. The SBCK transmits a Sòng-period Jǐngdé official-printed version recovered with its first 31 juan from a Wúxiàn 吳縣 (Sūzhōu) Huángshì 黃氏 manuscript and its juan 32–37 separately recovered. The 50-juan division is Jiǎ Gōngyàn’s own; the consolidation of jīng + zhù + shū into a single combined-format text (which becomes the standard zhùshū presentation) was a Míng Zhèngdé-era (Chén Fèngwú) editorial intervention. Wāng Shìzhōng’s 汪士鐘 1830 Yìyún shūshě 藝芸書舍 yǐngxiě (faithful-copy) reprint preserves the dānshū format.
About the work continued
The Sìkù records this work in KR1d0028 as part of the consolidated Yílǐ zhùshū; the SBCK dānshū version preserves the original 50-juan textual organisation that the consolidated format obscures.
The Wāng Shìzhōng preface of 1830 (Dàoguāng gēngyín) — included in the SBCK frontmatter and translated below — describes the recovery: “Combining the shū with the jīngzhù and consolidating the juan-numbers begins with the Míng Zhèngdé-era Chén Fèngwú; from Lǐ Yuányáng onward all followed it. Those engaged in textual collation often pointed out the resulting errors. The Sòng Jǐngdé official-printed Jiǎ Gōngyàn original 50-juan division of the shū alone, not combined with the jīngzhù — same as the Old and New Tángshū lists — has not yet been seen. The lucky-surviving Sòng zhǎnběn (residue copy) lacks juan 32 to 37; the surviving 44 juan in the early Jiāqìng came into our prefecture’s Huángshì collection. Then Zhāng Gǔyú the Prefect obtained its proof-copy and combined it separately with the Yánzhōu jīngzhù and re-edited at Jiāngshěng — afterwards Ruǎn the Hereditary Defender [Ruǎn Yuán] used it to supplement the ten-line edition where it was insufficient. Only at this time Duàn Ruòyīng the Magistrate [Duàn Yùcái] also obtained the proof-copy, calling it the dānshū Yílǐ and also correcting the deflections introduced when the Jīngzhuàn tōngjiě version had altered things — the goodness of the dānshū is now to be heard.”
Tiyao
(no separate tíyào in the SBCK frontmatter — the Sìkù tíyào of the consolidated Yílǐ zhùshū serves as the principal Sìkù tíyào for both works; see KR1d0028)
Abstract
Jiǎ Gōngyàn’s Yílǐ shū is one of his two principal Sānlǐ contributions (the other being the parallel Zhōulǐ shū, also incorporated in KR1d0003 Zhōulǐ zhùshū). The original 50-juan division — preserved in the SBCK dānshū edition — was lost to common readers from the Míng Zhèngdé era onward, when the shū was consolidated with the jīng and zhù into a single 17-juan layered presentation. The Sòng Jǐngdé official-printed dānshū version, recovered partially in the late Qīng, restored the original division and revealed numerous editorial errors that had crept in during the MíngQīng consolidation tradition.
The Yílǐ shū is the standard Táng layer of Yílǐ exegesis and is the indispensable bridge between Zhèng Xuán’s Hàn note and the late-Sòng-onward commentary tradition. Jiǎ’s preface to the Yílǐ shū (incorporated at the head of KR1d0028) provides important historical material on the pre-Táng Yílǐ commentary tradition (Huáng Qìng of Northern Qí, Lǐ Mèngzhé of Suí), most of which is otherwise lost.
Translations and research
- See KR1d0028 Yílǐ zhùshū for translations and research that engage the Jiǎ-shū layer.
- Wāng Wénjǐn 汪文錦 (ed.), Yílǐ zhùshū, in the Shísān jīng zhùshū zhěnglǐ běn 十三經注疏整理本 (Běijīng dàxué chūbǎnshè 2000) — punctuated standard edition that incorporates the dān-shū recension.
Other points of interest
The Wāng Shìzhōng 1830 reprint of the Sòng Jǐngdé dānshū — preserved in the SBCK — is one of the more significant nineteenth-century recoveries of Táng-period sub-commentary in its original textual organisation. The case demonstrates how the consolidated zhùshū format, while convenient for reading, can obscure original textual structure and introduce editorial errors that are only recoverable when dānshū exemplars survive.
Links
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiquette_and_Ceremonial
- Sìbù cóngkān: https://archive.org/details/06049145.cn