Yílǐ tú 儀禮圖
Diagrams of the Yílǐ
by 楊復 (撰)
About the work
Yáng Fù’s 楊復 (fl. early 13th c.) seventeen-juan diagrammatic presentation of the Yílǐ (KR1d0025), with a separate Yílǐ pángtōng tú 儀禮旁通圖 in one juan as cross-cutting reference apparatus. Composed under Zhū Xī’s 朱熹 inspiration (Zhū had requested expanded diagrams after seeing Zhào Yànsù’s 趙彥肅 partial diagrams for the Tèshēng and Shǎoláo chapters), the work covers all seventeen chapters in 205 individual ceremonial-procedure diagrams, plus 25 cross-cutting diagrams on architecture (gōngmiào門), ceremonial garments (miǎnbiàn 門), and sacrificial vessels (shēngdǐng lǐqì 門). Autograph preface dated Shàodìng wùzǐ (1228); Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí gives a Chúnyòu-era completion date which the Sìkù editors regard as un-cross-checked.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that Yílǐ tú in seventeen juan and Yílǐ pángtōng tú in one juan was composed by Yáng Fù of the Sòng. Fù (zì Màocái, hào Xìnzhāi, native of Fúzhōu) — when Zhèng Féngchén was Jiāngxī tax-transport, his composed Yílǐ jīngzhuàn tōngjiě xù was submitted to the court. The book was completed in wùzǐ of Shàodìng [1228]; the Shūlù jiětí says completed in Chúnyòu — but did not cross-check his autograph preface. The preface says: Yánlíng Zhào Yànsù made Tèshēng and Shǎoláo two ritual diagrams, brought them to Zhūzǐ — who said they should also be supplied with GuānHūn diagrams and tángshì (hall-and-chamber) systems and further investigated. So Fù, on the basis of the original-text-master-intent, recorded the seventeen chapters’ classical text, selected from old accounts to bring through the meaning, with each detailing the procedure-and-arrangement directions, fitting them with diagrams — totaling 205. Further dividing into gōngmiào (palace-and-temple) door, miǎnbiàn (crown-and-cap) door, shēngdǐng lǐqì (sacrificial-victim-tripod-ritual-vessels) door, twenty-five diagrams. Named Yílǐ pángtōng tú and appended at the back. On this classic he can be said diligent-and-earnest in attention.
Only readers of Yílǐ must be clear about ancient palace-and-room systems before being able to navigate the place-of-position-and-arrangement, the directions of bowing-and-yielding-advance-and-retreat. So Lǐ Rúguī’s Yílǐ tōngshì and Zhū Xī’s Yílǐ jīngzhuàn tōngshì both specially extract a Shìgōng one chapter to broaden the principal framework so that all the sub-eyes have something to attach to. This book alone abandons that one section, only setting up diagrams as the affair arises — sometimes vertical, sometimes horizontal, with no fixed direction; sometimes left, sometimes right, listing only one corner. It ends up like scattered coins all over the room, with no thread of order.
What appears in gōngmiào door is only seven diagrams — quite skimpy. Furthermore the distance-and-extent-and-broadness-and-narrowness lacks proportional measurement at all. As, for instance, the xù-outside two jiā (Liú Xī’s Shìmíng says “in the hall’s two heads, hence called jiā”) — the diagram lists them parallel with the fángshì; the Gōngshídàfūlǐ “zǎi-east-jiā-north-west-facing” sub-commentary saying “position is in the běitáng’s south”; Tèshēng kuìshílǐ “dòubiānxíng in the east-táng” note saying “east-táng is the fáng’s east, equivalent to jiā’s north” — all become foggy and lose their place. Door and east-and-west shú are on the same foundation; the diagram divides them into east-corner and west-corner — then Shìyúlǐ “bǐzǔ at xīshú’s west” has no place; and Shìguānlǐ “the prefect bears the east shú” similar — not in their place. Such examples lack systematic clarity.
Yet the rest of the diagrams still all follow the classic in drawing the image, gathering the broad outline, allowing the rough framework of ancient ritual to be visible; for the student not without aid. One or two errors-and-omissions, allowing for the difficulty of the original creation, may be acceptable.
Respectfully revised and submitted, third month of the forty-ninth year of Qiánlóng [1784].
General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. General Reviser: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The Yílǐ tú is the most comprehensive Sòng-period diagrammatic presentation of the Yílǐ and the only complete chapter-by-chapter graphic account of the seventeen ceremonial procedures from a Zhū Xī-school disciple. Yáng Fù’s 205 procedural diagrams, organised by ritual phase within each chapter, plus the supplementary pángtōng tú on architecture, garments, and vessels, constitute a major Sòng-period visual aid to Yílǐ reading.
The Sìkù editors’ criticism — that Yáng Fù failed to provide a shìgōng (architectural-spatial) chapter coordinating the ceremonial diagrams within consistent spatial frameworks — is methodologically sharp. The result is, as the editors put it, “scattered coins all over the room, with no thread of order.” Lǐ Rúguī’s KR1d0031 Yílǐ shìgōng and Zhū Xī’s Yílǐ jīngzhuàn tōngjiě (KR1d0085) both included such a chapter; Yáng Fù’s omission represents a real defect.
Composition is securely dated to Yáng Fù’s late life (1228 autograph preface).
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located. The Yílǐ tú is regularly cited in modern Yílǐ commentaries for visual reconstructions of ceremonial procedures.
Other points of interest
Yáng Fù’s preface acknowledges that the diagrammatic project began with Zhào Yànsù’s two-chapter sample (Yánlíng Zhào Yànsù) and was developed by Yáng under Zhū Xī’s continued direction. The preface is a notable witness to the late-Zhū Xī school’s interest in visual-ritual scholarship as a complementary mode to text-commentary; the project anticipates the elaborate Qīng-period ritual-illustration tradition (e.g., the imperial Sānlǐ túkǎo projects).
Links
- Chinaknowledge: http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Classics/yili.html