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散見簡牘合輯‧江蘇邗江胡場五號漢墓木牘、木楬、封檢

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Text ID
KR2p0134
Date
-100–100
Dynasty
漢

Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí‧Jiāngsū Hánjiāng Húcháng Wǔ Hào Hànmù Mùdú、Mùjiě、Fēngjiǎn 散見簡牘合輯‧江蘇邗江胡場五號漢墓木牘、木楬、封檢

Collected Scattered Documents — Wooden Tablets, Wooden Tags, and Sealed Check-Tags from Han Tomb no. 5 at Húcháng, Hánjiāng, Jiangsu

(anonymous; funerary documents including spirit-address labels, an administrative document, and burial food and goods tags)

About the work

A set of wooden tablets (mùdú 木牘), wooden tags (mùjiě 木楬), and sealed check-tags (fēngjiǎn 封檢) from Han tomb no. 5 at the Húcháng 胡場 site, Hánjiāng County 邗江縣 (modern Yángzhōu 揚州 area), Jiangsu Province. The documents include a remarkable series of spirit-address labels naming underworld deities and officials, an administrative legal document (a gào dì shū-type notice), a travel-day log, and inventory tags for food and goods. Published in KR2p 散見簡牘合輯 (Sǎn Jiàn Jiǎndú Héjí), Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 1990.

Abstract

The Húcháng tomb 5 documents are among the most varied in the Sǎnjian Jiǎndú Héjí, comprising at least four distinct document types:

Spirit-address labels (deity invocation list). The most striking component is a series of short wooden tags, each inscribed with a single name or title addressing an underworld deity, spirit, or official. These function as address labels for items presented to spirit powers, or as a roster of the spiritual authorities the deceased must engage with in the afterlife. The names include:

  • Jiāng jūn 江君 (Lord of the [Yangzi] River), Cāng tiān 倉天 (Azure Heaven)
  • Shàng Pú shén jūn 上蒲神君 (Lord Spirit of Upper Pú), Tiān gōng 天公 (Heavenly Duke)
  • Gāoyóu jūn dà wáng 高郵君大王 (Great King, Lord of Gāoyóu)
  • Mǎn jūn 滿君 (Lord Mǎn)
  • Lú xiāng Fán jūn 盧相氾君 (Lord Fán of Lú Xiāng)
  • Zhōng wài wáng fùmǔ 中外王父母 (Inner and Outer Royal Grandfather and Grandmother)
  • Shén hún 神魂 (Spirit Soul)
  • Dà wēng 大翁 (Great Grandfather [spirit])
  • Zhào zhǎng fū suǒ □ 趙長夫所□ (The place of Zhào Zhǎngfū □)
  • Huái hé 淮河 (the Huai River [deity])
  • Dū jūn 堬君 (Lord of the Mound)
  • Shí-lǐ shén dù 石里神杜 (Spirit-altar of Shí-lǐ ward)
  • Chéngyáng □ jūn 城陽□君 (Lord □ of Chéngyáng)
  • Shí-lǐ lǐ zhǔ 石里里主 (Ward-master of Shí-lǐ)
  • Gōng Chūn-jī suǒ □ jūn □ 宮春姬所□君□ (Lord □ of the place of Palace-Spring-Concubine)
  • Dà wáng 大王 / Gōng zhōng □ chí 宮中□池 (Great King / Inner-Palace □ Pool)
  • Wú wáng 吳王 (King of Wú), □□ shén dù □□神杜 (Spirit-altar □□)
  • □ wáng □王
  • Fán □ shén wáng 氾□神王 (Spirit King Fán □)
  • Dà hòu chuí 大后垂 (The Great Dowager Chuí [spirit])
  • Dāng lù jūn 當路君 (Lord of the Crossroads)
  • Jīng zhǔ 荊主 (Lord of Jīng [Chǔ region])
  • Xī qiū jūn 奚丘君 (Lord of Xī Mound)
  • Shuǐ shàng 水上 (Upon the Waters [deity])
  • □ jūn wáng □君王 (Lord-King □)
  • □ dù □杜 (Spirit-altar □)
  • Gōng Sīkōng 宮司空 (Palace Works Official)
  • Dù 杜 (Spirit-altar / Dù deity)
  • □ yì □邑 (□ settlement [deity])
  • Sāi 塞 (Frontier / Barrier [deity])

This is a rare example of a named roster of local and regional underworld spirits (shén 神) and river/earth deities (dù 杜, lǐ zhǔ 里主, etc.) invoked in a Han funerary context. The list mixes large cosmological powers (Azure Heaven, Heavenly Duke, River deities of the Yangzi and Huai) with local ward spirits (Shí-lǐ spirit-altar, ward-master) and historical figures elevated to divine status (Wú wáng, Jīng zhǔ). The “Palace Works Official” (Gōng Sīkōng) and other bureaucratic titles reflect the projection of Han administrative structures onto the underworld.

Travel-day log. A series of slips records movements of named individuals between locations, with dates by cyclical day and month:

  • “11th month, 2nd day: [arrival at] Tángyì 堂邑 [along] the road, entered”
  • “10th day, xīnyǒu (cyclical day): □□ □ road □ came”
  • “16th day, dīngmǎo: … came from Gāomì 高密”
  • “17th day, wùchén: Chén Zhōng 陳忠 took a cauldron (dūn 敦) from □ dog-□□ [and] came”
  • “28th day, jǐmǎo: … Jù horse (jù mǎ 劇馬) traveled”
  • “30th day, xīnsì: … traveled”
  • “12th month, 13th day, jiǎwǔ: Xú Yánnián 徐延年 traveled; Chén Zhōng 陳忠 brought a dog [and] came”
  • “15th day, bǐngshēn: … traveled”
  • “16th day, dīngyǒu: Qīng □ following the secretary (suí shǐ 隨史) traveled”
  • “20th day, xīnchǒu: Xú Yánnián came”
  • “23rd day: □□ came”
  • “25th day, bǐngwǔ: traveled □ [along] road; Tángyì 堂邑 came”

A partial cyclical-day sequence also appears: wù 戊 / jǐ 己 / wèi 未 / gēngshēn 庚申 / xīnyǒu 辛酉 / rénxū 壬戌 / guǐ□ 癸□…

Legal-administrative document. A single tablet bears a formal legal notice:

𠦜七年十二月丙子朔辛卯，廣陵宮司空長、前丞□敢告土主：廣陵石里男子王奉世有獄事，事已，復故郡鄉里，遣自致，移栺穴，𠦜八年獄計□書從事如律令。

“On day xīnmǎo of the bǐngzǐ-朔 twelfth month of year seven (𠦜 = Yuánshǐ 元始, i.e. 7 CE): The Chief and former Deputy of the Guǎnglíng Palace Works Office (Guǎnglíng Gōng Sīkōng Zhǎng qián Chéng 廣陵宮司空長、前丞) □ respectfully notify the Earth-Lord (tǔ zhǔ 土主): The Guǎnglíng Shí-lǐ male commoner (nánzǐ 男子) Wáng Fèngshì 王奉世 had a criminal case (yù shì 獄事); the matter is concluded; [he] is to return to his former commandery-township-ward, sent to present himself [to the authorities], [the document] transferred to the Burial Hole (zhé xué 栺穴); year eight (𠦜 8 = 8 CE) criminal account □ document — handle according to statute and ordinance (rú lǜ lìng 如律令).”

This is a gào dì shū 告地書 (funerary letter to the earth administration), here addressed specifically to the tǔ zhǔ 土主 (Earth Lord) and issued in the name of the Guǎnglíng Palace Works Office (Gōng Sīkōng 宮司空). The document records the case of Wáng Fèngshì, a commoner from Shí-lǐ ward in Guǎnglíng, whose criminal case has been concluded, authorizing his release and return home — with a copy filed in the burial. The date “year seven, twelfth month, day xīnmǎo” corresponds to the 12th month of Hàn Píngdì’s Yuánshǐ 元始 7th year = 7 CE (xīnmǎo is the cyclical day). The tomb was thus sealed around 7–8 CE.

Food and goods inventory tags. Several wooden tags list provisions placed in the tomb in labeled baskets (sì 笥) and bags (tuó □橐):

Baskets:

  • ■ Jítái ròu sì 集台肉笥 (Gathered-platform meat basket)
  • ■ Táng jū nǚ sì 餳<?>居女笥 (Sugar-syrup jūnǚ basket)
  • ■ Méi ruǎn sì 栂檽笥 (Japanese-plum ruǎn basket)
  • ■ Jīn qián sì 金錢笥 (Gold-coin basket)
  • ■ Bào sǔn sì 鮑笋笥 (Abalone and bamboo-shoots basket)
  • ■ Pú xiū là sì 脯脩腊笥 (Dried meat, cured meat, and preserved meat basket)

Bags:

  • <type> Five-kinds bags (□五種橐)
  • <type> Millet-grain bags (□粱米橐)
  • <type> Yellow-root bags (□黃芩橐)
  • <type> □□ rice bags (□□米橐)
  • <type> Wine-grain bags (□酒米橐)
  • <type> Malt-yeast bags (□糵鞠橐)

A final entry: “Colorful silks (cǎi 綵): sixteen □; deposited one pellet (垸), seven bolts (pǐ).”

Historical significance. The Húcháng tomb 5 documents are notable for at least three reasons. First, the spirit-address roster provides detailed evidence for the local religious pantheon of the Western Han Guǎnglíng 廣陵 region (the Yángzhōu area), including both cosmological deities and hyper-local ward and river spirits. Second, the gào dì shū legal notice names a specific individual (Wáng Fèngshì) whose criminal case is documented, providing a rare glimpse into Han judicial proceedings at the county level. Third, the date “Yuánshǐ 7th year” (7 CE) provides an unusually precise terminus for the burial, placing it at the very end of the Western Han period — just three years before Wáng Mǎng’s 王莽 usurpation (9 CE).

Translations and research

  • 中國社會科學院歷史研究所, 《散見簡牘合輯》, 文物出版社, 1990 — editio princeps.
  • Seidel, Anna. “Traces of Han Religion in Funerary Texts Found in Tombs.” In Taoist and Traditional Chinese Religions, ed. Akizuki Kan’ei. Tokyo, 1987 — context for Han funerary spirit-address documents.
  • Loewe, Michael. Records of Han Administration. 2 vols. Cambridge University Press, 1967 — reference for Han administrative document formats.
  • Harper, Donald. “Resurrection in Warring States Popular Religion.” Taoist Resources 5.2 (1994): 13–28 — relevant background for Han afterlife beliefs.

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