睡虎地秦墓竹簡‧日書甲種

Shuìhǔdì Qín Mù Zhújiǎn‧Rì Shū Jiǎ Zhǒng 睡虎地秦墓竹簡‧日書甲種

Bamboo Slips from the Qin Tomb at Shuihudi — Daybook Type A

About the work

The Rì Shū Jiǎ Zhǒng 日書甲種 (Daybook Type A) is the more complete of the two hemerological almanacs (rì shū 日書) recovered from Qin tomb no. 11 at Shuìhǔdì 睡虎地, Yúnmèng County 雲夢縣, Hubei Province, excavated in 1975–76 and sealed around 217 BCE. The companion text is the Rì Shū Yǐ Zhǒng 日書乙種 (KR2p0144). The Jiǎ Zhǒng is the most extensive and systematically organized of the early Chinese almanacs. It integrates multiple hemerological systems — the twelve day-type cycle (shí’èr jiàn chú 十二建除), the constellation-based system (xīng 星 / sù 宿, the twenty-eight lunar lodges), the annual calendar of directional movement (suì 歲), and specialized tables for agriculture, building, animals, marriage, and mourning — into a single comprehensive guide for determining the auspiciousness of any given day and time for any given activity. The Jiǎ Zhǒng is the foundational text for the study of early Chinese hemerological religion and divination practice, and constitutes one of the most important cultural documents in the Shuìhǔdì corpus alongside the legal texts.

Abstract

Structure. The Jiǎ Zhǒng is a composite text containing the following major sections (in the order preserved in the digitized text):

1. The Twelve Day-Type Calendar (建除 Jiàn Chú system). The text opens with a rotary calendrical matrix identifying twelve day-type categories as they rotate through the twelve months and twelve earthly branches. The categories are:

• 除 Chú (“Remove/Exempt”): slaves flee and are not caught; useful for debt collection, clearing land; unsuitable for arresting criminals
• 盈 Yíng (“Full”): good for building walls, childbirth, building palaces; illness is hard to recover from
• 建 Jiàn (“Establish”): a good day; suitable for appointment as agricultural official, sacrifice; favourable in the morning, not in the evening
• 陷 Xiàn (“Sink”): avoid major undertakings
• 彼 Bǐ (“Other”): [damaged]
• 平 Píng (“Level”): suitable for taking a wife, receiving people, beginning affairs
• 定 Dìng (“Settle”): suitable for storing goods, establishing offices and buildings, sacrificing
• 摯 Zhì (“Grasp”): unsuitable for travel; if one flees, one is inevitably caught and handed to the government
• 柀 Bǐ (“Aside”): there is nothing suitable for doing
• 危 Wēi (“Danger”): suitable for pressing claims and attacking/confining [convicts]
• 成 Chéng (“Succeed”): suitable for planning, beginning great undertakings
• 收 Shōu (“Collect”): suitable for receiving people, horses, oxen, and grain; entering a house, taking a wife The matrix then gives the “Qin chú 秦除” cycle for each month: the twelve categories rotate month by month through the earthly-branch days, so that in the first month (jiàn 建 = yín 寅 day, chú 除 = mǎo 卯 day, yíng 盈 = chén 辰 day, etc.); in the second month the cycle advances by one branch, and so on through all twelve months.

Additional named day-types in the initial section extend the system: 結日 Jié rì (Knot Day): “actions do not succeed; used for closing sacrifices (jì lín 以祭閵). Children born on this day will have no younger sibling; if a sibling is born, it will surely die. If you take in a lodger, the lodger will surely take over the house.” 陽日 Yáng rì (Yang Day): “A hundred affairs proceed successfully; the state and district have a good harvest; small men achieve four successes.” 交日 Jiāo rì (Intersection Day): “Good for practical affairs; digging a well is auspicious; for sacrificing to the door-god and road-god and making water sacrifices, auspicious.” 害日 Hài rì (Harm Day): “Good for dispelling ill luck (chú xiōng 除凶□); the exchange is not propitious.” 陰日 Yīn rì (Yin Day): “Good for household matters. Sacrifice, taking wives into the household, bringing in goods — greatly auspicious. For seeing the ruler, one is repeatedly promoted without fault.” 達日 Dá rì (Reach Day): “Good for leading armies and issuing corrections, meeting people.” And several more (外陽, 外害, 外陰, etc.) with their respective prognostics.

2. The Twelve Grain-Phase Categories (稷辰 Jì Chén). A sub-calendar aligned to bimonthly periods assigns twelve named phases (秀 Xiù, 正陽 Zhèng Yáng, 危陽 Wēi Yáng, 敫 Jiǎo, [Unnamed], 陰 Yīn, 徹 Chè, 結 Jié, with branch-day assignments rotating bimonthly) with detailed prognostics for each phase. 秀 Xiù (“Flourishing”): “This is called ‘double light’ (chóng guāng 重光). Good for field battle — one will certainly capture marquises and kings. Children born now will be both beautiful and tall, with excellent companions. Suitable for meeting people and raising livestock, taking wives and daughters-in-law into the household, wearing clothes and girdles. Good for sacrifice, eating and drinking, singing and music — it is suitable for beginning official duties and setting things right. Good for transferring offices. If released from prison, one quickly leaves. Even in rain, the weather clears; but one cannot re-roof a house.” Each of the eight phases has a similarly detailed prognostic entry, concluding with “In the first month, if [this day falls on] the new moon, drought/good harvest/presence of soldiers” (zhèng yuè yǐ shuò, hàn, suì shàn, yǒu bīng 正月以朔，旱，歲善，有兵 etc.).

3. Clothing Days (衣 Yī). A short section on auspicious days for wearing [new] clothing: 裚衣，丁丑媚人，丁亥靈，丁巳安於身，癸酉多衣 (“For clothing: dīngchǒu [day] — charming to people; dīnghài — spiritual; dīngsì — comfortable on the body; guǐyǒu — many clothes”). A note prohibits wearing new clothing on certain Chu calendar days (chǔ jiǔ yuè jǐwèi tái pī xīn yī 毋以楚九月己未台被新衣) under penalty of death.

4. Mice Omen (鼠襄戶 shǔ xiāng hù). “If a mouse appears [gnawing on the doorframe] — on the 1st or 2nd day of the month it is auspicious; the 3rd day not auspicious; the 4th and 5th auspicious; the 6th not auspicious; the 7th and 8th auspicious; the 9th alarming…” and so on through the lunar month. This is a systematic omen interpretation based on the day-of-month a mouse omen is observed.

5. Burial Days (葬日 Zàng Rì). Days classified as male (nán rì 男日: 子卯巳酉戌) or female (nǚ rì 女日: 午未申丑亥辰) for burial: “If a [woman who was] female-born dies on a female day, she should be buried on a female day; she will surely be resurrected (bì fù zhī 必復之). A man who dies [and is buried] likewise.” The general rule: 凡丁丑不可以葬，葬必參 (“In no case may one bury on dīngchǒu days; to bury then will certainly result in a third death [in the family]”).

6. The Dark Spear (Xuán Gē 玄戈) System. A twelve-month table assigning “greatly inauspicious” (dà xiōng 大凶), “fatally inauspicious” (zhì sǐ 致死), “greatly auspicious” (dà jí 大吉), and “somewhat auspicious” (shǎo jí 少吉) to specific lunar lodges (xiù 宿 / xīng 星) for each month, with additional entries for “the Dark Spear’s position” (Xuán Gē lì X 玄戈𣪠X, i.e., which lodges the Dark Spear “holds down” and thus makes dangerous to act under). The Xuán Gē system is a directional and astral divination system attested elsewhere only in fragmentary form; this is its most extensive preserved specimen.

7. Directional Movement for Relocation (徙居 xǐ jū). A monthly guide to auspicious directions for moving one’s residence. Each cluster of three months favours one cardinal direction: the first, fifth, and ninth months favour northward moves; the second, sixth, and tenth months favour eastward moves; etc. Moving in an inauspicious direction in a given month incurs specific misfortunes: 精 (jīng: loss of essence, emaciation), 刺離 (cì lí: separation from family), 毀 (huǐ: destruction), 困辱 (kùn rǔ: poverty and humiliation), etc. This section also explains “Yǔ’s separation days” (Yǔ zhī lí rì 禹之離日), days of the month when relocation is forbidden: it is unlucky to take a wife, receive newcomers and livestock, or travel.

8. Special Taboo Days by Earthly Branch. Entries keyed to each earthly branch (子, 丑, 寅… through 亥) specify what activities are absolutely prohibited on days of that branch. For example: 毋以子卜筮，害於上皇 (“Do not perform divination by milfoil on zi 子 days — harmful to the High Sovereign”). 毋以丑徐門戶，害於驕母 (“Do not open [and move] doors and gate-posts on chǒu 丑 days — harmful to the Proud Mother”). 毋以辰葬，必有重喪 (“Do not bury the dead on chén 辰 days — there will surely be a repeated mourning”). 毋以午出入臣妾、馬牛，是胃并亡 (“Do not move slaves, horses, or cattle in or out on wǔ 午 days — this is called ‘double flight’ [they will all escape]”).

9. The Twenty-Eight Lunar Lodges (星 xīng). An extended series of prognostics for each of the twenty-eight lunar lodges (xìu 宿, here called xīng 星), specifying: favourable and unfavourable activities, what kind of wife one will take (if one takes a wife under that lodge), and what kind of child will be born. Examples: 角 Jiǎo (“Horn”): “Auspicious for sacrifice and travel; unsuitable for roof-thatching. If you take a wife, she will be jealous. Children born under it will become officials.” 心 Xīn (“Heart”): “Unsuitable for sacrifice or travel — inauspicious. Suitable for water-related work. If you take a wife, she will be fierce. Children born under it will be loved by people.” 東井 Dōng Jǐng (“Eastern Well”): “All affairs inauspicious. If someone dies [under this lodge], five people will [later] die; if you slaughter animals, five animals will die. If you take a wife, she will have many children. Children born under it will die within ten days.” 軫 Zhěn (“Axle-Box”): “Good for riding horses and carriages, wearing clothes and girdles. If you take a wife, she will be auspicious. Children born under it will surely be yoke-bearing [i.e., successful in official service].”

10. Disease and Exorcism Sections. A long section on diagnosing illness and identifying the causal spirit by the day of onset: 甲乙有疾，父母為祟，得之於肉，從東方來，裹以桼器。戊己病，庚有閒，辛酢。若不酢，煩居東方，歲在東方，青色死。 (“If one falls ill on jiǎyǐ days, the father-and-mother spirits (fù mǔ 父母) are causing the affliction; it was contracted through meat, coming from the east, wrapped in lacquer vessels. Illness becomes serious on wùjǐ days; improvement on gēng days; crisis on xīn days. If one does not improve, the patient is troubled and stays in the east; if the year-star (suì 歲) is in the east, the patient dies [displaying] a green colour.“) The system assigns to each pair of heavenly stems (tiān gān 天干: jiǎyǐ, bǐngdīng, wùjǐ, gēngxīn, rénguǐ) a specific type of ancestral or demonic cause, a specific food or object as the vector, a specific cardinal direction, a pattern of worsening and improvement days, and a colour of death. This section is closely connected to the prognostic medicine of the Mǎwángduī 馬王堆 manuscripts.

11. Auspicious Days for Animals and Crops. Extended lists of auspicious and inauspicious days for specific agricultural and pastoral activities: favourable days for storing grain (hé liáng rì 禾良日: 己亥, 癸亥, five 酉, five 丑); favourable days for building a granary (qūn liáng rì 囷良日: 甲午, 乙未, 乙巳); favourable days for buying horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, chickens; favourable days for handling money and goods.

12. Building and Construction Prohibitions (Qǐ 啻, Shì jì 室忌, Tǔ jì 土忌). A comprehensive section on prohibitions for construction, room-orientation, and earthmoving. The Qǐ 啻 (seasonal prohibitions) assign to each season of three months a “Spirit’s Room” (shì 為室), “Spirit’s Slaughter” (shā 殺), and “four exhausted” (sì fèi 四廢) days. Directional prohibitions: 春三月，毋起東鄉室。夏三月，毋起南鄉室… (“In the three spring months, do not build rooms facing east. In the three summer months, do not build rooms facing south…”; violation: 有以者大凶，必有死者, “Those who do this will meet great misfortune; there will certainly be a death”). The Shì jì 室忌 (house taboos) and Tǔ jì 土忌 (earth-moving taboos) specify in even greater detail which days of each month and season are forbidden for building or earthmoving, with the consequence of death for violation.

13. House-Direction Omens (直室 Zhí Shì). A brief section on house door orientations and their meaning: 寡門，興，興毋定處，凶 (“A single gate: mobility, but movement without a settled place — inauspicious”). 倉門，富，井居西南，囷居北鄉廥，廥毋絕縣肉 (“A granary gate: wealth; the well should be in the southwest, the granary in the north facing the threshing floor, and the threshing floor should never lack hanging meat”). The fragment breaks off after the entry for the south-facing gate (南門 “General’s gate: lowly people dare not live there”).

Significance. The Rì Shū Jiǎ Zhǒng is the earliest surviving comprehensive hemerological almanac in Chinese history. It integrates at least five distinct divination systems — the day-type rotation calendar (jiàn chú), the grain-phase bimonthly system, the lunar lodge system, the year-star directional system, and the disease-diagnosis system by heavenly stem — into a single reference work. Its combination of agricultural, medical, domestic, legal, and political prognostics reflects the comprehensive anxiety-management function of the hemerological almanac in early Chinese society: the almanac user could consult it for guidance on virtually every consequential decision of daily life.

The almanac also provides important evidence for the religious culture of the Qin period. The exorcistic and apotropaic procedures embedded in the text (sacrifices to door-gods and road-gods, offerings to specific ancestral spirits causing illness, prohibition of milfoil divination on certain days “harmful to the High Sovereign”), the demonological entries on disease causation (spirits contracting illness through specific foods, the directional associations with illness progression and death), and the omen-interpretation system (mice gnawing on doorframes, auspicious and inauspicious burial days for men and women) all reflect a rich popular religious tradition that was largely continuous with later Han and medieval Chinese practice.

The presence of Chu-specific calendar terms (chǔ jiǔ yuè 楚九月, the Chu calendar month names like cuàn yuè 爨月, xiàn mǎ 獻馬, zhōng xī 中夕, qū xī 屈夕, yuán xī 援夕, xíng yí 刑夷, xià yí 夏夷, fǎng yuè 紡月) in the almanac, alongside Qin calendar conventions, suggests that the tomb occupant Xǐ 喜 lived in a cultural environment where both Qin and former Chu hemerological traditions were in use, reflecting the complex cultural landscape of the Nanjun 南郡 commandery — the former heartland of the Chu state — in the generation after Qin’s conquest.

Dating. As for the Yǐ Zhǒng, the almanac dates from the period of the tomb’s use (c. 300–217 BCE), with the presence of both Qin and Chu calendar systems suggesting a relatively early date (before complete Qin administrative standardization of the calendar).

Translations and research

• 睡虎地秦墓竹簡整理小組, 《睡虎地秦墓竹簡》, 文物出版社, 1990 — editio princeps with photographs and extended commentary on both Jiǎ Zhǒng and Yǐ Zhǒng.
• Harper, Donald. “Warring States Natural Philosophy and Occult Thought.” In Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy, eds., The Cambridge History of Ancient China. Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 813–884 — the standard English overview of the rì shū tradition and its cultural context.
• Liu Lexian 劉樂賢. 《睡虎地秦簡日書研究》. 文津出版社, 1994 — the most comprehensive monograph-length study.
• Kalinowski, Marc. “Les traités de Shuihudi et l’hémérologiede la Chine ancienne.” T’oung Pao 72 (1986), pp. 175–228 — detailed analysis of the hemerological systems.
• Poo, Mu-chou. In Search of Personal Welfare: A View of Ancient Chinese Religion. State University of New York Press, 1998, pp. 56–93 — situates the rì shū in the broader religious culture of early China.
• Harper, Donald. Early Chinese Medical Literature: The Mawangdui Medical Manuscripts. Kegan Paul International, 1998 — essential comparative context for the disease-diagnosis section.
• Loewe, Michael, ed. Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide. Society for the Study of Early China, 1993, pp. 340–346 — bibliographic overview.
• Li Ling 李零. 《中國方術考》. 人民中國出版社, 1993 — contextualizes the rì shū within early Chinese occult literature.

Other points of interest

The Rì Shū Jiǎ Zhǒng contains what may be the earliest surviving Chinese evidence for a systematic correlation of illness onset with ancestral-spirit causation and elemental colour. The system — in which illness contracted on jiǎyǐ days is caused by “father-and-mother spirits” and the patient who fails to recover dies displaying a “green colour” (qīng sè 青色); bǐngdīng-day illness is caused by “paternal grandfather spirits” and the death-colour is red (chì sè 赤色); and so on through the five phases — anticipates the correlative cosmology that would be systematized in the Nèijīng 內經 and later medical literature. The Shuìhǔdì almanac thus provides a crucial early data point for tracing the formation of Chinese correlative medical thought.

The 28-lodge prognostic section’s entry on the lodge Dōng Jǐng 東井 (“Eastern Well”) — “if someone dies [under this lodge], five people will die; if you slaughter five animals, five animals will die” — is a striking instance of sympathetic numerical correspondence thinking: the number five appears three times in association with a single lodge, suggesting that the number has a special resonance with the lodge’s cosmological character, independent of any empirical observation.

Links

• Wikipedia (Shuihudi bamboo slips): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuihudi_bamboo_slips
• Wikipedia (Rishu / Daybook): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rishu
• Wikipedia (Lunar mansions): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_constellations