Wúzǐ 吳子
Master Wú attributed to 吳起 (Wú Qǐ, d. 378 BCE, 周)
About the work
A one-juan classical military text in 6 篇 (in the received form, condensed from the larger pre-Qín original of 48 篇 noted in the Hàn shū yìwén zhì), traditionally attributed to Wú Qǐ — the Warring-States-era commander whose career took him through Lǔ, Wèi, and Chǔ. The 6 篇: Tú guó 圖國, Liào dí 料敵, Zhì bīng 治兵, Lùn jiàng 論將, Yìng biàn 應變, Lì shì 勵士. Within the Sòng Wǔ jīng qī shū canon (1080), this is the second-ranked work after Sūnzǐ. Substantively the work is closer in style to a yǔlù — Wú Qǐ’s responses to questions from his patrons (the Marquis of Lǔ, the King of Wèi) — than to the Sūnzǐ’s analytic-treatise form.
Abstract
The Wúzǐ is the second canonical military classic of the Wǔ jīng qī shū. The composition window: bracketed by Wú’s working life (d. 378 BCE), with the received recension reflecting Warring States editorial work. The frontmatter brackets to ca. -400 to -378.
The bibliographic record: Hàn shū yìwén zhì (吳起 48 piān — substantially larger than the received 6 piān); Suí shū jīngjí zhì; Wǔ jīng qī shū canonisation; SKQS Zǐbù — Bīngjiā lèi.
Translations and research
- Ralph D. Sawyer, The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China (1993) — translation with apparatus.
- Standard modern Chinese editions.
Links
- Sūnzǐ (KR3b0003) — the parallel canonical military classic.
- Kyoto Zinbun, Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào
- Wikipedia
- Wikidata