Tiānwén jīngyì fù 天文精義賦
Rhapsody on the Essential Meaning of Astronomy by 岳煕載 (撰)
About the work
The Tiānwén jīngyì fù is a Yuán-period verse treatise on astronomy in five juǎn, cast in the fù 賦 (rhapsody) form so that the technical content can be recited and memorised. The work is in the same broad family as the much earlier 王希明 Bùtiān gē (KR3fa005): a versified pedagogical text that runs through the Chinese sky asterism by asterism, integrating SòngYuán updates of the xīngguān 星官 inventory and of stellar fortunes (lǜmìng 律命 — the astrological assignments of asterisms to terrestrial regions, persons and offices).
Abstract
The work is attributed to Yuè Xīzài 岳煕載 of the Yuán dynasty; nothing further is reliably known of the author. The five-juǎn structure covers (a) the three yuán enclosures, (b) the twenty-eight lodges, (c) the seven zhèng (Sun, Moon, five planets), (d) eclipses and anomalies, and (e) astro-meteorological omens. Each section combines parallel-prose fù exposition with shorter zàn 贊 (eulogium) verses summarising the astrological significance of each asterism.
The work is not preserved in the SòngYuán independent transmission; it survives in the YuánMíng cóngshū of astrological literature, notably the Lùshì zhēncáng 陸氏珍藏 collection of Yuán zǐbù technical texts, and was incorporated into the Qīng Sìkù quánshū (zǐbù tiānwén sub-class). The work is one of a small number of Yuán-period astronomical texts in Chinese (rather than in the Persian-influenced Huíhuí 回回 calendrical tradition that the Yuán court also employed); for the latter see the works in the Huíhuí lì tradition such as the Yuánshǐ 元史 chronicle records of Mǎhémóde 馬合謀的.
The composition window is the Yuán dynasty (1271–1368). No narrower bracket is recoverable.
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language translation located.
- 陳遵媯 Chén Zūnguī. 1980. Zhōngguó tiānwénxué shǐ 中國天文學史. Shanghai: Shànghǎi rénmín. Vol. 2 (恆星) treats the Yuán fù-genre stellar literature.
- Yabuuti Kiyosi 藪內清. 1969. Chūgoku no tenmonrekihō 中國の天文曆法. Tokyo. — section on Yuán astronomy mentions the fù-genre texts.
Links
- Companion verse-genre text: KR3fa005 Bùtiān gē.
- Wikipedia (zh): https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/中国天文学史 (for Yuán-period context).