Yùguǎn zhàoshén jú 玉管照神局
Jade-Tube Spirit-Reflection Configuration attributed to 宋齊邱 (Sòng Qíqiū, 887–959, Southern Tang); actual author probably one of his geomantic-and-divinatory retinue
About the work
A 3-juan late-Tang / Five-Dynasties physiognomic (xiàngshù) treatise attributed to the Southern-Tang court official Sòng Qíqiū but, per the Sìkù 提要, more probably authored by one of his retinue of dozens of shùshù practitioners. Sòng Qíqiū was widely known to maintain a large stable of shùshù technicians at his residence; works composed by his retinue commonly circulated under his name as patron.
The work focuses on physiognomic determination of personal fate from bodily-form configurations (the shén in the title refers to the spiritual essence visible in the xiàng / outward-form of the body). The transmitted text’s structure has varied considerably across recensions:
- Sòngshǐ Yìwén zhì and Jiāo Hóng’s Jīngjí zhì: 2 juàn, titled Yùguǎn zhàoshén jú
- Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí: 1 juàn, titled Yùguǎn zhàoshén (without the jú character) — apparently incomplete recension
- Wú Rènchén’s Shíguó chūnqiū: Yùguǎn zhàoshén jīng in 10 juàn — possibly a substantially expanded later recension
- Qián Céng’s Dúshū mǐnqiú jì: agrees with the Shíguó chūnqiū 10-juan version, and adds the description: “upper section discusses people’s body-and-appearance with form visible — therefore called yáng configuration; lower section discusses what extends beyond the form — without image visible — therefore called yīn configuration”
The Sìkù-recension (from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn) is in 3 juàn with form-based discussion throughout — different from the Qián Céng-described yīnyáng division. The 提要 hypothesizes that the present recension corresponds to the 2-juan Sòng zhì recension, with the Shíguó chūnqiū 10-juan being an expanded later version.
The 提要 commends the work’s physiognomic content as substantive: “its discussion is rather refined-and-clear; the various works it draws on are mostly what the world has not yet seen — still belonging to mutually-transmitted ancient text”. The work is therefore preserved as a representative of the late-Tang / Five-Dynasties physiognomic tradition that survived in continuous transmission.
For Sòng Qíqiū’s biography, see 宋齊邱. For the related physiognomic works, see KR3g0043 Yuèbō dòngzhōng jì, KR3g0045 Tàiqīng shénjiàn, KR3g0046 Rénlún dàtǒng fù.
Tiyao
[Full text in source file. Dated Qiánlóng 46 (1781), ninth month.]