相馬法

Translation of the section on horse physiognomy in the shìlín guǎngjì 事林廣記 and annotation of horse images. It intends to shed light on what physiognomic knowledge on horses the SLGJ provides and how this fits into the broader context of the historical development of the knowledge on this subject throughout Chinese Imperial history. This originated as a ResMa assignment for the Leiden University course 'Topical Readings in Premodern Chinese', taught by professor dr. Hilde de Weerdt. 

 

Project Texts: 
事林廣記：相馬
Bibliography: 

Primary Sources:

Qimin Yaoshu 齊民要術 (QMYS) Jiā Sīxié賈思勰, 6th century AD.

Shilin Guangji 事林廣記 (SLGJ) 陳元靚 Chén Yuánjìng, first compiled in the late Sòng (1127 – 1279 AD), 1699 Japanese reprint edition.

Xiangmajing 相馬經 (XMJ) Sūn Yáng 孫楊 (Bó Lè伯樂), of unknown date.

Xiangmashu 相馬書 (XMS) Xú Xián徐咸, Míng-dynasty (1368 – 1644)

Secondary Sources:

Bower, Virginia and Robert E. Harrist Jr. ed. 1997. Power and Virtue: The Horse in Chinese Art. New York: China Institute Gallery, China Institute in America. 

Buell, Paul D., Timothy May and David Ramey. 2018. “Chinese Horse Medicine: Texts and Illustrations.” In Imagining Chinese Medicine, edited by Lo, Vivienne, 羅維前, Penelope Barrett, David Dear, Lu Di, 蘆笛, Lois Reynolds, Dolly Yang, and 楊德秀, 315–326. Leiden; Boston: Brill.

Harrist, Robert E. 1997. “The Legacy of Bole: Physiognomy and Horses in Chinese Painting.” Artibus Asiae 57, no.1: 135–56.

Keith N. Knapp. 2019. “The Use and Understanding of Domestic Animals in Early Medieval Northern China.” Early Medieval China 25: 85-99. DOI: 10.1080/15299104.2019.1660090 

Meserve, Ruth I. 1992. “Some Remarks on the Illnesses of Horses According to the Ch’ien-lung Pentaglot”, in Contacts between Cultures. East Asia: Literature and Humanities, edited by Bernard Hung-Kay Luk and Barry D. Steben, vol. 3. 339–342. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press.

Rossabi, Maurice. 1970. “The Tea and Horse Trade with Inner Asia during the Ming.” Journal of Asian History 4, no.2: 136–68.

Spring, Madeline K. 1988. “Fabulous Horses and Worthy Scholars in Ninth-century China.” T’oung Pao 74, no.4: 173–210. 

Sterckx, Roel. 1996. “An Ancient Chinese Horse Ritual.” Early China 21: 47–79. 

Sterckx, Roel. 2000. “Transforming the Beasts: Animals and Music in Early China.” T’Oung Pao 86 (spring): 1–46. 

 

Sterckx, Roel. 2016. “Ritual, Mimesis and the Nonhuman Animal World in Early China.” Society & Animals 24: 269–288. 

 

Sterckx, Roel, Martina Siebert and Dagmar Schäfer. 2019. Animals Through Chinese History: Earliest Times to 1911. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Wan, Xiang. 2013. “The Horse in Pre-Imperial China.” PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania. 

Wang, Xing. 2017. “Fortune and the Body: Physiognomy in Ming China.” PhD diss., University College Oxford.

 
Resources: 

牧養類要

《孟子》曰：「雞豚夠彘之畜，无失其時」。以此為王道之始則知牧養之道誠養生之大端食用之先務而况牛資之以耕馬資之以戰尤有囯有家者之所不可緩今取其方訣之切要者類成一卷亦治生者之一助也

 

相良馬法

 

三十二相眼為先

次觀頭面要方圓

訣法不看先代本

 

便是盲人信步行

眼似垂鈴紫色鮮

滿筐凸出不驚然

 

白緩貫瞳行五百

班如撤豆不同看

面顱側擊如鐮背

 

鼻如金盏可藏拳

口义湏深牙齒遠

舌如垂劔色如蓮

 

口无黑靨湏長命

唇似垂箱盖一般

食槽寬闊顋无肉

 

咽要平䒓筋有欄

耳如楊菜刀批竹

嚥骨高䒓髀不堅

 

八肉分䒓弯左右

龍會高䒓上古傳

項長如鳳湏弯曲

 

鬃毛茸細要如綿

鬐長膊闊槍風小

臆高胷闊脚前寬

 

膝要高䒓圓似掬

骨細筋粗節要攢

蹄要圓实湏卓立

 

身平充闡要平寬

肋骨弯䒓湏紧宻

排鞍肉厚稳金鞍

 

三峯壓二湏藏骨

卧如猿落重如山

鵝鼻曲直湏停稳

 

尾似流星散不連

膏筋大小湏勻壮

下節攢筋緊一分

 

羊髭有距如雞距

能奔急走日行千

巳前貴相三十二

 

万中雞選一句全。

 

右出李伯樂宝金篇

 

相毛族歌項上如生族有之不用誇還緣不利長所以号騰蛇後有喪門族前兼有挾尸勸君不用畜无事也湏疑牛額并衘禍非常害長多古人如是說此事不虛謌帶劔渾閑事喪門不可當的盧如入口有福也湏防黑色耳全白從来號孝頭假饒千里足奉勸不湏留背上毛生族馿騾亦有之只惟鞍貼下此者是駞尸衘禍口边衝時間禍必逢古人称是病馬敢不言凶眼下毛生族遥看似淚㾗假饒福也病无禍亦防侵毛病深知害妨人不在占大都知此類无禍也宜嫌檐耳駞鬃項雖然毛病殊若然兼鱉尾有实不如无