Ma Yisun (馬裔孫) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Ma Yisun as a calligrapher, official, scholar, and statesman. This record brings together 17 passages from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Ma Yisun	馬裔孫	Mǎ Yìsūn
Surname	Ma	馬
Personal name	Ma Yisun	馬裔孫	Mǎ Yìsūn
Courtesy name	Qingxian	慶先	Qìngxiān
Nickname	Three Unopened	三不開
Given name	Yisun	裔孫

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0026

Roles

Calligrapher
Official
Scholar
Statesman
Writer

Life and dates

Death

Place: Luoyang / 洛陽 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 廣順三年秋七月 · Month: 7 · Season: autumn · Western Year: AD 953
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0068

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 廣順三年秋七月 · Month: 7 · Season: autumn · Western Year: AD 953
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0068
Source Date: Text: 唐末帝即位 · Western Year: AD 934
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:127:s0029

Career and standing

Label: Grand Mentor of the Heir Apparent / 太子詹事 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0062
Label: Hanlin Academician, Revenue Bureau Director, Drafting Officer / 翰林學士、戶部郎中、知制誥 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0029
Label: Inspector-General of Rites and Guest of the Heir / 檢校禮部尚書、太子賓客 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0064
Label: Secretariat Drafter and Vice Minister of Rites / 中書舍人、禮部侍郎 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0029
Label: Vice Minister of the Secretariat and Grand Councilor / 中書侍郎、平章事 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0030
Label: Junior Tutor of the Heir Apparent / 太子少傅 · Action: posthumously-granted
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0069
Status: dismissed-to-home · Action: entered
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0054

Places and affiliations

Place: Shanghe in Dizhou / 棣州商河
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0026
Place: Hezhong / 河中 · Relation: posted-to
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0070

Learning and skills

Belief: Buddhism / 佛 · Relation: former-opponent-then-reader
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0055, jiuwudaishi:127:s0056
Skill: clerical script calligraphy / 八分書 · Level: practiced
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0066

Works and attributed material

Work: Joy in the Dharma / 法喜集 · Relation: author
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0057
Work: Record of the Buddha Land / 佛國記 · Relation: author
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0058
Work: Record of the Locust Worm / 槐蟲賦 · Relation: author
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0067
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Quoted: true
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0061

Events and relationships

Kind: omen · Role: dreamer · Action: received-two-brushes-in-dream
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0071
Kind: political · Role: judge · Action: ruled-on-incense-order
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0042

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: bookish, slow and obstructive; unpracticed in Secretariat duties · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0031, jiuwudaishi:127:s0048
Assessment: wounded by pettiness · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:127:s0170

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 127Volume 127 Book of Later Zhou 29: Biographies 7: Lu Wenji, Ma Yisun, He Ning, Su Yugui, Jing Fan · 17 passages

Open chapter

馬裔孫，字慶先，棣州商河人。 Ma Yisun, courtesy name Qingxian, was from Shanghe in Dizhou.

唐末帝即位，用為翰林學士、戶部郎中、知制誥，賜金紫，未滿歲，改中書舍人、禮部侍郎，皆帶禁職。 When the Last Emperor of Tang acceded, Yisun became Hanlin academician, revenue bureau director, and drafting officer for edicts, with gold-purple insignia. Within the year he was made secretariat drafter and vice minister of rites, retaining palace duties.

裔孫純儒，性多凝滯，遽登相位，未悉朝廷舊事。 A bookish man, slow and obstructive by temperament, he was suddenly elevated to chief minister without mastering the court's old ways.

裔孫以群情不悅劉句、馮道，欲微抑之，乃責臺司，須檢則例，而臺吏言：「舊不見例，據南北班位，即常侍在前。」 Because the court disliked Liu Gou and Feng Dao, Yisun wished to humble them slightly. He rebuked the Censorate to find precedent; clerks replied, "No old case exists; by north-south court order the regular attendant precedes."

俄屬國忌，將就列未定，裔孫即判臺狀曰：「既有援據，足可遵行，各示本官。」 When a national mourning observance came and ranks were not yet set, Yisun ruled on the censorial report: "With supporting authority, this may be followed—each official to his station."

文士哂裔孫堂判有「援據」二字，其中書百職，裔孫素未諳練，無能專決，但署名而已。 Writers mocked Yisun's ruling for the phrase "supporting authority." Of the Secretariat's hundred duties he was unpracticed and decided nothing—only signed.

又少見賓客，時人目之為「三不開」，謂口不開、印不開、門不開也。 He rarely received guests. People called him the "Three Unopened": mouth, seal, and door.

及太原事起，唐末帝幸懷州，裔孫留司在洛。 When trouble broke at Taiyuan the Last Emperor went to Huai Prefecture; Yisun stayed in Luoyang as capital chief.

俄而裔孫自洛來朝，眾相謂曰：「馬相此來，必有安危之策。」 Suddenly Yisun came from Luoyang to court. All said, "Chancellor Ma must bring a policy for survival."

晉祖受命，廢歸田里。 When the Jin founder took the Mandate, Yisun was sent home.

裔孫好名，慕韓愈之為人，尤不重佛。 Yisun loved fame, admired Han Yu, and especially despised Buddhism.