1
《書》載「蠻夷猾夏」,《詩》稱「玁狁孔熾」,久矣其爲中國患也。 秦、漢以來,匈奴久爲邊害。 孝武雖外事四夷,東平兩越、朝鮮,西討貳師、大宛,開邛苲、夜郎之道,然皆在荒服之外,不能爲中國輕重。 而匈奴最逼於諸夏,胡騎南侵則三邊受敵,是以屢遣衛、霍之將,深入北伐,窮追單于,奪其饒衍之地。 後遂保塞稱籓,世以衰弱。 建安中,呼廚泉南單于入朝,遂留內侍,使右賢王撫其國,而匈奴折節,過於漢舊。 然烏丸、鮮卑稍更強盛,亦因漢末之亂,中國多事,不遑外討,故得擅 〈漢〉 漠南之地,寇暴城邑,殺略人民,北邊仍受其困。 會袁紹兼河北,乃撫有三郡烏丸,寵其名王而收其精騎。 其後尚、熙又逃於蹋頓。 蹋頓又驍武,邊長老皆比之冒頓,恃其阻遠,敢受亡命,以雄百蠻。 太祖潛師北伐,出其不意,一戰而定之,夷狄懾服,威振朔土。 遂引烏丸之衆服從征討,而邊民得用安息。 後鮮卑大人軻比能復製禦群狄,盡收匈奴故地,自雲中、五原以東抵遼水,皆爲鮮卑庭。 數犯塞寇邊,幽、并苦之。 田豫有馬城之圍,畢軌有陘北之敗。 青龍中,帝乃聽王雄,遣劍客刺之。 然後種落離散,互相侵伐,強者遠遁,弱者請服。 由是邊陲差安, 〈漢〉 漠南少事,雖時頗鈔盜,不能復相扇動矣。 烏丸、鮮卑即古所謂東胡也。 其習俗、前事,撰《漢記》者已錄而載之矣。 故但舉漢末魏初以來,以備四夷之變云。
The Documents record "the Man and Yi throw disorder into the Xia," and the Odes say "the Xianyun blaze fiercely"; for a long time they have been a calamity for the Central States. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, the Xiongnu had been a chronic scourge along the northern frontier. Emperor Wu of Han may have sent armies in every direction—subduing the Yues and Korea in the east, striking Ferghana and the Western Regions in the west, and pushing routes toward Qiong and Yelang—but those theaters lay beyond the outer marches and never truly threatened the survival of the heartland. The Xiongnu sat closest to the Chinese heartland: whenever their cavalry swept south, every northern sector came under pressure at once. Emperor Wu therefore sent commanders such as Wei Qing and Huo Qibing on repeated deep drives, hounded the Chanyu across the steppe, and stripped them of their richest pasturelands. In time they accepted garrisoned borders and acknowledged Han as overlord, then dwindled from generation to generation. Under the Jian'an reign, the Southern Chanyu Huchuquan came to the capital and was kept at court as an attendant, while a Right Worthy King governed the steppe in his stead; the Xiongnu humbled themselves more thoroughly than they ever had in the Han heyday. Yet the Wuhuan and Xianbei grew stronger in turn: with China convulsed in the late Han turmoil, the court had no spare strength for frontier wars, and the steppe peoples were left free to monopolize 〈Han〉 The lands south of the Gobi became their playground: they sacked towns, slaughtered or drove off the population, and the northern commanderies remained in constant peril. When Yuan Shao brought Hebei under his sway, he cultivated the Wuhuan of three commanderies, showering their leading chiefs with honors while drafting their finest horsemen into his own hosts. Later, Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi fled for refuge to Tadun’s camp. Tadun was a formidable warrior; frontier elders likened him to Modun. Trusting in his remote fastnesses, he harbored outlaws from China and made himself overlord of the steppe confederations. Cao Cao led a surprise northern expedition, caught the coalition off guard, and broke their power in a single engagement; the steppe peoples submitted in fear, and his prestige rolled across the northern wastes. He then enlisted Wuhuan contingents in his campaigns, while the farming communities along the frontier could at last breathe again. Later Kebineng of the Xianbei reunited the northern tribes, absorbed the old Xiongnu heartland, and stretched his authority from Yunzhong and Wuyuan east to the Liao River, planting his headquarters wherever the grasslands met the sky. He raided the frontier again and again, and the people of Youzhou and Bingzhou bore the brunt of the raids. Tian Yu was trapped at Macheng, and Bi Gui suffered a crushing defeat north of the Xing mountain passes. During the Qinglong era, Emperor Ming followed Wang Xiong’s counsel and sent a swordsman to murder Kebineng. The confederation then shattered into feuding bands: the powerful fled deep into the steppe, while weaker bands sued for Chinese protection. The marches grew comparatively calm. 〈Han〉 and south of the desert there was little large-scale trouble: though small raids still occurred, nothing could again knit the tribes into a common revolt. The Wuhuan and the Xianbei are the peoples ancient writers grouped as the Eastern Hu. Their customs and earlier history were already set down by the compilers of the Han ji, and there is no need to repeat that material here. What follows is therefore limited to developments from the fall of Han into early Wei, enough to chart how the frontier peoples shifted in that age.
2
《魏書》曰:烏丸者,東胡也。 漢初,匈奴冒頓滅其國,餘類保烏丸山,因以爲號焉。 俗善騎射,隨水草放牧,居無常處,以穹廬爲宅,皆東向。 日弋獵禽獸,食肉飲酪,以毛毳爲衣。 貴少賤老,其性悍驁,怒則殺父兄,而終不害其母,以母有族類,父兄以己爲種,無復報者故也。 常推募勇健能理決鬥訟相侵犯者爲大人,邑落各有小帥,不世繼也。 數百千落自爲一部,大人有所召呼,刻木爲信,邑落傳行,無文字,而部衆莫敢違犯。 氏姓無常,以大人健者名字爲姓。 大人已下,各自畜牧治產,不相徭役。 其嫁娶皆先私通,略將女去,或半歲百日,然後遣媒人送馬牛羊以爲聘娶之禮。 婿隨妻歸,見妻家無尊卑,旦起皆拜,而不自拜其父母。 爲妻家僕役二年,妻家乃厚遣送女,居處財物,一出妻家。 故其俗從婦人計,至戰鬥時,乃自決之。 父子男女,相對蹲踞,悉髡頭以爲輕便。 婦人至嫁時乃養發,分爲髻,著句決,飾以金碧,猶中國有冠步搖也。 父兄死,妻後母執嫂; 若無執嫂者,則己子以親之次妻伯叔焉,死則歸其故夫。 俗識鳥獸孕乳,時以四節,耕種常用布穀鳴爲候。 地宜青穄、東牆,東牆似蓬草,實如葵子,至十月熟。 能作白酒,而不知作麹蘖。 米常仰中國。 大人能作弓矢鞍勒,鍛金鐵爲兵器,能刺韋作文繡,織縷氈毼。 有病,知以艾灸,或燒石自熨,燒地臥上,或隨痛病處,以刀決脈出血,及祝天地山川之神,無針藥。 貴兵死,斂屍有棺,始死則哭,葬則歌舞相送。 肥養犬,以采繩嬰牽,並取亡者所乘馬、衣物、生時服飾,皆燒以送之。 特屬累犬,使護死者神靈歸乎赤山。 赤山在遼東西北數千里,如中國人以死之魂神歸泰山也。 至葬日,夜聚親舊員坐,牽犬馬曆位,或歌哭者,擲肉與之。 使二人口頌咒文,使死者魂神徑至,歷險阻,勿令橫鬼遮護,達其赤山,然後殺犬馬衣物燒之。 敬鬼神,祠天地日月星辰山川,及先大人有健名者,亦同祠以牛羊,祠畢皆燒之。 飲食必先祭。 其約法,違大人言死,盜不止死。 其相殘殺,令都落自相報,相報不止,詣大人平之,有罪者出其牛羊以贖死命,乃止。 自殺其父兄無罪。 其亡叛爲大人所捕者,諸邑落不肯受,皆逐使至雍狂地。 地無山,有沙漠、流水、草木,多蝮蛇,在丁令之西南,烏孫之東北,以窮困之。 自其先爲匈奴所破之後,人衆孤弱,爲匈奴臣服,常歲輸牛馬羊,過時不具,輒虜其妻子。 至匈奴壹衍鞮單于時,烏丸轉強,發掘匈奴單于塚,將以報冒頓所破之恥。 壹衍鞮單于大怒,發二萬騎以擊烏丸。 大將軍霍光聞之,遣度遼將軍范明友將三萬騎出遼東追擊匈奴。 比明友兵至,匈奴已引去。 烏丸新被匈奴兵,乘其衰弊,遂進擊烏丸,斬首六千餘級,獲三王首還。 後數復犯塞,明友輒征破之。 至王莽末,並與匈奴爲寇。 光武定天下,遣伏波將軍馬援將三千騎,從五原關出塞征之,無利,而殺馬千餘匹。 烏丸遂盛,鈔擊匈奴,匈奴轉徙千里,漠南地空。 建武二十五年,烏丸大人郝旦等九千餘人率衆詣闕,封其渠帥爲侯王者八十餘人,使居塞內,布列遼東屬國、遼西、右北平、漁陽、廣陽、上穀、代郡、雁門、太原、朔方諸郡界,招來種人,給其衣食,置校尉以領護之,遂爲漢偵備,擊匈奴、鮮卑。 至永平中,漁陽烏丸大人欽志賁帥種人叛,鮮卑還爲寇害,遼東太守祭肜募殺志賁,遂破其衆。 至安帝時,漁陽、右北平、雁門烏丸率衆王無何等復與鮮卑、匈奴合,鈔略代郡、上穀、涿郡、五原,乃以大司農何熙行車騎將軍,左右羽林五營士,發緣邊七郡黎陽營兵合二萬人擊之。 匈奴降,鮮卑、烏丸各還塞外。 是後,烏丸稍復親附,拜其大人戎末廆爲都尉。 至順帝時,戎末廆率將王侯咄歸、去延等從烏丸校尉耿曄出塞擊鮮卑有功,還皆拜爲率衆王,賜束帛。
The Book of Wei states: "The Wuhuan are a branch of the Eastern Hu." In early Han the Xiongnu chieftain Modun crushed their kingdom; survivors rallied on Wuhuan Mountain and adopted that name as their tribal title. They excel at mounted archery, follow the seasonal grass and water with their herds, and shift camp often; their round felt yurts serve as home, and the door always faces east. They hunt fowl and game every day, live on meat and fermented milk, and dress in furs and felt. Youth is honored and age slighted; tempers run hot enough that a man may kill his father or brother in a rage, yet almost never his mother—she still has her own kin to answer for her, whereas a slain father or brother is counted part of one’s own lineage, so no outsider will demand blood vengeance. The office of "great man" goes to whoever proves brave and astute enough to settle feuds and legal quarrels between camps; each village cluster has its own petty chief, and neither rank passes automatically from father to son. Hundreds or thousands of camps form a single tribal division. When a great man issues orders, he notches a piece of wood as his warrant, and runners pass it from camp to camp; there is no script, yet no warrior dares disobey. Surnames are fluid: a band often adopts the personal name of its strongest "great man" as its clan name. Below the great man every household tends its own herds and fields; none may drag another into forced labor. Marriage begins with a clandestine courtship: the suitor abducts the bride-to-be and keeps her for months; only afterward do families exchange a go-between and deliver horses, cattle, and sheep as bride-price. The groom moves in with his wife’s people; in her camp there is no distinction of rank at morning levee—everyone bows to everyone—yet he does not perform those bows to his own parents. He spends two years working like a hired hand for his in-laws; when they judge him proven, they send the couple off with a generous dowry of tents, stock, and goods—all of it from the wife’s kin. Domestic decisions rest with the women, but once blades are drawn the men make the tactical calls themselves. Men and women of every generation squat facing one another in conversation, and they shave the scalp for cool convenience on the march. Women let their hair grow only as they approach marriage, then coil it into loops, fasten a jade slide at the temple, and pin it with gold and kingfisher ornaments—much like a Chinese lady’s cap with dangling buyao tassels. On a father’s or brother’s death, a man may take his stepmother or his widowed sister-in-law as wife; if no brother-in-law claims the widow, a son may marry her according to generational order among paternal uncles, and should she die her spirit is returned to her first husband’s line. They read the breeding cycles of birds and beasts against the four seasons, and time their sowing to the cuckoo’s call. The soil favors green millet and a plant called dongqiang—like wormwood in leaf, with seeds the size of mallow kernels that ripen in the tenth month. They brew a pale grain wine but have never mastered malting and starter cultures. Polished rice they still import from China. Their chiefs forge bows, arrows, saddles, and bits, hammer out iron arms, tool leather into figured embroidery, and weave wool into heavy felts. Their medicine runs to moxibustion, hot stones pressed to the skin, sleeping on heated earth, or lancing a vein over the pain; they invoke the spirits of heaven, earth, and the watersheds, but know nothing of acupuncture or pharmacy. They honor a warrior’s death in battle: the dead lie in coffins, kin wail at the first news, then send the funeral off with singing and dancing. They fatten a dog on a colored leash, gather the dead man’s mount, wardrobe, and favorite gear, and burn the lot as grave goods. The dog is charged above all to escort the dead man’s soul safe to Mount Chi. Mount Chi lies thousands of li northwest of Liaodong—what Mount Tai is to Chinese ghosts, Chi is to the Wuhuan dead. On the burial eve kinsmen sit in a ring; dogs and horses are led past each mourner, and whoever sings or wails is tossed a piece of meat. Two shamans chant the road-opening spell so the soul may race straight to Mount Chi through every peril, without stray ghosts blocking the way; only when the spirit has arrived do they slaughter the dog and horse and burn the grave goods. They honor gods and ancestors with offerings to heaven and earth, the luminaries, rivers, and mountains, and to famed chiefs of old—always with cattle and sheep—and after every rite the effigies go up in smoke. No meal or cup is touched before a pour of the drink and a morsel is offered to the spirits. Their laws are blunt: defy a great man’s command and you die; steal without relenting and you die. When blood feuds spiral, camps are left to retaliate among themselves; if the killing will not end, the parties appeal to a great man, who accepts cattle and sheep as blood-money and closes the case. Killing one’s own father or brother carries no tribal penalty. Fugitives seized by a chief find no camp willing to shelter them; they are herded into the waste called Yongkuang. That country is flat desert laced with streams, scrub, and clouds of pit-vipers—southwest of the Dingling and northeast of Wusun—where exile means slow death. After Modun shattered their forefathers the Wuhuan clans were few and feeble, tributaries of the Xiongnu who paid yearly in livestock—and if the herds came late, Xiongnu raiders carried off their women and children. Under the Chanyu Yiyandi the Wuhuan grew bold enough to desecrate Xiongnu royal tombs, hoping to avenge the humiliation Modun had inflicted on their ancestors. Yiyandi flew into a rage and sent twenty thousand horsemen against the Wuhuan. Huo Guang, the regent-general, ordered Fan Mingyou to take thirty thousand cavalry from Liaodong in pursuit of the Xiongnu. By the time Fan Mingyou arrived, the Xiongnu had already slipped away. The Wuhuan were still reeling from the Xiongnu blow when Fan Mingyou fell on them, took more than six thousand heads, and brought back the skulls of three Wuhuan kings. Whenever they raided the frontier again, Fan Mingyou campaigned and broke their power. At the close of Wang Mang’s usurpation they joined the Xiongnu in raiding the frontier. After Guangwu restored the Han, Ma Yuan led three thousand horsemen out through Wuyuan Pass against them, gained no decisive success, and lost more than a thousand mounts in the attempt. The Wuhuan then grew strong enough to harry the Xiongnu, who pulled back a thousand li and left the southern desert almost empty. In Jianwu 25 more than nine thousand Wuhuan led by Hao Dan presented themselves at court; Guangwu ennobled over eighty of their chiefs and settled them inside the line from the Liaodong dependency through Liaoxi, Youbeiping, Yuyang, Guangyang, Shanggu, Dai, Yanmen, Taiyuan, and Shuofang, fed and clothed the immigrants, and posted a Wuhuan colonel to command them as Han scouts against the Xiongnu and Xianbei. Under Yongping the Yuyang chief Qin Zhiben rebelled with his clansmen while the Xianbei raided again; Liaodong governor Ji Rong put a price on Zhiben’s head, had him killed, and scattered his following. Under Emperor An the Wuhuan kings of Yuyang, Youbeiping, and Yanmen—Wuhe among them—again allied with Xianbei and Xiongnu to pillage Dai, Shanggu, Zhuo, and Wuyuan; the court named He Xi, the minister of finance, acting chariot-and-cavalry general and sent twenty thousand men from the Yulin guards and seven border commanderies plus the Liyang garrison against them. Once the Xiongnu yielded, the Xianbei and Wuhuan bands withdrew beyond the wall. Thereafter the Wuhuan edged back toward allegiance, and the court named their chief Rongmohui colonel of the Wuhuan. Under Emperor Shun, Rongmohui marched with Geng Ye, the Wuhuan colonel, against the Xianbei at the head of princes such as Duogui and Quyan; for their service they all received the title “king who leads the masses” and bolts of silk.
3
漢末,遼西烏丸大人丘力居,衆五千餘落,上谷烏丸大人難樓,衆九千餘落,各稱王,而遼東屬國烏丸大人蘇僕延,衆千餘落,自稱峭王,右北平烏丸大人烏延,衆八百餘落,自稱汗魯王,皆有計策勇健。 中山太守張純叛入丘力居衆中,自號彌天安定王,爲三郡烏丸元帥,寇略青、徐、幽、冀四州,殺略吏民。 靈帝末,以劉虞爲州牧,募胡斬純首,北州乃定。 後丘力居死,子樓班年小,從子蹋頓有武略,代立,總攝三王部,衆皆從其教令。 袁紹與公孫瓚連戰不決,蹋頓遣使詣紹求和親,助紹擊瓚,破之。 紹矯制賜蹋頓、 〈難〉 峭王、汗魯王印綬,皆以爲單于。 《英雄記》曰:紹遣使即拜烏丸三王爲單于,皆安車、華蓋、羽旄、黃屋、左纛。 版文曰:「使持節大將軍督幽、青、並領冀州牧阮鄉侯紹,承制詔遼東屬國率衆王頒下、烏丸遼西率衆王蹋頓、右北平率衆王汗盧維:乃祖慕義遷善,款塞內附,北捍玁狁,東拒濊貊,世守北陲,爲百姓保障,雖時侵犯王略,命將徂征厥罪,率不旋時,悔愆變改,方之外夷,最又聰惠者也。 始有千夫長、百夫長以相統領,用能悉乃心,克有勳力於國家,稍受王侯之命。 自我王室多故,公孫瓚作難,殘夷厥土之君,以侮天慢主,是以四海之內,並執干戈以衛社稷。 三王奮氣裔土,忿奸憂國,控弦與漢兵爲表裏,誠甚忠孝,朝所嘉焉。 然而虎兕長蛇,相隨塞路,王官爵命,否而無聞。 夫有勳不賞,俾勤者怠。 今遣行謁者楊林,齎單于璽綬車服,以對爾勞。 其各綏靜部落,教以謹慎,無使作凶作慝。 世復爾祀位,長爲百蠻長。 厥有咎有不臧者,泯於爾祿,而喪於乃庸,可不勉乎! 烏桓單于都護部衆,左右單于受其節度,他如故事。」
Late in the Han, Qiuliju of Liaoxi led more than five thousand camps, Nanlou of Shanggu over nine thousand—each claiming the title of king—while Supuyan of the Liaodong dependency styled himself King Qiao at the head of a thousand camps, and Wuyan of Youbeiping called himself King Hanlu with eight hundred; every one of them was cunning and fierce in the field. Zhang Chun, governor of Zhongshan, fled to Qiuliju’s host, proclaimed himself king under the style “Pacifier Who Fills Heaven,” took command of the Wuhuan of three commanderies, and ravaged Qing, Xu, You, and Ji, slaughtering officials and commoners alike. Near the end of Emperor Ling’s reign the court named Liu Yu governor of the province, raised tribal auxiliaries who cut off Zhang Chun’s head, and the northern provinces finally knew peace. When Qiuliju died his son Louban was still a boy, so his nephew Tadun—a man of military talent—succeeded him, united the three royal camps, and every band obeyed his orders. While Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan fought to a stalemate, Tadun sent envoys offering alliance; he reinforced Shao, joined the attack on Zan, and helped break him. Yuan Shao forged an imperial rescript to invest Tadun, 〈Nan〉 together with the seals and cords for Kings Qiao and Hanlu, treating all three as Chanyu. The Record of Heroes adds that Yuan Shao’s envoys invested the three Wuhuan kings as Chanyu on the spot, each with a state carriage, figured canopy, plumed standards, yellow awning, and the imperial yak-tail pennon. The text of the patent reads: "I, Yuan Shao, credential-bearing grand general overseeing You, Qing, and Bing and concurrently governor of Ji, Marquis of Ruanxiang, acting by special authority address Banxia, king of the Liaodong dependency who leads the masses; Tadun, Wuhuan king of Liaoxi who leads the masses; and Hanluwei, king of Youbeiping who leads the masses: your forebears loved righteousness, turned to good faith, opened the passes, and came within the pale; they held the Xianyun at bay in the north and the Huimo in the east, generation after generation guarding the frontier as a shield for the people. Though they sometimes trespassed on imperial territory, whenever a general marched to punish their offense they soon repented and mended their ways; among the outer tribes they have shown the keenest wisdom. You first organized yourselves under captains of thousands and hundreds, gave your utmost loyalty, and won real merit for the dynasty, until at length you received investiture as kings and marquises. Since the house of Han has been beset with calamity and Gongsun Zan rose in revolt, slaughtering the lords of the north and showing contempt for heaven and sovereign, all within the four seas have taken up arms in defense of the altars of state. You three kings have roused your peoples on the frontier, hated treason, and grieved for the dynasty, drawing your bowmen alongside Han armies as inner shield and outer spear—loyalty the court has every reason to praise. Yet tigers, rhinos, and serpents have blocked the road to the capital, so that legitimate patents from the throne have been stopped and your honors left in silence. Merit left unrewarded will only slacken the zeal of those who toil. I therefore send the acting palace herald Yang Lin bearing the Chanyu’s seal, cords, chariot, and regalia in recognition of your labors. Each of you shall quiet your tribes, instruct them in restraint, and suffer no violence or villainy among your people. Your sacrificial rank shall pass down the generations, and you shall long stand as chieftains over the hundred barbarian bands. Whoever brings shame upon this charge will forfeit stipend and office alike—consider how you must strive! The Wuhuan Chanyu shall command all tribal hosts, with left and right Chanyu under his orders; all other matters follow standing precedent."
4
鮮卑 〈《魏書》曰:鮮卑亦東胡之餘也,別保鮮卑山,因號焉。 其言語習俗與烏丸同。 其地東接遼水,西當西城。 常以季春大會,作樂水上,嫁女娶婦,髠頭飲宴。 其獸異於中國者,野馬、羱羊、端牛。 端牛角爲弓,世謂之角端者也。 又有貂、豽、鼲子,皮毛柔蠕,故天下以爲名裘。 鮮卑自爲冒頓所破,遠竄遼東塞外,不與餘國爭衡,未有名通於漢,而自與烏丸相接。 至光武時,南北單于更相攻伐,匈奴損耗,而鮮卑遂盛。 建武三十年,鮮卑大人於仇賁率種人詣闕朝貢,封於仇賁爲王。 永平中,祭肜爲遼東太守,誘賂鮮卑,使斬叛烏丸欽志賁等首,於是鮮卑自燉煌、酒泉以東邑落大人,皆詣遼東受賞賜,青、徐二州給錢,歲二億七千萬以爲常。 和帝時,鮮卑大都護校尉廆帥部衆從烏丸校尉任常擊叛者,封校尉廆爲率衆王。 殤帝延平中,鮮卑乃東入塞,殺漁陽太守張顯。 安帝時,鮮卑大人燕荔陽入朝,漢賜鮮卑王印綬,赤車參駕,止烏丸校尉所治寗下。 通胡市,築南北兩部質宮,受邑落質者二十部。 是後或反或降,或與匈奴、烏丸相攻擊。 安帝末,發緣邊步騎二萬餘人,屯列衝要。 後鮮卑八九千騎穿代郡及馬城塞入害長吏,漢遣度遼將軍鄧遵、中郎將馬續出塞追破之。 鮮卑大人烏倫、其至鞬等七千餘人詣遵降,封烏倫爲王,其至鞬爲侯,賜采帛。 遵去後,其至鞬復反,圍烏丸校尉於馬城,度遼將軍耿夔及幽州刺史救解之。 其至鞬遂盛,控弦數萬騎,數道入塞,趣五原寧貊,攻匈奴南單于,殺左奧鞬日逐王。 順帝時,復入塞,殺代郡太守。 漢遣黎陽營兵屯中山,緣邊郡兵屯塞下,調五營弩帥令教戰射,南單于將步騎萬餘人助漢擊却之。 後烏丸校尉耿曄將率衆王出塞擊鮮卑,多斬首虜,於是鮮卑三萬餘落詣遼東降。 匈奴及北單于遁逃後,餘種十餘萬落詣遼東雜處,皆自號鮮卑兵。 投鹿侯從匈奴軍三年,其妻在家,有子。 投鹿侯歸,怪欲殺之。 妻言:「嘗晝行聞雷震,仰天視而雹入其口,因吞之,遂姙身,十月而產,此子必有奇異,且長之。」 投鹿侯固不信。 妻乃語家,令收養焉,號檀石槐,長大勇健,智畧絕衆。 年十四五,異部大人卜賁邑鈔取其外家牛羊,檀石槐策騎追擊,所向無前,悉還得所亡。 由是部落畏服,施法禁,平曲直,莫敢犯者,遂推以爲大人。 檀石槐旣立,乃爲庭於高柳北三百餘里彈汗山啜仇水上,東西部大人皆歸焉。 兵馬甚盛,南鈔漢邊,北拒丁令,東却夫餘,西擊烏孫,盡據匈奴故地,東西萬二千餘里,南北七千餘里,罔羅山川、水澤、鹽池甚廣。 漢患之,桓帝時使匈奴中郎將張奐征之,不克。 乃更遣使者齎印綬,即封檀石槐爲王,欲與和親。 檀石槐拒不肯受,寇鈔滋甚。 乃分其地爲中東西三部。 從右北平以東至遼,東接夫餘、濊貊爲東部,二十餘邑,其大人曰彌加、闕機、素利、槐頭。 從右北平以西至上谷爲中部,十餘邑,其大人曰柯最、闕居、慕容等,爲大帥。 從上谷以西至燉煌,西接烏孫爲西部,二十餘邑,其大人曰置鞬落羅、曰律推演、宴荔游等,皆爲大帥,而制屬檀石槐。 至靈帝時,大鈔畧幽、并二州。 緣邊諸郡無歲不被其毒。 熹平六年,遣護烏丸校尉夏育,破鮮卑中郎將田晏,匈奴中郎將臧旻與南單于出鴈門塞,三道並進,徑二千餘里征之。 檀石槐帥部衆逆擊,旻等敗走,兵馬還者什一而己。 鮮卑衆日多,田畜射獵,不足給食。 後檀石槐乃案行烏侯秦水,廣袤數百里,停不流,中有魚而不能得。 聞汗人善捕魚,於是檀石槐東擊汗國,得千餘家,徙置烏侯秦水上,使捕魚以助糧。 至于今,烏侯秦水上有汗人數百戶。 檀石槐年四十五死,子和連代立。 和連材力不及父,而貪淫,斷法不平,衆叛者半。 靈帝末年數爲寇鈔,攻北地,北地庶人善弩射者射中和連,和連即死。 其子騫曼小,兄子魁頭代立。 魁頭旣立後,騫曼長大,與魁頭爭國,衆遂離散。 魁頭死,弟步度根代立。 自檀石槐死後,諸大人遂世相襲也。〉 步度根旣立,衆稍衰弱,中兄扶羅韓亦別擁衆數萬爲大人。 建安中,太祖定幽州,步度根與軻比能等因烏丸校尉閻柔上貢獻。 後代郡烏丸能臣氐等叛,求屬扶羅韓,扶羅韓將萬餘騎迎之。 到桑乾,氏等議,以爲扶羅韓部威禁寬緩,恐不見濟,更遣人呼軻比能。 比能即將萬餘騎到,當共盟誓。 比能便於會上殺扶羅韓,扶羅韓子泄歸泥及部衆悉屬比能。 比能自以殺歸泥父,特又善遇之。 步度根由是怨比能。
The Xianbei 〈The Book of Wei observes: "The Xianbei are another remnant of the Eastern Hu who withdrew to Xianbei Mountain and took their name from it." Their speech and ways of life match those of the Wuhuan. Their pasturelands stretch east to the Liao River and west toward the frontier zone recorded as Xicheng. In the last month of spring they gather in force by the rivers, hold music and weddings, shave their heads, and feast for days. Beasts unknown in China proper include wild horses, argali, and the so-called duan ox. They laminate bows from the horn of the duan ox—the weapon later lore calls the “horn tip” bow. Sable, wild dog pelts, and dusky mole skins are so plush that Chinese connoisseurs rank them among the finest furs. After Modun shattered their power they fled deep beyond the Liaodong line, kept out of great-power politics, and still lacked any name at the Han court—though they already rubbed shoulders with the Wuhuan. Under Guangwu the northern and southern Chanyu tore at each other until the Xiongnu were exhausted, and the Xianbei filled the vacuum. In Jianwu 30 the Xianbei chief Yuqiuben brought his clans to present tribute at Luoyang and received investiture as king. Under Yongping, Liaodong governor Ji Rong bought Xianbei help to take the head of the rebel Wuhuan Qin Zhiben; chiefs from as far west as Dunhuang and Jiuquan then flocked to Liaodong for Han largesse, while Qing and Xu forwarded 270 million cash a year as standing subsidy. Under Emperor He the Xianbei chief-protector Gui marched with Wuhuan colonel Ren Chang against rebels and was ennobled as king who leads the masses. During the Yanping era of Emperor Shang the Xianbei burst east through the line and killed Zhang Xian, governor of Yuyang. Under Emperor An the Xianbei chief Yan Liyang visited the capital; the Han awarded him the king’s seal and cord, a crimson three-horse state coach, and lodging beneath Ning under the Wuhuan colonel’s jurisdiction. They opened frontier markets, built paired north-and-south hostage compounds, and held twenty tribal divisions’ sons as surety. Afterward they alternately rebelled and surrendered, and sometimes traded blows with the Xiongnu or the Wuhuan. Late in Emperor An’s reign the court mobilized over twenty thousand infantry and cavalry from the frontier commands and posted them at every strategic pass. Later eight or nine thousand Xianbei horsemen broke through Dai and Macheng Pass to murder Chinese officials; Deng Zun, the Liaodu general, and Ma Xu, a gentleman of the household, chased them beyond the wall and routed them. More than seven thousand Xianbei under Wulun and Qizhijian surrendered to Deng Zun; Wulun was made king, Qizhijian marquis, both receiving bolts of brocade. When Deng Zun left, Qizhijian rose again, penned the Wuhuan colonel inside Macheng, until Liaodu general Geng Kui and the governor of Youzhou broke the siege. Qizhijian then commanded tens of thousands of mounted archers, drove several columns through the passes toward Wuyuan and the Ningmo tribes, struck the Southern Chanyu, and killed the Left Worthy King who held the Sun-chasing title. Under Emperor Shun they raided within the wall again and killed the governor of Dai. The Han moved the Liyang garrison into Zhongshan, stacked border troops along the wall, drilled crossbowmen from the five camps, and the Southern Chanyu brought over ten thousand riders to help drive the invaders back. Wuhuan colonel Geng Ye later led the client kings beyond the wall and piled up Xianbei heads until more than thirty thousand camps surrendered at Liaodong. When the Xiongnu and the Northern Chanyu fled west, over a hundred thousand remnant camps drifted into Liaodong and mingled there, all calling themselves Xianbei. Tuluhou spent three years with a Xiongnu host while his wife at home bore a child. When Tuluhou returned he was furious and meant to kill the infant. She said, "I was walking at noon when thunder rolled; I looked up and a hailstone dropped into my mouth. I swallowed it and conceived; after ten months I bore him. The boy will be extraordinary—please let him live for now." Tuluhou refused to believe a word of it. She appealed to her kin to rear the boy in secret; they named him Tanshi Huai, and as he grew he proved fiercer and shrewder than any of his peers. At fourteen or fifteen, when another chief named Bu Benyi drove off his uncle’s herd, Tanshi Huai rode him down, broke his line, and recovered every beast. The bands came to fear him: he imposed laws, settled disputes, and none dared defy him, so they acclaimed him as great man. Once acknowledged, he set his court on the Khanhan River north of Gaoliu, three hundred li beyond the wall, and the chiefs of east and west rallied to him. His hosts were immense: they raided China in the south, held the Dingling north, pushed Puyŏ east, struck Wusun west, and filled the old Xiongnu domain—twelve thousand li from east to west, seven thousand from north to south—with pastures, rivers, and salt pans under his hand. The court dreaded him; under Emperor Huan the Xiongnu commissioner Zhang Huan marched against him and failed. Han then sent envoys with seals to invest Tanshi Huai as king and sue for peace by marriage. Tanshi Huai spurned the titles, and his raids only grew bolder. He partitioned his realm into central, eastern, and western commands. East of Youbeiping to the Liao basin, bordering Puyŏ and Huimo, lay the eastern wing—twenty-odd camps under chiefs such as Mijia, Queji, Suli, and Huaitou. Between Youbeiping and Shanggu stood the middle division—ten-odd camps led by marshals such as Kezui, Queju, and Murong. West of Shanggu to Dunhuang, touching Wusun, lay the western wing—twenty-odd camps under Zhijian Luoluo, Yulü Tuoyan, Yan Liyou, and others—all marshals answering to Tanshi Huai. Under Emperor Ling he swept Youzhou and Bingzhou in great raids. Year after year the frontier commanderies felt his sting. In Xiping 6 the court sent Wuhuan colonel Xia Yu, Xianbei general Tian Yan, Xiongnu general Zang Min, and the Southern Chanyu through Yanmen in three columns on a two-thousand-li thrust against him. Tanshi Huai met them in force; Zang Min’s host broke and ran, and barely one man in ten came back. The Xianbei multitudes swelled until herding and hunting could no longer feed them. Tanshi Huai then explored the Wuhouqin River—a broad slack-water reach hundreds of li long, full of fish his people could not catch. Learning that Khan tribesmen excelled at fishing, he struck east, seized a thousand households, resettled them on the Wuhouqin, and set them to netting fish for the larder. Even today several hundred Khan households live along the Wuhouqin. Tanshi Huai died at forty-five, and his son Helian succeeded him. Helian lacked his father’s gifts but indulged greed and lust and skewed justice until half his followers deserted. Late in Emperor Ling’s reign he raided again and again, struck Beidi, and a common crossbowman of Beidi shot him dead on the spot. His son Qianman was still a child, so his nephew Kuitou took the throne. After Kuitou’s accession the grown Qianman fought him for the confederation until the tribes splintered. When Kuitou died his younger brother Budugen succeeded him. After Tanshi Huai’s death the great-man office passed down hereditary lines among the chiefs.〉 Budugen’s following thinned while his middle brother Fuluohan split off with tens of thousands and styled himself a great man in his own right. During Jian'an, after Cao Cao pacified Youzhou, Budugen and Kebineng sent tribute through Wuhuan colonel Yan Rou. Later the Wuhuan chiefs Nengchen Di of Dai rebelled and asked to join Fuluohan, who rode out with ten thousand horsemen to meet them. At Sanggan, Di and his confederates decided Fuluohan’s rule was too lax to protect them, and sent messengers to call Kebineng. Kebineng arrived at once with another ten thousand riders for a joint oath-taking. Kebineng murdered Fuluohan at the parley, and Fuluohan’s son Xieguini with every follower passed to Kebineng. Because he had killed the boy’s father, Kebineng treated Xieguini with conspicuous kindness. Budugen henceforth hated Kebineng.
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軻比能
Kebineng
6
軻比能本小種鮮卑,以勇健,斷法平端,不貪財物,衆推以爲大人。 部落近塞,自袁紹據河北,中國人多亡叛歸之,教作兵器鎧楯,頗學文字。 故其勒御部衆,擬則中國,出入弋獵,建立旌麾,以鼓節爲進退。 建安中,因閻柔上貢獻。 太祖西征關中,田銀反河間,比能將三千餘騎隨柔擊破銀。 後代郡烏丸反,比能復助爲寇害,太祖以鄢陵侯彰爲驍騎將軍,北征,大破之。 比能走出塞,後復通貢獻。 延康初,比能遣使獻馬,文帝亦立比能爲附義王。 黃初二年,比能出諸魏人在鮮卑者五百餘家,還居代郡。 明年,比能帥部落大人小子代郡烏丸脩武盧等三千餘騎,驅牛馬七萬餘口交市,遣魏人千餘家居上谷。 後與東部鮮卑大人素利及步度根三部爭鬪,更相攻擊。 田豫和合,使不得相侵。 五年,比能復擊素利,豫帥輕騎徑進掎其後。 比能使別小帥瑣奴拒豫,豫進討,破走之,由是懷貳。 乃與輔國將軍鮮于輔書曰:「夷狄不識文字,故校尉閻柔保我於天子。 我與素利爲讎,往年攻擊之,而田校尉助素利。 我臨陣使瑣奴往,聞使君來,即便引軍退。 步度根數數鈔盜,又殺我弟,而誣我以鈔盜。 我夷狄雖不知禮義,兄弟子孫受天子印綬,牛馬尚知美水草,況我有人心邪! 將軍當保明我於天子。」 輔得書以聞帝,帝復使豫招納安慰。 比能衆遂彊盛,控弦十餘萬騎。 每鈔畧得財物,均平分付,一決目前,終無所私,故得衆死力,餘部大人皆敬憚之,然猶未能及檀石槐也。
Kebineng sprang from a minor Xianbei band, yet his courage, even-handed justice, and disdain for plunder won him acclaim as great man. His camps hugged the wall; after Yuan Shao took Hebei, Chinese fugitives flocked to him, taught his warriors to forge arms and armor, and introduced a smattering of literacy. He drilled his people on Chinese lines: hunts were staged like campaigns, with banners, drums, and signal blasts ordering advance and retreat. During Jian'an he forwarded tribute through Yan Rou. While Cao Cao marched west into Guanzhong, Tian Yin rose in Hejian; Kebineng rode three thousand horsemen with Yan Rou and crushed him. When the Wuhuan of Dai rebelled again with Kebineng’s backing, Cao Cao named Cao Zhang, marquis of Yanling, fierce-cavalry general; his northern expedition shattered them. Kebineng fled beyond the wall, yet later reopened tribute embassies. Early in Yankang he sent horses to court, and Emperor Wen of Wei enfeoffed him as king who cleaves to righteousness. In Huangchu 2 he released over five hundred Wei households living under Xianbei rule to resettle in Dai. The next year he brought over three thousand riders, including Wuhuan youths such as Xiu Wulu of Dai, drove seventy thousand head of stock to the frontier mart, and planted a thousand Wei households in Shanggu. He later fell out with the eastern chief Suli and with Budugen’s wing, and the three camps raided one another in turn. Tian Yu brokered a truce to stop the mutual raids. In the fifth year, when Kebineng struck Suli again, Tian Yu led light horse straight into his rear. Kebineng sent the petty chief Suonu to hold Tian Yu off; Tian Yu attacked, routed Suonu, and Kebineng began to nurse a grudge. He wrote to the supporting general Xianyu Fu: "We barbarians have no letters of our own, so Colonel Yan Rou speaks for us to the Son of Heaven. Suli is my blood enemy—I have struck him for years—yet Colonel Tian Yu took his side. I sent Suonu to the line, but the moment I heard you were coming I drew my troops off. Budugen has raided again and again, murdered my brother, then accused me of the very banditry he practices. We may be barbarians ignorant of ritual, yet our brothers and sons hold seals from the Son of Heaven; even cattle choose the sweetest grass—do you think we lack human hearts? You must vindicate me before the throne." Xianyu Fu forwarded the letter to the emperor, who again ordered Tian Yu to conciliate him. Kebineng’s following swelled to more than a hundred thousand mounted archers. He split every haul of loot on the spot and kept nothing for himself, so his warriors gave their lives willingly and other chiefs feared him—though he never matched Tanshi Huai’s zenith.
7
太和二年,豫遣譯夏舍詣比能女壻鬱築鞬部,舍爲鞬所殺。 其秋,豫將西部鮮卑蒲頭、泄歸泥出塞討鬱築鞬,大破之。 還至馬城,比能自將三萬騎圍豫七日。 上谷太守閻志,柔之弟也,素爲鮮卑所信。 志往解喻,即解圍去。 後幽州刺史王雄并領校尉,撫以恩信。 比能數款塞,詣州奉貢獻。 至青龍元年,比能誘納步度根,使叛并州,與結和親,自勒萬騎迎其累重於陘北。 并州刺史畢軌遣將軍蘇尚、董弼等擊之,比能遣子將騎與尚等會戰於樓煩,臨陣害尚、弼。 至三年中,雄遣勇士韓龍刺殺比能,更立其弟。
In Taihe 2 Tian Yu sent the interpreter Xia She to the camp of Kebineng’s son-in-law Yuzhujian; Yuzhujian had Xia She killed. That autumn Tian Yu led the western Xianbei chiefs Putou and Xieguini beyond the wall against Yuzhujian and shattered him. On the march back to Macheng, Kebineng personally ringed Tian Yu with thirty thousand horsemen for seven days. Shanggu governor Yan Zhi—Yan Rou’s brother—had long enjoyed the Xianbei’s trust. Yan Zhi rode in to parley, and Kebineng broke camp and withdrew. Later Wang Xiong of Youzhou added the colonelcy to his title and won the tribes with kindness and good faith. Kebineng often came through the passes to the provincial seat with gifts. In Qinglong 1 Kebineng enticed Budugen into revolt against Bingzhou, sealed the pact with a marriage alliance, and personally led ten thousand riders to escort Budugen’s families through the pass north of Xing. Governor Bi Gui of Bingzhou sent Su Shang and Dong Bi against them; Kebineng’s son met them at Loufan and cut down both generals in the fighting. In the third year Wang Xiong sent the bravo Han Long to assassinate Kebineng and set up a younger brother in his place.
8
素利、彌加、厥機皆爲大人,在遼西、右北平、漁陽塞外,道遠初不爲邊患,然其種衆多於比能。 建安中,因閻柔上貢獻,通市,太祖皆表寵以爲王。 厥機死,又立其子沙末汗爲親漢王。 延康初,又各遣使獻馬。 文帝立素利、彌加爲歸義王。 素利與比能更相攻擊。 太和二年,素利死。 子小,以弟成律歸爲王,代攝其衆。
Suli, Mijia, and Jueji were great men beyond Liaoxi, Youbeiping, and Yuyang—so remote that they rarely troubled the line—yet their followings outnumbered Kebineng’s. During Jian'an they sent tribute and opened markets through Yan Rou, and Cao Cao memorialized the throne to ennoble each as king. When Jueji died his son Shamohan was invested as king close to the Han. Early in Yankang they again sent envoys with horses for the court. Emperor Wen enfeoffed Suli and Mijia as kings who cleave to righteousness. Suli and Kebineng took turns raiding each other’s camps. Suli died in Taihe 2. The heir was a child, so his uncle Chenglügui was named king and ruled the tribe in his stead.
9
書稱「東漸於海,西被於流沙」。 其九服之制,可得而言也。 然荒域之外,重譯而至,非足跡車軌所及,未有知其國俗殊方者也。 自虞暨周,西戎有白環之獻,東夷有肅慎之貢,皆曠世而至,其遐遠也如此。 及漢氏遣張騫使西域,窮河源,經歷諸國,遂置都護以總領之,然後西域之事具存,故史官得詳載焉。 魏興,西域雖不能盡至,其大國龜茲、于寘、康居、烏孫、疏勒、月氏、鄯善、車師之屬,無歲不奉朝貢,略如漢氏故事。 而公孫淵仍父祖三世有遼東,天子爲其絕域,委以海外之事,遂隔斷東夷,不得通於諸夏。 景初中,大興師旅,誅淵,又潛軍浮海,收樂浪、帶方之郡,而後海表謐然,東夷屈服。 其後高句麗背叛,又遣偏師致討,窮追極遠,逾烏丸、骨都,過沃沮,踐肅慎之庭,東臨大海。 長老說有異面之人,近日之所出,遂周觀諸國,采其法俗,小大區別,各有名號,可得詳紀。 雖夷狄之邦,而俎豆之象存。 中國失禮,求之四夷,猶信。 故撰次其國,列其同異,以接前史之所未備焉。
The Classic of Documents says: “The realm reaches the eastern sea and the western deserts.” The classical scheme of the nine domains can at least be described from the texts. Beyond the wild marches, peoples reached only through chains of interpreters—places no Chinese foot or axle has touched—customs remain unknown. From the age of Shun to the Zhou, the western Rong sent white jade rings and the eastern Yi sent Sushen arrows—gifts separated by generations, so remote were those lands. Only after Han dispatched Zhang Qian westward, traced the river sources, toured the kingdoms, and posted a protector-general could the courtiers set down the full record of the Western Regions. Under Wei the oases could not all send envoys every year, yet Kucha, Khotan, Kangju, Wusun, Kashgar, the Yuezhi lands, Shanshan, and Jushi still paid tribute annually much as in Han times. Gongsun Yuan and his forebears held Liaodong for three generations; the court treated it as an offshore satrapy and so cut the eastern peoples off from the Chinese heartland. Midway through Jingchu the state raised a great host, executed Gongsun Yuan, sailed a hidden fleet to recover Lelang and Daifang, and the eastern seaboard fell quiet under Wei. When Koguryŏ rebelled, Wei sent a column in pursuit far past the Wuhuan and Gudu tribes, through Okjeŏ, to the old Sushen heartland, until the sea lay to the east. Frontier elders spoke of flat-faced peoples from the sunrise lands; the compilers then toured those kingdoms, noted law and custom, and set down every name and difference in order. Even in barbarian realms the forms of Chinese sacrificial vessels survived. When ritual decayed in China, traces of it could still be found among the outer peoples—and the record is reliable. This chapter therefore arrays those peoples, marks what matches Chinese practice and what diverges, and fills gaps left by earlier annals.
10
夫餘在長城之北,去玄菟千里,南與高句麗,東與挹婁,西與鮮卑接,北有弱水,方可二千里。 戶八萬,其民土著,有宮室、倉庫、牢獄。 多山陵、廣澤,於東夷之域最平敞。 土地宜五穀,不生五果。 其人粗大,性強勇謹厚,不寇鈔。 國有君王,皆以六畜名官,有馬加、牛加、豬加、狗加、大使、大使者、使者。 邑落有豪民,名下戶皆爲奴僕。 諸加別主四出,道大者主數千家,小者數百家。 食飲皆用俎豆,會同、拜爵、洗爵,揖讓升降。 以殷正月祭天,國中大會,連日飲食歌舞,名曰迎鼓,於是時斷刑獄,解囚徒。 在國衣尚白,白布大袂,袍、袴,履革鞜。 出國則尚繒繡錦罽,大人加狐狸、狖白、黑貂之裘,以金銀飾帽。 譯人傳辭,皆跪,手據地竊語。 用刑嚴急,殺人者死,沒其家人爲奴婢。 竊盜一責十二。 男女淫,婦人妒,皆殺之。 尤憎妒,已殺,屍之國南山上,至腐爛。 女家欲得,輸牛馬乃與之。 兄死妻嫂,與匈奴同俗。 其國善養牲,出名馬、赤玉、貂狖、美珠。 珠大者如酸棗。 以弓矢刀矛爲兵,家家自有鎧仗。 國之耆老自說古之亡人。 作城柵皆員,有似牢獄。 行道晝夜無老幼皆歌,通日聲不絕。 有軍事亦祭天,殺牛觀蹄以占吉凶,蹄解者爲凶,合者爲吉。 有敵,諸加自戰,下戶俱擔糧飲食之。 其死,夏月皆用冰。 殺人徇葬,多者百數。 厚葬,有槨無棺。 《魏略》曰:其俗停喪五月,以久爲榮。 其祭亡者,有生有熟。 喪主不欲速而他人強之,常諍引以此爲節。 其居喪,男女皆純白,婦人著布面衣,去環珮,大體與中國相仿佛也。
Puyŏ sits north of the Wall, a thousand li from Xuantu, bordered by Koguryŏ on the south, Yilou on the east, Xianbei on the west, and the Weak River on the north—roughly two thousand li square. It counts eighty thousand households; the people are sedentary, with palaces, granaries, and jails. Hills and wide marshes dominate, yet among the eastern peoples its terrain is the most open. The soil grows the staple grains but not orchard fruits. The people are stout and plain-spoken, brave yet steady, and seldom take to banditry. The king names his ministers after the six domestic animals—horse chief, ox chief, pig chief, dog chief, grand envoy, greater envoy, and envoy. Each district has magnates whose clients are all counted as bond servants. The animal-titled chiefs fan out across the land: a major road may answer to a chief of thousands of homes, a minor one to hundreds. Meals use stands and stemmed cups; assemblies observe bowing, cup-washing, and graded yielding like Chinese ritual. On the Yin-style new year they sacrifice to Heaven, hold a national festival of feasting and dance called “welcoming the drum,” suspend trials, and free prisoners. At home they favor white—wide-sleeved white robes, trousers, and leather shoes. Abroad they dress in brocade and figured silks; nobles layer fox, white weasel, and black sable over their shoulders and pin gold and silver to their caps. Interpreters kneel with hands to the earth and whisper their messages. Justice is harsh: murderers die and their kin are enslaved. A thief repays twelvefold. Adultery and jealous wives alike earn death. Jealousy they detest most: the corpse is left on a southern hill to rot. Her kin may ransom the body with cattle and horses. A man marries his widowed sister-in-law, as among the Xiongnu. They excel at husbandry and export famed horses, carnelian, sable and weasel pelts, and fine pearls. The largest pearls are the size of Chinese dates. Arms are bow, knife, and spear, and every house keeps its own armor. Their elders claim descent from ancient exiles. Their stockaded towns are circular like pens. Travelers sing without cease, young and old, by day and night. Before war they sacrifice cattle to Heaven and read the ox’s cleft hooves—split is ill omen, closed is good. In wartime the chiefs fight while commoners haul rations for the host. Summer burials are packed with ice. Human victims accompany the grave—sometimes in the hundreds. Tombs are rich: an outer shell is used but no inner coffin. The Wei lüe adds that mourning lasts five months and length is deemed honorable. Offerings to the dead include both raw and cooked foods. The bereaved want a slow funeral while neighbors press for burial, and quarrels set the pace. Mourners wear undyed white; women veil their faces and lay aside jewelry—much like Chinese practice.
11
夫餘本屬玄菟。 漢末,公孫度雄張海東,威服外夷,夫餘王尉仇台更屬遼東。 時句麗、鮮卑強,度以夫餘在二虜之間,妻以宗女。 尉仇台死,簡位居立。 無適子,有孽子麻餘。 位居死,諸加共立麻餘。 牛加兄子名位居,爲大使,輕財善施,國人附之,歲歲遣使詣京都貢獻。 正始中,幽州刺史毌丘儉討句麗,遣玄菟太守王頎詣夫餘,位居遣大加郊迎,供軍糧。 季父牛加有二心,位居殺季父父子,籍沒財物,遣使簿斂送官。 舊夫餘俗,水旱不調,五穀不熟,輒歸咎於王,或言當易,或言當殺。 麻餘死,其子依慮年六歲,立以爲王。 漢時,夫餘王葬用玉匣,常豫以付玄菟郡,王死則迎取以葬。 公孫淵伏誅,玄菟庫猶有玉匣一具。 今夫餘庫有玉璧、珪、瓚數代之物,傳世以爲寶,耆老言先代之所賜也。 〈《魏略》曰:其國殷富,自先世以來,未嘗破壞。〉 其印文言「濊王之印」,國有故城名濊城,蓋本濊貊之地,而夫餘王其中,自謂「亡人」,抑有 (似) 也。 《魏略》曰:舊志又言,昔北方有高離之國者,其王者侍婢有身,王欲殺之,婢云:「有氣如雞子來下,我故有身。」 後生子,王捐之於溷中,豬以喙噓之,徙至馬閑,馬以氣噓之,不死。 王疑以爲天子也,乃令其母收畜之,名曰東明,常令牧馬。 東明善射,王恐奪其國也,欲殺之。 東明走,南至施掩水,以弓擊水,魚鱉浮爲橋,東明得度,魚鱉乃解散,追兵不得渡。 東明因都王夫餘之地。
Puyŏ was originally subject to Xuantu commandery. Late in Han, Gongsun Du dominated the Liaodong shore and the Puyŏ king Weichoutai transferred allegiance to him. With Koguryŏ and Xianbei pressing in, Gongsun Du married a kinswoman to the Puyŏ king to secure the buffer. When Weichoutai died, Jüjüwei came to the throne. He left no legitimate heir, only a bastard named Mayu. After Jüjüwei’s death the chiefs raised Mayu together. A nephew of the ox-chief, also named Jüjüwei, served as grand envoy, generous and popular, and sent yearly tribute to Luoyang. During Zhengshi, Guanqiu Jian attacked Koguryŏ and sent Wang Qi through Puyŏ; Jüjüwei’s chief met him beyond the walls with provisions. Jüjüwei executed a treacherous uncle and son, seized their property, and forwarded the inventory to Wei. Ancient custom blamed the king for bad harvests—some demanded abdication, others execution. When Mayu died his six-year-old son Yilü was enthroned. Han kept a royal jade burial case at Xuantu to be fetched when a Puyŏ king died. After Gongsun Yuan’s execution one such case still sat in the Xuantu treasury. Today Puyŏ’s treasury holds heirloom jades—disks, scepters, and ladles—said to be gifts from Chinese courts of old. 〈The Wei lüe adds: “Their kingdom is wealthy and has never been overthrown.”〉 The royal seal reads “King of the Hu”; an old town called Hu city suggests Puyŏ’s heartland was once Huimo country, while their kings call themselves “exiles”—perhaps meaning (“thus”) something of the sort. The Wei lüe says: the old gazetteer also says, long ago north there was a Gaoli state; the king’s waiting maid was with child; the king wished to kill her; the maid said: “There was a vapor like an egg that descended on me; therefore I am with child." The king cast the infant into a midden; a pig warmed him with its snout; moved to the stable, horses breathed life into him until he lived. Fearing a child of heaven, the king let the mother rear him as Dongming and set him to herd horses. Dongming excelled with the bow, and the king plotted to kill him before he could take the throne. Fleeing south to the Shiyan River, he smote the water with his bow until fish and turtles bridged the stream; when he crossed they dispersed and the pursuit could not follow. Dongming founded the royal seat and became king of Puyŏ.
12
高句麗
Koguryŏ
13
高句麗在遼東之東千里,南與朝鮮、濊貊,東與沃沮,北與夫餘接。 都於丸都之下,方可二千里,戶三萬。 多大山深谷,無原澤。 隨山谷以爲居,食澗水。 無良田,雖力佃作,不足以實口腹。 其俗節食,好治宮室,於所居之左右立大屋,祭鬼神,又祀靈星、社稷。 其人性凶急,善寇鈔。 其國有王,其官有相加、對盧、沛者、古雛加、主簿、優台丞、使者、皁衣先人,尊卑各有等級。 東夷舊語以爲夫餘別種,言語諸事,多與夫餘同,其性氣衣服有異。 本有五族,有涓奴部、絕奴部、順奴部、灌奴部、桂婁部。 本涓奴部爲王,稍微弱,今桂婁部代之。 漢時賜鼓吹技人,常從玄菟郡受朝服衣幘,高句麗令主其名籍。 後稍驕恣,不復詣郡,於東界築小城,置朝服衣幘其中,歲時來取之,今胡猶名此城爲幘溝漊。 溝漊者,句麗名城也。 其置官,有對盧則不置沛者,有沛者則不置對盧。 王之宗族,其大加皆稱古雛加。 涓奴部本國主,今雖不爲王,適統大人,得稱古雛加,亦得立宗廟,祠靈星、社稷。 絕奴部世與王婚,加古雛之號。 諸大加亦自置使者、皁衣先人,名皆達於王,如卿大夫之家臣,會同坐起,不得與王家使者、皁衣先人同列。 其國中大家不佃作,坐食者萬餘口,下戶遠擔米糧魚鹽供給之。 其民喜歌舞,國中邑落,暮夜男女群聚,相就歌戲。 無大倉庫,家家自有小倉,名之爲桴京。 其人絜清自喜,喜藏釀。 跪拜申一腳,與夫餘異,行步皆走。 以十月祭天,國中大會,名曰東盟。 其公會,衣服皆錦繡金銀以自飾。 大加主簿頭著幘,如幘而無餘,其小加著折風,形如弁。 其國東有大穴,名隧穴,十月國中大會,迎隧神還于國東上祭之,置木隧於神坐。 無牢獄,有罪諸加評議,便殺之,沒入妻子爲奴婢。 其俗作婚姻,言語已定,女家作小屋於大屋後,名婿屋,婿暮至女家戶外,自名跪拜,乞得就女宿,如是者再三,女父母乃聽使就小屋中宿,傍頓錢帛,至生子已長大,乃將婦歸家。 其俗淫。 男女已嫁娶,便稍作送終之衣。 厚葬,金銀財幣,盡於送死,積石爲封,列種松柏。 其馬皆小,便登山。 國人有氣力,習戰鬥,沃沮、東濊皆屬焉。 又有小水貊。 句麗作國,依大水而居,西安平縣北有小水,南流入海,句麗別種依小水作國,因名之爲小水貊,出好弓,所謂貊弓是也。
Koguryŏ lies a thousand li east of Liaodong, touching Korea and the Huimo south, Okjeŏ east, and Puyŏ north. The capital sits below Mount Wandu on a domain of some two thousand square li and thirty thousand households. Mountains and ravines dominate; there are no broad plains. People settle along the valleys and drink from mountain streams. Farmland is poor: however hard they plow, harvests barely feed them. They eat frugally yet build lofty halls, flanking their homes with great shrines for ghosts, the spirit star, and the altars of soil and grain. The people are violent and quick to raid. The king appoints ministers such as minister of state, treasurer, recorder, elder minister, secretaries, aides, envoys, and black-robed shamans in strict order. Eastern tradition calls them a Puyŏ offshoot: language and ways resemble Puyŏ, but dress and temperament differ. They once had five tribes: Juannu, Chŏllo, Sunnu, Kwannu, and Kwelru. The Juannu once supplied the kings but waned; the Kwelru lineage holds the throne today. Han gave them a military band and yearly court dress from Xuantu, whose magistrate held their household rolls. They grew insolent, stopped visiting Xuantu, and built an eastern border town to store the robes they fetched yearly—still called Cap Ditch Lou. “Lou” here is a Koguryŏ place name. Offices exclude each other: with a treasurer there is no minister, and vice versa. Royal kinsmen who head clans take the title elder minister. The old Juannu royal line, though dethroned, may still lead as great chief with the elder title and keep royal shrines. The Chŏllo house marries the crown generation after generation and bears the elder minister honorific. Lesser chiefs appoint their own envoys and shamans, registered at court like retainers, yet they sit below the king’s men at audience. Magnates do not farm: over ten thousand dependents are fed by commoners hauling grain, fish, and salt from afar. They love song and dance: at nightfall villages fill with men and women carousing together. There is no public granary; each home keeps a private bin called a “floating granary.” They are fastidious, vain of cleanliness, and fond of cellaring wine. They kneel with one leg thrust out unlike Puyŏ, and they habitually run rather than walk. Each tenth month they worship Heaven at a national gathering called the Eastern League. At state ceremonies nobles drape themselves in brocade, figured silks, gold, and silver. High ministers don a tight zé-style cap; junior chiefs wear a stiff “broken-wind” cap shaped like a Chinese bian. East of the realm lies the “Tunnel Grotto”; each tenth month the nation fetches the tunnel deity there, sacrifices east of the capital, and sets a wooden spirit image before the altar. There are no jails: chiefs try a case and execute on the spot, enslaving the criminal’s family. Betrothal fixed, the bride’s kin erect a “groom’s hut” behind the house; the suitor kneels at the door night after night until the parents admit him to the hut with gifts piled nearby; only after a child is grown does he take his wife home. Sexual mores are loose. Newlyweds soon start sewing their own shrouds. Funerals consume gold and silver; stone mounds rise above tombs ringed with pine and cypress. Their ponies are small but sure-footed on mountain trails. The nation is warlike; Okje and eastern Huimo acknowledge its overlordship. A related people are the Lesser Water Mo. A Koguryŏ branch settled on a minor river north of Xian’anping that drains to the sea—hence “Lesser Water Mo”—famed for the laminated bows called Mo bows.
14
王莽初發高句麗兵以伐胡,不欲行,強迫遣之,皆亡出塞爲寇盜。 遼西大尹田譚追擊之,爲所殺。 州郡縣歸咎于句麗侯騊,嚴尤奏言:「貊人犯法,罪不起於騊,且宜安慰。 今猥被之大罪,恐其遂反。」 莽不聽,詔尤擊之。 尤誘期句麗侯騊至而斬之,傳送其首詣長安。 莽大悅,佈告天下,更名高句麗爲下句麗。 當此時爲侯國,漢光武帝八年,高句麗王遣使朝貢,始見稱王。
Wang Mang drafted Koguryŏ auxiliaries against the northern Hu; they refused, were driven out, and fled beyond the wall as raiders. Liaoxi intendant Tian Tan gave chase and died at their hands. Prefectures and counties blamed the Gouli marquis Tao; Yan You memorialized: “When Mo people break the law, the fault does not begin with Tao; for now it is fitting to console them. Now rashly visiting a great crime on him, I fear they will then rebel.” Wang Mang ignored the advice and ordered Yan You to march. Yan You lured Marquis Tao to a parley, executed him, and forwarded the head to Chang’an. Wang Mang exulted, published the news empire-wide, and demoted the name to “Lower Koguryŏ.” It remained a Han marquisdom until Guangwu 8, when the king first sent tribute and received the title of king.
15
至殤、安之間,句麗王宮數寇遼東,更屬玄菟。 遼東太守蔡風、玄菟太守姚光以宮爲二郡害,興師伐之。 宮詐降請和,二郡不進。 宮密遣軍攻玄菟,焚燒候城,入遼隧,殺吏民。 後宮復犯遼東,蔡風輕將吏士追討之,軍敗沒。
Under Emperors Shang and An King Gong harried Liaodong and again accepted Xuantu’s overlordship. Governors Cai Feng of Liaodong and Yao Guang of Xuantu marched jointly because Gong menaced both jurisdictions. King Gong sued for peace and the allied columns stopped. He then struck Xuantu in secret, torched the frontier post, swept Liaosui, and slaughtered the population. When Gong raided Liaodong again, Cai Feng rashly pursued and was destroyed with his army.
16
宮死,子伯固立。 順、桓之間,復犯遼東,寇新安、居鄉,又攻西安平,於道上殺帶方令,略得樂浪太守妻子。 靈帝建寧二年,玄菟太守耿臨討之,斬首虜數百級,伯固降,屬遼東。 (嘉) 平中,伯固乞屬玄菟。 公孫度之雄海東也,伯固遣大加優居、主簿然人等助度擊富山賊,破之。
King Gong was succeeded by his son Bogu. Under Shun and Huan he sacked Xin’an and Xianping, slew the Daifang magistrate en route, and seized the Lelang governor’s family. In Jianning 2 Geng Lin of Xuantu broke his host, took hundreds of heads, and forced Bogu back under Liaodong. (Jia) In the Zhongping era Bogu petitioned to return to Xuantu’s register. While Gongsun Du lorded the coast, Bogu lent him Youju and Ran Ren to crush the Fushan rebels.
17
伯固死,有二子,長子拔奇,小子伊夷模。 拔奇不肖,國人便共立伊夷模爲王。 自伯固時,數寇遼東,又受亡胡五百餘家。 建安中,公孫康出軍擊之,破其國,焚燒邑落。 拔奇怨爲兄而不得立,與涓奴加各將下戶三萬餘口詣康降,還住沸流水。 降胡亦叛伊夷模,伊夷模更作新國,今日所在是也。 拔奇遂往遼東,有子留句麗國,今古雛加駮位居是也。 其後復擊玄菟,玄菟與遼東合擊,大破之。
Bogu left sons Baji and Iyimo. The courtiers spurned the elder Baji and enthroned Iyimo. Since Bogu’s reign the kingdom had raided Liaodong and sheltered over five hundred Xiongnu fugitives. Gongsun Kang’s Jian’an expedition burned their towns and broke their power. Baji, bitter at being passed over, led thirty thousand followers with the Juannu chief to surrender to Gongsun Kang and camped on the Paekche River. The Hu settlers then turned on Iyimo, who rebuilt his capital where the kingdom lies now. Baji withdrew to Liaodong but left a son behind who became the elder minister Bajuwi. A later strike on Xuantu drew a combined riposte from Xuantu and Liaodong that shattered the army.
18
伊夷模無子,淫灌奴部,生子名位宮。 伊夷模死,立以爲王,今句麗王宮是也。 其曾祖名宮,生能開目視,其國人惡之,及長大,果凶虐,數寇鈔,國見殘破。 今王生墮地,亦能開目視人。 句麗呼相似爲位,似其祖,故名之爲位宮。 位宮有力勇,便鞍馬,善獵射。 景初二年,太尉司馬王率衆討公孫淵,宮遣主簿大加將數千人助軍。 正始三年,宮寇西安平,其五年,爲幽州刺吏毌丘儉所破。 語在 〈儉傳〉。
Childless, Iyimo fathered a son on the Kwannu tribe and named the boy Weigong. Iyimo's bastard succeeded him as the Koguryŏ king now known by the name Gong, the same graph sequence read Weigong. His great-grandfather Gong was born with his eyes open—a bad omen—and grew into a tyrant whose raids ruined the realm. The present king too was born with open eyes, staring at those around him. Their word for “like” sounds like wei; seeing the omen repeat, they named him Weigong after the ancestor Gong. Weigong is a strong horseman and a deadly bowman in the chase. In Jingchu 2 Sima Yi marched against Liaodong; King Gong sent a chief and several thousand riders to assist Wei. He raided Xianping in Zhengshi 3 and fell to Guanqiu Jian, governor of Youzhou, in Zhengshi 5. The full account is given in 〈the biography of Guanqiu Jian.〉
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東沃沮
Eastern Okjeŏ
20
東沃沮在高句麗蓋馬大山之東,濱大海而居。 其地形東北狹,西南長,可千里,北與挹婁、夫餘,南與濊貊接。 戶五千,無大君王,世世邑落,各有長帥。 其言語與句麗大同,時時小異。 漢初,燕亡人衛滿王朝鮮,時沃沮皆屬焉。 漢武帝元封二年,伐朝鮮,殺滿孫右渠,分其地爲四郡,以沃沮城爲玄菟郡。 後爲夷貊所侵,徙郡句麗西北,今所謂玄菟故府是也。 沃沮還屬樂浪。 漢以土地廣遠,在單單大領之東,分置東部都尉,治不耐城,別主領東七縣,時沃沮亦皆爲縣。 漢 (光) 武六年,省邊郡,都尉由此罷。 其後皆以其縣中渠帥爲縣侯,不耐、華麗、沃沮諸縣皆爲侯國。 夷狄更相攻伐,唯不耐濊侯至今猶置功曹、主簿諸曹,皆濊民作之。 沃沮諸邑落渠帥,皆自稱三老,則故縣國之制也。 國小,迫於大國之間,遂臣屬句麗。 句麗復置其中大人爲使者,使相主領,又使大加統責其租稅,貊布、魚、鹽、海中食物,千里擔負致之,又送其美女以爲婢妾,遇之如奴僕。
Eastern Okjeŏ sits east of Mount Kaema in Koguryŏ, hugging the coast. The land runs a thousand li, pinched in the northeast and long toward the southwest, touching Yilou and Puyŏ north and Huimo south. It counts five thousand households with no supreme king—only village chiefs. Their language is almost Koguryŏan with small divergences. Early Han saw Wei Man of Yan rule Korea, and Okjeŏ paid him allegiance. In the second year of Yuanfeng, Han destroyed Youqu, split Korea into four commanderies, and placed Xuantu at Okjeŏ town. Yi and Mo pressure forced the seat northwest toward the site now remembered as Old Xuantu. Okjeŏ then fell under Lelang. Han split an eastern commandant at Nai to rule seven eastern counties, Okjeŏ among them. Han (Guang) In the sixth year of Guangwu border posts were cut and the eastern commandant disbanded. Local headmen were enfeoffed as marquises—Nai, Huali, Okjeŏ, and the rest became small principalities. Amid tribal wars the Nai Hu marquis alone retained Han-style bureaus staffed by Hu clerks. Okjeŏ chiefs still call themselves “elders,” preserving the old county order. Cramped between empires, Okjeŏ became Koguryŏ’s vassal. Koguryŏ posted overseers and tax collectors who demanded Hu cloth, salt fish, and sea goods hauled immense distances, and seized Okjeŏ women as concubines treated like chattel.
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其土地肥美,背山向海,宜五穀,善田種。 人性質直強勇,少牛馬,便持矛步戰。 食飲居處,衣服禮節,有似句麗。 魏略曰:其嫁娶之法,女年十歲,已相設許。 婿家迎之,長養以爲婦。 至成人,更還女家。 女家責錢,錢畢,乃復還婿。 其葬作大木槨,長十餘丈,開一頭作戶。 新死者皆假埋之,才使覆形,皮肉盡,乃取骨置槨中。 舉家皆共一槨,刻木如生形,隨死者爲數。 又有瓦䥶,置米其中,編縣之於槨戶邊。
The soil is rich, mountain-backed and sea-facing, ideal for grain farming. They are sturdy foot fighters who favor spears over cavalry. Diet, dress, and ritual echo Koguryŏ. The Wei lüe records betrothals fixed at age ten. The bride is fetched young and reared in the groom’s house. At maturity she returns to her parents. Her kin demand bride-price; when it is paid she goes back to her husband. They build ten-zhang log mortuary chambers with a single door cut in one end. Corpses lie in shallow graves until the flesh rots, then bones are moved into the great log. One chamber holds a whole lineage, with wooden effigies carved for each dead kin. Earthen jars of rice hang braided beside the tomb door.
22
毌丘儉討句麗,句麗王宮奔沃沮,遂進師擊之。 沃沮邑落皆破之,斬獲首虜三千餘級,宮奔北沃沮。 北沃沮一名置溝婁,去南沃沮八百餘里,其俗南北皆同,與挹婁接。 挹婁喜乘船寇鈔,北沃沮畏之,夏月恆在山岩深穴中爲守備,冬月冰凍,船道不通,乃下居村落。 王頎別遣追討宮,盡其東界。 問其耆老「海東復有人不」? 耆老言國人嘗乘船捕魚,遭風見吹數十日,東得一島,上有人,言語不相曉,其俗常以七月取童女沈海。 又言有一國亦在海中,純女無男。 又說得一布衣,從海中浮出,其身如中 (國) 人衣,其兩袖長三丈。 又得一破船,隨波出在海岸邊,有一人項中復有面,生得之,與語不相通,不食而死。 其域皆在沃沮東大海中。
Guanqiu Jian’s pursuit drove King Gong into Okjeŏ. Wei razed the towns, took three thousand heads, and chased Gong to northern Okjeŏ. North Okjeŏ or Zhigoulou lies eight hundred li from the south; customs match and Yilou lies beyond. Yilou pirates terrify them into summer cave redoubts; frozen rivers let them winter in the valleys. Wang Qi’s column harried Gong to the eastern edge of Okjeŏ. He asked the elders, “Is there land beyond the eastern sea?” They told of fishermen blown to an island of unintelligible speech where girls were drowned each seventh month. They spoke of a woman-only isle far at sea. They recovered a cloth robe from the tide shaped like a Chinese (state) garment but with sleeves three zhang in length. They found a wrecked hull ashore and a two-faced captive who starved because no one could speak with him. All these marvels lie in the ocean east of Okjeŏ.
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挹婁在夫餘東北千餘里,濱大海,南與北沃沮接,未知其北所極。 其土地多山險。 其人形似夫餘,言語不與夫餘、句麗同。 有五穀、牛、馬、麻布。 人多勇力。 無大君長,邑落各有大人。 處山林之間,常穴居,大家深九梯,以多爲好。 土氣寒,劇於夫餘。 其俗好養豬,食其肉,衣其皮。 冬以豬膏塗身,厚數分,以禦風寒。 夏則裸袒,以尺布隱其前後,以蔽形體。 其人不絜,作溷在中央,人圍其表居。 其弓長四尺,力如弩,矢用楛,長尺八寸,青石爲鏃,古之肅慎氏之國也。 善射,射人皆入 (因)。 矢施毒,人中皆死。 出赤玉,好貂,今所謂挹婁貂是也。 自漢已來,臣屬夫餘,夫餘責其租賦重,以黃初中叛之。 夫餘數伐之,其人衆雖少,所在山險,鄰國人畏其弓矢,卒不能服也。 其國便乘船寇盜,鄰國患之。 東夷飲食類皆用俎豆,唯挹婁不,法俗最無綱紀也。
Yilou sits northeast of Puyŏ on the coast, south of north Okjeŏ, stretching northward without recorded limit. The terrain is rugged mountain country. They look like Puyŏ but speak a distinct tongue from Puyŏ or Koguryŏ. They grow grain, keep oxen and horses, and weave hemp. The men are fierce and strong. There is no king—only village chiefs. They live in pit houses; a great hall may descend nine ladders underground, and depth is a mark of status. The climate is colder than in Puyŏ. They favor pigs for meat and hides. In winter they plaster themselves with lard a few fen thick against the cold. In summer they go nearly naked, hiding loins with a strip of cloth. They place latrines at the center of the village and live in a ring around them. Their four-chi bows hit like crossbows; oak shafts with blue-stone heads mark them as heirs of Sushen. Their archery is deadly: every shaft finds flesh. (Editorial note: the manuscript marks flesh here.) The heads are poisoned—any wound is fatal. They export carnelian and the fine sable still called Yilou fur. They long served Puyŏ but revolted in Huangchu under crushing tribute. Puyŏ attacked often, yet Yilou’s mountain fastnesses and feared bows kept them unconquered. They raid by boat and terrify the coasts. Other eastern peoples use ritual vessels at meals; Yilou alone does not—their customs are the wildest of the lot.
24
濊南與辰韓,北與高句麗、沃沮接,東窮大海,今朝鮮之東皆其地也。 戶二萬。 昔箕子既適朝鮮,作八條之教以教之,無門戶之閉而民不爲盜。 其後四十餘世,朝鮮侯 (淮) 僭號稱王。 陳勝等起,天下叛秦,燕、齊、趙民避地朝鮮數萬口。 燕人衛滿,魋結夷服,復來王之。 漢武帝伐滅朝鮮,分其地爲四郡。 自是之後,胡、漢稍別。 無大君長,自漢已來,其官有侯邑君、三老,統主下戶。 其耆老舊自謂與句麗同種。 其人性願愨,少嗜欲,有廉恥,不請 (句麗) 匄。 言語法俗大抵與句麗同,衣服有異。 男女衣皆著曲領,男子擊銀花廣數寸以爲飾。 自單單大山領以西屬樂浪,自領以東七縣,都尉主之,皆以濊爲民。 後省都尉,封其渠帥爲侯,今不耐濊皆其種也。 漢末更屬句麗。 其俗重山川,山川各有部分,不得妄相涉入。 同姓不婚。 多忌諱,疾病死亡輒損棄舊宅,更作新居。 有麻布,蠶桑作綿。 曉候星宿,豫知年歲豐約。 不以誅玉爲寶。 常用十月節祭天,晝夜飲酒歌舞,名之爲舞天,又祭虎以爲神。 其邑落相侵犯,輒相罰責生口牛馬,名之爲責禍。 殺人者償死。 少寇盜。 作矛長三丈,或數人共持之,能步戰。 樂浪檀弓出其地。 其海出班魚皮,土地饒文豹,又出果下馬,漢桓時獻之。 〈臣松之按:果下馬高三尺,乘之可於果樹下行,故謂之果下。 見《博物志》、《魏都賦》。〉
Huimo reaches from Chinhan south to the sea east of Korea, touching Koguryŏ and Okjeŏ northward. It counts twenty thousand households. Jizi’s eight articles left Korea without bolted doors yet free of theft. Forty generations later the Joseon marquis appeared who would usurp the royal style. (text variant: Huai) usurped the royal style. When Qin collapsed, tens of thousands of Chinese from Yan, Qi, and Zhao fled into Korea. The Yan exile Wei Man dressed as a tribesman and seized the throne. Han Wu destroyed Korea and quartered its territory. Thereafter Hu and Chinese settlers diverged. Since Han there has been no king—only marquises, elders, and chiefs over commoner households. Their elders claim kinship with Koguryŏ. They are frugal and upright and will not beg from Koguryŏ for alms. (from Koguryŏ) for alms. Language and law resemble Koguryŏ’s; dress differs. Both sexes wear curved collars; men pin wide silver plaques as ornaments. West of Shandan pass was Lelang; seven eastern counties under the commandant were Hu territory. When the commandant was cut, chiefs became marquises—ancestors of today’s Nai Huimo. Late Han brought them again under Koguryŏ. They apportion every ridge and stream and forbid trespass between districts. Same-surname marriage is barred. Illness or death means abandoning the house for a new build. They weave hemp and reel silk from mulberry. They read the stars to forecast harvests. They set little store by jade ornaments. Their tenth-month heaven festival is a round-the-clock revel called “dancing to Heaven,” with tiger cult rites. Inter-village raids are settled with fines of slaves, cattle, and horses called “calamity dues.” Murder is repaid with life. Banditry is rare. They wield three-zhang pikes, sometimes crewed by several foot soldiers. The famed Tan bow of Lelang is their work. Their coast yields dogfish leather, their hills clouded leopards, and their pony breed short enough to pass under fruit trees—tribute in Huan’s reign. 〈Pei Songzhi cites texts that these ponies stand three chi and fit under orchard boughs. See the Bowuzhi and the Wei capital rhapsody.〉
25
正始六年,樂浪太守劉茂、帶方太守弓遵以領東濊屬句麗,興師伐之,不耐侯等舉邑降。 其八年,詣闕朝貢,詔更拜不耐濊王。 居處雜在民間,四時詣郡朝謁。 二郡有軍征賦調,供給役使,遇之如民。
In Zhengshi 6 Liu Mao and Gong Zun attacked eastern Huimo for siding with Koguryŏ; the Nai marquis surrendered his towns. In the eighth year they presented tribute and received renewed patent as Nai Huimo king. They live among Chinese subjects and report to the commandery each season. The two commanderies draft them for corvée like ordinary households.
26
韓在帶方之南,東西以海爲限,南與倭接,方可四千里。 有三種,一曰馬韓,二曰辰韓,三曰弁韓。 辰韓者,古之辰國也。 馬韓在西。 其民土著,種植,知蠶桑,作綿布。 各有長帥,大者自名爲臣智,其次爲邑借,散在山海間,無城郭。 有爰襄國、牟水國、桑外國、小石索國、大石索國、優休牟涿國、臣濆沽國、伯濟國、速盧不斯國、日華國、古誕者國、古離國、怒藍國、月支國、咨離牟盧國、素謂乾國、古爰國、莫盧國、卑離國、占離卑國、臣釁國、支侵國、狗盧國、卑彌國、監奚卑離國、古蒲國、致利鞠國、冉路國、兒林國、駟盧國、內卑離國、感奚國、萬盧國、辟卑離國、臼斯烏旦國、一離國、不彌國、支半國、狗素國、捷盧國、牟盧卑離國、臣蘇塗國、莫盧國、古臘國、臨素半國、臣雲新國、如來卑離國、楚山塗卑離國、一難國、狗奚國、不雲國、不斯濆邪國、爰池國、乾馬國、楚離國,凡五十餘國。 大國萬餘家,小國數千家,總十餘萬戶。 辰王治月支國。 臣智或加優呼臣雲遣支報安邪踧支濆臣離兒不例拘邪秦支廉之號。 其官有魏率善、邑君、歸義侯、中郎將、都尉、伯長。
Han occupies some four thousand square li south of Daifang, sea east and west, Wa south. It falls into Mahan, Chinhan, and Pyŏnhan. Chinhan is the old Chin polity. Mahan lies westward. They farm, raise silkworms, and weave cloth. Chiefs style themselves chinji or ipchŏ and live in unwalled hamlets from hill to shore. Mahan comprised upward of fifty petty kingdoms whose names the text records seriatim—Yuanxiang, Mou-shui, Sangwae, the paired Ssok and Tasok polities, Uhyu Machuk, Chinpo’go, Paekche, Ch’ŏllobu-se, Ilhwa, Kodancha, Koguryŏ, Nuran, Wŏlchi, Charyu Mallu, Sŏwŏkan, Ko’wŏn, Mallu, Pirye, Chŏmpirye, Chinsŭn, Chichin, Kollu, Pimye, Kamhae-birye, Kopu, Ch’irikuk, Yerim, Sallu, Naepirye, Kamhae, Manlu, P’yebirye, Kyusŭudan, Illye, a second Pimye, Pachin, Chŏllu, Mallu-birye, Chinsŏdo, Mallu, Kŏllap, Imsŏlpan, Chinsŭndo, Yŏrae-birye, Ch’ŏsan-birye, Ichin, Pugye, Pusep’yŏya, Wŏnji, Kanma, and Ch’ŏryŏ—each a walled chiefdom scattered between mountain and sea without higher unity. Large towns exceed ten thousand homes, small ones a few thousand—over a hundred thousand households in all. The Chin king’s seat is at Wŏlchi. Chiefs append long honorific strings to the title chinji. Wei has enfeoffed them with Chinese ranks from pacification chief to commandant.
27
侯准既僭號稱王,爲燕亡人衛滿所攻奪,《魏略》曰:昔箕子之後朝鮮侯,見周衰,燕自尊爲王,欲東略地,朝鮮侯亦自稱爲王,欲興兵逆擊燕以尊周室。 其大夫禮諫之,乃止。 使禮西說燕,燕止之,不攻。 後子孫稍驕虐,燕乃遣將秦開攻其西方,取地二千餘里,至滿番汗爲界,朝鮮遂弱。 及秦並天下,使蒙恬築長城,到遼東。 時朝鮮王否立,畏秦襲之,略服屬秦,不肯朝會。 否死,其子准立。 二十餘年而陳、項起,天下亂,燕、齊、趙民愁苦,稍稍亡往准,准乃置之於西方。 及漢以盧綰爲燕王,朝鮮與燕界於浿水。 及綰反,入匈奴,燕人衛滿亡命,爲胡服,東度浿水,詣准降,說准求居西界, (故) 中國亡命爲朝鮮籓屏。 准信寵之,拜爲博士,賜以圭,封之百里,令守西邊。 滿誘亡黨,衆稍多,乃詐遣人告准,言漢兵十道至,求入宿衛,遂還攻准。 准與滿戰,不敵也。 將其左右宮人走入海,居韓地,自號韓王。 〈《魏略》曰:其子及親留在國者,因冒姓韓氏。 准王海中,不與朝鮮相往來。〉 其後絕滅,今韓人猶有奉其祭祀者。 漢時屬樂浪郡,四時朝謁。 《魏略》曰:初,右渠未破時,朝鮮相曆谿卿以諫右渠不用,東之辰國,時民隨出居者二千餘戶,亦與朝鮮貢蕃不相往來。 至王莽地皇時,廉斯鑡爲辰韓右渠帥,聞樂浪土地美,人民饒樂,亡欲來降。 出其邑落,見田中驅雀男子一人,其語非韓人。 問之,男子曰:「我等漢人,名戶來,我等輩千五百人伐材木,爲韓所擊得,皆斷發爲奴,積三年矣。」 鑡曰:「我當降漢樂浪,汝欲去不?」 戶來曰:「可。」 (辰) 鑡因將戶來 (來) 出詣含資縣,縣言郡,郡即以鑡爲譯,從芩中乘大船入辰韓,逆取戶來。 降伴輩尚得千人,其五百人已死。 鑡時曉謂辰韓:「汝還五百人。 若不者,樂浪當遣萬兵乘船來擊汝。」 辰韓曰:「五百人已死,我當出贖直耳。」 乃出辰韓萬五千人,弁韓布萬五千匹,鑡收取直還。 郡表鑡功義,賜冠幘、田宅,子孫數世,至安帝延光四年時,故受復除。
The Wei lüe tells how Chin usurped the royal title until Wei Man overthrew him, and recounts the earlier Joseon marquis who mirrored Yan’s kingship to defend Zhou. Minister Rye’s remonstrance stopped him. Rye’s embassy to Yan averted war. Later arrogance drew Qin Kai’s western drive that stripped two thousand li down to the Manp’ŏhan line. Qin’s wall under Meng Tian reached Liaodong. King Pi of Korea feigned submission while shunning the Qin court. Pi was succeeded by his son Chun. Twenty years into the Han risings, Chinese refugees drifted to Chun, who planted them on his western march. Han’s Yan under Lu Wan faced Korea across the P’e. Wei Man fled in Hu dress, crossed the P’e, and begged Chun for the western frontier (claiming) he would shield Korea with Chinese exiles. Chun made him a belt-holder, gave a jade tablet, and set him to guard the west. Man hoarded exiles, lied that ten Han columns were coming, asked to garrison the court, then struck Chun. Chun met him in battle and lost. Chun fled seaward into the Han country and called himself king of Han. 〈The Wei lüe adds that kinsmen left behind adopted the surname Han. Chun ruled offshore and cut ties with old Joseon.〉 His line ended, but Koreans still sacrifice to him. Under Han it answered to Lelang with seasonal visits. The Wei lüe records minister Yŏlgyegyŏng’s flight east with two thousand households when Youqu spurned his counsel, cutting tribute ties with Joseon. Under Wang Mang, chief Yŏmsŏjŏl heard of Lelang’s plenty and plotted defection. In the fields he met a man chasing sparrows who spoke no Korean. Asked who he was, the man replied, “We are Chinese laborers who call ourselves Hŏrae; fifteen hundred of us were felling timber when Koreans captured us, cropped our hair, and have kept us as slaves these three years.” Jŏl said, “I mean to defect to Han’s Lelang commandery—will you come with me?” Hŏrae answered, “Yes.” (Chin) Jŏl led Hŏrae (out) to Hansŏ, whence Lelang sent a ship up the inlet to redeem them. A thousand captives survived; five hundred had perished. Jŏl then demanded of Chinhan, “Send back the five hundred living men. Otherwise Lelang will dispatch ten thousand soldiers by sea to attack you.” Chinhan replied, “Those five hundred are already dead; we can only offer ransom in goods.” Chinhan paid fifteen thousand persons and Pyŏnhan fifteen thousand bolts; Jŏl took the ransom and sailed home. The court cited Jŏl’s loyalty with gifts of cap, land, and tax exemptions that lasted generations until Yanguang 4 of An.
28
桓、靈之末,韓濊強盛,郡縣不能制,民多流入韓國。 建安中,公孫康分屯有縣以南荒地爲帶方郡,遣公孫模、張敞等收集遺民,興兵伐韓濊,舊民稍出,是後倭韓遂屬帶方。 景初中,明帝密遣帶方太守劉昕、樂浪太守鮮于嗣越海定二郡,諸韓國臣智加賜邑君印綬,其次與邑長。 其俗好衣幘,下戶詣郡朝謁,皆假衣幘,自服印綬衣幘千有餘人。 部從事吳林以樂浪本統韓國,分割辰韓八國以與樂浪,吏譯轉有異同,臣智激韓忿,攻帶方郡崎離營。 時太守弓遵、樂浪太守劉茂興兵伐之,遵戰死,二郡遂滅韓。
Under the last Huan and Ling emperors the Korean league grew too strong for local magistrates, and Chinese refugees flooded in. Gongsun Kang carved Daifang from wasteland south of Tunyu, repatriated fugitives, campaigned against Han-Huimo, and brought Wa and the league under Daifang. Ming’s secret expedition installed Liu Xin and Xianyu Si, then enfeoffed Korean headmen as Chinese-style settlement chiefs. Commoners borrow official caps for court visits—over a thousand appear in borrowed regalia. Wu Lin’s redistricting and sloppy translations provoked Chinhan chiefs to storm Daifang’s Kiryŏ garrison. Gong Zun fell fighting Liu Mao’s allies, and the commanderies crushed the Korean coalition.
29
其俗少綱紀,國邑雖有主帥,邑落雜居,不能善相制禦。 無跪拜之禮。 居處作草屋土室,形如塚,其戶在上,舉家共在中,無長幼男女之別。 其葬有槨無棺,不知乘牛馬,牛馬盡於送死。 以瓔珠爲財寶,或以綴衣爲飾,或以縣頸垂耳,不以金銀錦繡爲珍。 其人性強勇,魁頭露紒,如炅兵,衣布袍,足履革蹻蹋。 其國中有所爲及官家使築城郭,諸年少勇健者,皆鑿脊皮,以大繩貫之,又以丈許木鍤之,通日嚾呼作力,不以爲痛,既以勸作,且以爲健。 常以五月下種訖,祭鬼神,群聚歌舞,飲酒晝夜無休。 其舞,數十人俱起相隨,踏地低昂,手足相應,節奏有似鐸舞。 十月農功畢,亦復如之。 信鬼神,國邑各立一人主祭天神,名之天君。 又諸國各有別邑。 名之爲蘇塗。 立大木,縣鈴鼓,事鬼神。 諸亡逃至其中,皆不還之,好作賊。 其立蘇塗之義,有似浮屠,而所行善惡有異。 其北方近郡諸國差曉禮俗,其遠處直如囚徒奴婢相聚。 無他珍寶。 禽獸草木略與中國同。 出大栗,大如梨。 又出細尾雞,其尾皆長五尺餘。 其男子時時有文身。 又有州胡在馬韓之西海中大島上,其人差短小,言語不與韓同,皆髡頭如鮮卑,但衣韋,好養牛及豬。 其衣有上無下,略如裸勢。 乘船往來,巿買韓中。
Custom is loose: chiefs cannot govern mixed hamlets. They do not kneel in salute. Families live in bee-hive huts entered through a roof hatch, all generations in one room. Funerals consume every beast: they do not ride cattle but slaughter them for tombs. Pearls are wealth; gold and silk are not esteemed. Men tie topknots like Chu warriors, wear cloth and tread leather shoes. Corvée workers thread ropes through back piercings and peg oars to their flesh, roaring as a boast of endurance. After planting in the fifth month they hold all-night spirit dances with wine. Their ring dance stomps in cadence like the Chinese duo-drum dance. They repeat the festival when harvest ends in the tenth month. Each town appoints a “heaven lord” shaman for sky cults. Larger kingdoms hold satellite hamlets. Those shrines are called sot’o. Sacred groves bear bells and drums for rites. Sanctuaries harbor outlaws. Sot’o resemble Buddhist compounds but without Buddhist ethics. Coastal towns ape Chinese manners; inland bands look like slave pens. They prize little beyond pearls. Flora and fauna resemble China’s. Chestnuts grow as big as pears. They breed long-tailed fowl with five-chi plumes. Men tattoo for ornament. West of Mahan live the Zhou Hu islanders—short of stature, Xianbei-style shaven heads, leather dress, herders of cattle and swine—who speak no Korean. They wear only upper cloaks like half-nudity. They peddle by boat through Korean ports.
30
辰韓在馬韓之東,其耆老傳世,自言古之亡人避秦役來適韓國,馬韓割其東界地與之。 有城柵。 其言語不與馬韓同,名國爲邦,弓爲弧,賊爲寇,行酒爲行觴。 相呼皆爲徒,有似秦人,非但燕、齊之名物也。 名樂浪人爲阿殘; 東方人名我爲阿,謂樂浪人本其殘餘人。 今有名之爲秦韓者。 始有六國,稍分爲十二國。
Chinhan elders claim descent from Chinese fleeing Qin labor, given Mahan’s eastern strip. They build palisades. Their lexicon differs: state is “pang,” bow “hu,” bandit “kou,” toast “hangshang.” They address each other as “tu,” echoing Qin idiom rather than solely Yan-Qi words. They nickname Lelang folk “achan,” explaining “a” as “we” and implying Lelang Chinese are leftover colonists. Hence the label “Chinhan” (Qin-Korea). Six founders split into twelve Chinhan states.
31
弁辰亦十二國,又有諸小別邑,各有渠帥,大者名臣智,其次有險側,次有樊濊,次有殺奚,次有邑借。 有已柢國、不斯國、弁辰彌離彌凍國、弁辰接塗國、勤耆國、難彌離彌凍國、弁辰古資彌凍國、弁辰古淳是國、冉奚國、弁辰半路國、弁樂奴國、軍彌國 〈弁軍彌國〉 、弁辰彌烏邪馬國、如湛國、弁辰甘路國、戶路國、州鮮國 (馬延國) 、弁辰狗邪國、弁辰走漕馬國、弁辰安邪國 〈馬延國〉 、弁辰瀆盧國、斯盧國、優由國。 弁、辰韓合二十四國,大國四五千家,小國六七百家,總四五萬戶。 其十二國屬辰王。 辰王常用馬韓人作之,世世相繼。 辰王不得自立爲王。 〈《魏略》曰:明其爲流移之人,故爲馬韓所制。〉 土地肥美,宜種五穀及稻,曉蠶桑,作縑布,乘駕牛馬。 嫁娶禮俗,男女有別。 以大鳥羽送死,其意欲使死者飛揚。 《魏略》曰:其國作屋,橫累木爲之,有似牢獄也。 國出鐵,韓、濊、倭皆從取之。 諸巿買皆用鐵,如中國用錢,又以供給二郡。 俗喜歌舞飲酒。 有瑟,其形似築,彈之亦有音曲。 兒生,便以石厭其頭,欲其褊。 今辰韓人皆褊頭。 男女近倭,亦文身。 便步戰,兵仗與馬韓同。 其俗,行者相逢,皆住讓路。
Pyŏnchin lists twelve polities with ranks chinji, chŏmch’ŏk, pŏnhu, salkye, and ipchŏ. The text strings Pyŏnchin place names: Ipti, Puse, Mirimdon, Chŏptu, Kŭnji, Nanmirimdon, Kojamidon, Kŏchonsi, Yŏnhye, Panro, Pyŏnnaenŏ, Kunmi 〈variant heading: Pyŏn Kunmi state〉 , plus Misŏyama, Yŏcham, Kamno, Horo, and Chusŏn (editorial gloss: Mayŏn state) , then Kuya, Choch’oma, and Anya 〈repeated Mayŏn heading〉 , and finally Tŭllo, Sŏno, and Uyu. Pyŏnchin plus Chinhan number twenty-four states and forty to fifty thousand homes. Half answer to the Chin king. Mahan nobles are appointed Chin king generation after generation. The Chin king may not declare independence. 〈The Wei lüe notes they are colonists held in check by Mahan.〉 Their fields yield grain and rice; they reel silk and use draft animals. Wedding ritual observes gender separation unlike Mahan. Funerals deck corpses with long feathers so souls may fly. The Wei lüe compares their log pile houses to pens. Their iron feeds Korea, Huimo, and Wa. Iron ingots serve as coin and tribute to Lelang and Daifang. They love feasts with music and wine. They play a zhu-shaped zither with melody. Newborns heads are bound with stones for a narrow skull. Hence Chinhan’s flat heads. They tattoo like the Wa. Infantry arms match Mahan’s kit. Wayfarers step aside for each other.
32
弁辰與辰韓雜居,亦有城郭。 衣服居處與辰韓同。 言語法俗相似,祠祭鬼神有異,施灶皆在戶西。 其瀆盧國與倭接界。 十二國亦有王,其人形皆大。 衣服絜清,長髮。 亦作廣幅細布。 法俗特嚴峻。
Pyŏnchin intermixes with Chinhan behind stockades. Dress and housing match Chinhan. Language matches Chinhan but hearths sit west of doors. Tŭllo touches Wa territory. Pyŏnchin kings rule tall subjects. They wear white linen and grow long hair. They weave wide fine cloth. Justice is severe.
33
倭人在帶方東南大海之中,依山島爲國邑。 舊百餘國,漢時有朝見者,今使譯所通三十國。 從郡至倭,循海岸水行,歷韓國,乍南乍東,到其北岸狗邪韓國,七千餘里。 始度一海,千餘里至對馬國。 其大官曰卑狗,副曰卑奴母離。 所居絕島,方可四百餘里,土地山險,多深林,道路如禽鹿徑。 有千餘戶,無良田,食海物自活,乖船南北市糴。 又南渡一海千餘里,名曰瀚海,至一大國,官亦曰卑狗,副曰卑奴母離。 方可三百里,多竹木叢林,有三千許家,差有田地,耕田猶不足食,亦南北市糴。 又渡一海,千餘里至末盧國,有四千餘戶,濱山海居,草木茂盛,行不見前人。 好捕魚鰒,水無深淺,皆沈沒取之。 東南陸行五百里,到伊都國,官曰爾支,副曰泄謨觚、柄渠觚。 有千餘戶,世有王,皆統屬女王國,郡使往來常所駐。 東南至奴國百里,官曰兕馬觚,副曰卑奴母離,有二萬餘戶。 東行至不彌國百里,官曰多模,副曰卑奴母離,有千餘家。 南至投馬國,水行二十日,官曰彌彌,副曰彌彌那利,可五萬餘戶。 南至邪馬壹國,女王之所都,水行十日,陸行一月。 官有伊支馬,次曰彌馬升,次曰彌馬獲支,次曰奴佳鞮,可七萬餘戶。 自女王國以北,其戶數道里可得略載,其餘旁國遠絕,不可得詳。 次有斯馬國,次有已百支國,次有伊邪國,次有都支國,次有彌奴國,次有好古都國,次有不呼國,次有姐奴國,次有對蘇國,次有蘇奴國,次有呼邑國,次有華奴蘇奴國,次有鬼國,次有爲吾國,次有鬼奴國,次有邪馬國,次有躬臣國,次有巴厘國,次有支惟國,次有烏奴國,次有奴國,此女王境界所盡。 其南有狗奴國,男子爲王,其官有狗古智卑狗,不屬女王。 自郡至女王國萬二千餘里。
Wa lies southeast of Daifang across the sea in island kingdoms. Han knew over a hundred Wa polities; thirty now trade with China. The sea route from Daifang hugs Korea then swings seven thousand li to Wa’s north shore at Kuya. The first leg crosses a thousand li of sea to Tsushima. Tsushima’s governor is hiko, deputy hinumori. Tsushima is a rugged four-hundred-li isle with deer trails for roads. A thousand households live on seafood and grain trade. Another thousand-li crossing, the Vast Sea, reaches a larger island with the same titles. That land spans three hundred li with three thousand homes, some farms, still grain-short. Iki’s four thousand homes hide in coastal jungle. They free-dive for shellfish at any depth. A five-hundred-li march southeast reaches Ito with officers niji, semeko, and hekko. Ito’s thousand homes owe the queen regent; Chinese envoys billet there. Na holds twenty thousand homes under shima-ko. Fumi lies a hundred li east with a thousand families. Twenty days’ sail south is Tuma with fifty thousand hearths. Yamatai, the queen’s capital, lies ten days by sea and a month by land beyond Tuma. Yamatai’s bureaucracy lists ikima, maso, magatsu, nakatono over seventy thousand homes. Northward tallies are approximate; southern isles are uncharted. Beyond Yamatai lie vassal polities named in the text in sequence—Sima, Ilpaekchi, Iya, Tuchi, Miru, Hokodŏ, Puhu, Chŏnu, Taeso, Sonu, Hŏŭp, Hanasonu, Kwi, Uŏŏ, Kwinu, Yaema, Kungchin, Pari, Chiwei, Onu, and Nu—each a coastal chiefdom marking the rim of the queen’s confederation. South lies dog-country Kunu under a male king outside the queen’s sway. Daifang to Yamatai exceeds twelve thousand li.
34
男子無大小皆黥面文身。 自古以來,其使詣中國,皆自稱大夫。 夏後少康之子封於會稽,斷髮文身以避蛟龍之害。 今倭水人好沈沒捕魚蛤,文身亦以厭大魚水禽,後稍以爲飾。 諸國文身各異,或左或右,或大或小,尊卑有差。 計其道里,當在會稽東治之東。 其風俗不淫,男子皆露紒,以木綿招頭。 其衣橫幅,但結束相連,略無縫。 婦人被髮屈紒,作衣如單被,穿其中央,貫頭衣之。 種禾稻、紵麻,蠶桑、緝績,出細紵、縑綿。 其地無牛馬虎豹羊鵲。 兵用矛、楯、木弓。 木弓短下長上,竹箭或鐵鏃或骨鏃,所有無與儋耳、硃崖同。 倭地溫暖,冬夏食生菜,皆徒跣。 有屋室,父母兄弟臥息異處,以硃丹塗其身體,如中國用粉也。 食飲用籩豆,手食。 其死,有棺無槨,封土作塚。 始死停喪十餘日,當時不食肉,喪主哭泣,他人就歌舞飲酒。 已葬,舉家詣水中澡浴,以如練沐。 其行來渡海詣中國,恆使一人,不梳頭,不去蟣虱,衣服垢汙,不食肉,不近婦人,如喪人,名之爲持衰。 若行者吉善,共顧其生口財物; 若有疾病,遭暴害,便欲殺之,謂其持衰不謹。 出真珠、青玉。 其山有丹,其木有柟、杼、豫樟、楺櫪、投橿、烏號、楓香,其竹筱簳、桃支。 有薑、橘、椒、蘘荷,不知以爲滋味。 有獮猴、黑雉。 其俗舉事行來,有所雲爲,輒灼骨而卜,以占吉凶,先告所卜,其辭如令龜法,視火坼占兆。 其會同坐起,父子男女無別,人性嗜酒。 〈《魏略》曰:其俗不知正歲四節,但計春耕秋收爲年紀。〉 見大人所敬,但搏手以當跪拜。 其人壽考,或百年,或八九十年。 其俗,國大人皆四五婦,下戶或二三婦。 婦人不淫,不妒忌。 不盜竊,少諍訟。 其犯法,輕者沒其妻子,重者滅其門戶。 及宗族尊卑,各有差序,足相臣服。 收租賦。 有邸閣。 國國有市,交易有無,使大倭監之。 自女王國以北,特置一大率,檢察諸國,諸國畏憚之。 常治伊都國,於國中有如刺史。 王遣使詣京都、帶方郡、諸韓國,及郡使倭國,皆臨津搜露,傳送文書賜遺之物詣女王,不得差錯。 下戶與大人相逢道路,逡巡入草。 傳辭說事,或蹲或跪,兩手據地,爲之恭敬。 對應聲曰噫,比如然諾。
All Wa men tattoo face and limbs. Wa envoys call themselves grandees at the Chinese court. The custom recalls Shaokang’s son at Kuaiji tattooing against dragons. Wa divers tattoo today to charm away sharks and birds, though the practice began as magic and became mere decoration. Each Wa polity tattoos differently—left or right, large or small—by rank. By mileage it should lie east of Dongye in Kuaiji commandery. Morals are strict; men bind topknots in cotton headwraps. They wear wraparound cloth with few seams. Women wear poncho dresses slipped over the head. They grow rice and hemp, raise silkworms, and export fine ramie and silk. The islands lack cattle, horses, big cats, sheep, and magpies. Weapons are spear, shield, and wooden bow. Their composite bows and bamboo shafts differ from Hainan’s gear. The mild climate means raw greens year-round and bare feet. Families sleep apart and dust skin with cinnabar like Chinese face powder. Meals use baskets and dou; they eat with fingers. Burial uses inner coffins only, heaped earth above. Mourners abstain from meat while neighbors party at the wake. After interment the kin purify themselves in the river. Embassies include a polluted shaman who must not bathe or touch women—the “mourner” who absorbs ill luck. If the voyage prospers they reward the mourner’s slaves and goods; if disaster strikes they kill him for breaking taboo. They export pearls and green jade. Forests yield nan, camphor, maple, and fine bamboo. They grow spices but do not cook with them. Gibbons and black pheasants inhabit the woods. They divine by heat-cracking bone after announcing the question, like Chinese tortoise rites. Public feasts mix sexes and ages amid heavy drinking. 〈The Wei lüe says they count only sowing and harvest as a year.〉 They clap instead of kowtowing to superiors. Many live to eighty or a hundred. Nobles keep four or five wives; commoners two or three. Women are chaste and seldom jealous. Theft and litigation are rare. Minor crimes enslave the family; major ones extirpate the clan. Kinship ranks order obedience. The crown collects tribute. Waystations store goods. Every kingdom holds a market supervised by a “great Wa” inspector. North of Yamatai a high commissioner audits vassal states. He resides at Ito like a Chinese cishi. Ferries strip and search all couriers before imperial letters reach the queen. Commoners hide in the brush when nobles pass. Petitioners kneel with palms to earth. Affirmation is voiced as “yi,” like our “yes.”
35
其國本亦以男子爲王,住七八十年,倭國亂,相攻伐歷年,乃共立一女子爲王,名曰卑彌呼,事鬼道,能惑衆,年已長大,無夫婿,有男弟佐治國。 自爲王以來,少有見者。 以婢千人自侍,唯有男子一人給飲食,傳辭出入。 居處宮室樓觀,城柵嚴設,常有人持兵守衛。
Wa once had male kings until decades of civil war raised the shaman queen Himiko, who ruled through spirit cults with her brother as regent. Since her accession almost no one sees her face. A thousand women attend her; one male servant feeds her and carries messages. Her palace is a fortified compound under arms.
36
女王國東渡海千餘里,復有國,皆倭種,又有侏儒國在其南,人長三四尺,去女王四千餘里,又有裸國,黑齒國復在其東南,船行一年可至。 參問倭地,絕在海中洲島之上,或絕或連,周旋可五千餘里。
East across the sea lie more Wa islands, pygmies to the south, naked and black-teeth peoples southeast—a year’s sail. Wa is an archipelago chain of some five thousand li.
37
景初二年六月,倭女王遣大夫難升米等詣郡,求詣天子朝獻,太守劉夏遣吏將送詣京都。 其年十二月,詔書報倭女王曰:「制詔親魏倭王卑彌呼:帶方太守劉夏遣使送汝大夫難升米、次使都巿牛利奉汝所獻男生口四人,女生口六人、班布二匹二丈,以到。 汝所在逾遠,乃遣使貢獻,是汝之忠孝,我甚哀汝。 今以汝爲親魏倭王,假金印紫綬,裝封付帶方太守假授汝。 其綏撫種人,勉爲孝順。 汝來使難升米、牛利涉遠,道路勤勞,今以難升米爲率善中郎將,牛利爲率善校尉,假銀印青綬,引見勞賜遣還。 今以絳地交龍錦五匹、 〈臣松之以爲地應爲綈,漢文帝著皁衣謂之弋綈是也。 此字不體,非魏朝之失,則傳寫者誤也。〉 絳地縐粟罽十張、蒨絳五十匹、紺青五十匹,答汝所獻貢直。 又特賜汝紺地句文錦三匹、細班華罽五張、白絹五十匹、金八兩、五尺刀二口、銅鏡百枚、真珠、鉛丹各五十斤,皆裝封付難升米、牛利還到錄受。 悉可以示汝國中人,使知國家哀汝,故鄭重賜汝好物也。」
In Jingchu 2 Himiko sent Nashonmi to Daifang seeking audience at Luoyang; Liu Xia forwarded the embassy. The court’s twelfth-month edict reads: “We address Himiko, Wa queen allied to Wei: Liu Xia has forwarded Nashonmi and Toshi Kuri with four male and six female captives and two bolts of cloth, all received. We praise your loyalty across such distance. We invest you with the gold seal and purple ribbon through Daifang. Rule your people in steadfast loyalty. We promote Nashonmi and Kuri to Chinese military ranks with silver seals. We gift five bolts of crimson dragon brocade, 〈Pei Songzhi emends di to ti, citing Han Wen’s black yi-ti robe. The graph may be a scribal error.〉 plus felt and fifty bolts each of red and blue silk in return for your gifts. Special gifts include patterned brocade, blades, mirrors, pearls, and cinnabar for Himiko to display. Show these gifts so your realm knows the Son of Heaven honors you.”
38
評曰:史、漢著朝鮮、兩越,東京撰錄西羌。 魏世匈奴遂衰,更有烏丸、鮮卑,爰及東夷,使譯時通,記述隨事,豈常也哉!
The historian’s closing notes that Shi ji and Han shu covered Korea and Yue while Later Han chronicled the Qiang. Wei adds steppe peoples and eastern barbarians while frontier envoys wax and wane!
39
《魏略西戎傳》曰:氐人有王,所從來久矣。 自漢開益州,置武都郡,排其種人,分竄山谷間,或在福祿,或在汧、隴左右。 其種非一,稱槃瓠之後,或號青氐,或號白氐,或號蚺氐,此蓋蟲之類而處中國,人即其服色而名之也。 其自相號曰盍稚,各有王侯,多受中國封拜。 近去建安中,興國氐王阿貴、白項氐王千萬各有部落萬餘,至十六年,從馬超爲亂。 超破之後,阿貴爲夏侯淵所攻滅,千萬西南入蜀,其部落不能去,皆降。 國家分徙其前後兩端者,置扶風、美陽,今之安夷、撫夷二部護軍所典是也。 其 (太) 守善,分留天水、南安界,今之廣魏郡所守是也。 其俗,語不與中國同,及羌雜胡同,各自有姓,姓如中國之姓矣。 其衣服尚青絳。 俗能織布,善田種,畜養豕牛馬驢騾。 其婦人嫁時著衽露,其緣飾之制有似羌,衽露有似中國袍。 皆編髮。 多知中國語,由與中國錯居故也。 其自還種落間,則自氐語。 其嫁娶有似於羌,此蓋乃昔所謂西戎在於街、冀、豲道者也。 今雖都統於郡國,然故自有王侯在其虛落間。 又故武都地陰平街左右,亦有萬餘落。 貲虜,本匈奴也,匈奴名奴婢爲貲。 始建武時,匈奴衰,分去其奴婢,亡匿在金城、武威、酒泉北黑水、西河東西,畜牧逐水草,鈔盜涼州,部落稍多,有數萬,不與東部鮮卑同也。 其種非一,有大胡,有丁令,或頗有羌雜處,由本亡奴婢故也。 當漢、魏之際,其大人有檀柘,死後,其枝大人南近在廣魏、令居界,有禿瑰來數反,爲涼州所殺。 今有劭提,或降來,或遁去,常爲西州道路患也。 敦煌西域之南山中,從婼羌西至蔥領數千里,有月氏餘種蔥茈羌、白馬、黃牛羌,各有酋豪,北與諸國接,不知其道里廣狹。 傳聞黃牛羌各有種類,孕身六月生,南與白馬羌鄰。 西域諸國,漢初開其道,時有三十六,後分爲五十餘。 從建武以來,更相吞滅,於今有二十道。 從敦煌玉門關入西域,前有二道,今有三道。 從玉門關西出,經婼羌轉西,越蔥領,經縣度,入大月氏,爲南道。 從玉門關西出,發都護井,回三隴沙北頭,經居盧倉,從沙西井轉西北,過龍堆,到故樓蘭,轉西詣龜茲,至蔥領,爲中道。 從玉門關西北出,經橫坑,辟三隴沙及龍堆,出五船北,到車師界戊己校尉所治高昌,轉西與中道合龜茲,爲新道。 凡西域所出,有前史已具詳,今故略說。
The 《Wei lüe》 Western Rong chapter opens: the Di have ancient kings. Han Wudu commandery pushed Di bands into the Qian-Long valleys. Di clans claim Panhu ancestry and take color epithets: blue Di, white Di, python Di. They call themselves gazhi and hold Chinese titles. Jian'an-era Di kings Agui and Qianwan joined Ma Chao's revolt. Xiahou Yuan crushed Agui; Qianwan fled to Shu while remnant Di surrendered. Wei resettled Di vassals under Anyi and Fuyi protector commands. The (text reads Tai) Peaceful Di stayed on the Tianshui-Nan’an line under Guangwei. Their languages blend Qiang and Hu yet they use Chinese-style surnames. They favor blue and red dress. They farm and herd livestock. Bridal dress resembles Qiang robes with Chinese-like lapels. All wear braided hair. Proximity to Chinese settlers spread the language. Among themselves they speak Di. Wedding rites echo the Qiang—the old Western Rong of the Longxi corridor. Chinese counties overlay old Di chiefdoms. Ten thousand more Di camps ring Yinping and Jie. The Zilu herds were Xiongnu slaves by origin. When the Xiongnu declined in early Jianwu, their fugitive slaves hid north of Jincheng, Wuwei, and Jiuquan, around the Black River and Xihe, followed pasture with their herds, and raided Liangzhou. They include Hu and Dingling blood from runaway bondwomen. A chief Tantuo left descendants near Guangwei until Tugui revolts ended in execution. Shaoti still ambushes western traffic. Southern ranges beyond Dunhuang hold Yuezhi-offshoot Qiang bands from Ruoqiang toward the Pamirs. Yellow-ox Qiang calve at six months and border white-horse Qiang. Han found thirty-six oasis states that later split past fifty. By Later Han conquests only twenty routes remained. Three roads now lead from Yumen into the Tarim. The southern road crosses the Pamirs to the Kushans. The middle road skirts the northern sands via Loulan to Kucha and the Pamirs. The new northern road crosses to Gaochang and meets the middle track at Kucha. Earlier annals listed western products; here we summarize.
40
南道西行,且志國、小宛國、精絕國、樓蘭國皆並屬鄯善也。 戎盧國、扞彌國、渠勒國、 (穴山國) 〔皮山國〕皆並屬於寘。 罽賓國、大夏國、高附國、天竺國皆並屬大月氏。 臨兒國,浮屠經云其國王生浮屠。 浮屠,太子也。 父曰屑頭邪,母云莫邪。 浮屠身服色黃,髮青如青絲,乳青毛,蛉赤如銅。 始莫邪夢白象而孕,及生,從母左脅出,生而有結,墮地能行七步。 此國在天竺城中。 天竺又有神人,名沙律。 昔漢哀帝元壽元年,博士弟子景盧受大月氏王使伊存口受浮屠經曰復立者其人也。 浮屠所載臨蒲塞、桑門、伯聞、疏問、白疏間、比丘、晨門,皆弟子號也。 浮屠所載與中國老子經相出入,蓋以爲老子西出關,過西域之天竺、教胡。 浮屠屬弟子別號,合有二十九,不能詳載,故略之如此。 車離國一名禮惟特,一名沛隸王,在天竺東南三千餘里,其地卑濕暑熱。 其王治沙奇城,有別城數十,人民怯弱,月氏、天竺擊服之。 其地東西南北數千里,人民男女皆長一丈八尺,乘象、橐扆以戰,今月氏役稅之。 盤越國一名漢越王,在天竺東南數千里,與益部相近,其人小與中國人等,蜀人賈似至焉。
The southern route Juemo, Xiaoyuan, Jingjue, and Loulan now answer to Shanshan. Ronglu, Hanmi, Qule, (gloss: Xueshan state) and Pishan fall under Khotan. Jibin, Bactria, Kabul, and India are Kushan vassals. In Lin'er, Buddhist scripture records that the land's king fathered the Buddha-to-be. The Buddha had been heir to the throne. His father bore the transliterated name Xietouxie; his mother bore the name Moye. His skin and robes shone yellow; his hair was blue-black as silk; his brows were a green fringe; his eyes gleamed copper-red. Maya first dreamed of a white elephant and conceived; he was born from her left side, his hair already in coils, and he walked seven steps the moment he touched the earth. That kingdom stood in the heartland of India. India also revered a sage called Shalü. In the first Yuanshou year of Han Emperor Ai, the academy student Jing Lu memorized a Buddhist text recited by Yi Cun, envoy of the Yuezhi king, which identified the Buddha, called Fudou in the text, with that figure. Buddhist texts register names such as Upasaka, śramaṇa, pariṣā, śrāvaka, and bhikṣu—titles for the Buddha's followers. Buddhist writings partly matched China's Laozi; people supposed Laozi slipped west through the frontier, reached India, and converted the western tribes. The Buddha's followers carried twenty-nine alternate epithets; a full catalogue would be tedious, so only this précis is offered. Cheli—also styled Liweite or Peiliwang—lay over three thousand li southeast of India in steamy, fever-hot lowlands. Its king held court at Shaqi among dozens of towns; the populace was soft, and Yuezhi and Indian armies repeatedly overran them. Their realm stretched thousands of li on every side; men and women stood some twelve feet tall; they fought from elephants and camels; the Yuezhi now exact tribute and corvée from them. Panyue—sometimes called the Han-Yue king—lay several thousand li southeast of India near the Yi frontier commanderies; its people were Chinese in stature, and Shu traders are said to have gone there.
41
南道而西極轉東南盡矣。 中道西行尉梨國、危須國、山王國皆並屬焉耆,姑墨國、溫宿國、尉頭國皆並屬龜茲也。 楨中國、莎車國、竭石國、渠沙國、西夜國、依耐國、滿犁國、億若國、榆令國、損毒國、休脩國、琴國皆並屬疏勒。 自是以西,大宛、安息、條支、烏弋。 烏弋一名排特,此四國次在西,本國也,無增損。 前世謬以爲條支在大秦西,今其實在東。 前世又謬以爲強於安息,今更役屬之,號爲安息西界。 前世又謬以爲弱水在條支西,今弱水在大秦西。 前世又謬以爲從條支西行二百餘日,近日所入,今從大秦西近日所入。 大秦國一號犁靬,在安息、條支西大海之西,從安息界安穀城乘船,直截海西,遇風利二月到,風遲或一歲,無風或三歲。 其國在海西,故俗謂之海西。 有河出其國,西又有大海。 海西有遲散城,從國下直北至烏丹城,西南又渡一河,乘船一日乃過。 西南又渡一河,一日乃過。 凡有大都三,卻從安穀城陸道直北行之海北,復直西行之海西,復直南行經之烏遲散城,渡一河,乘船一日乃過。 周回繞海,凡當渡大海六日乃到其國。 國有小城邑合四百餘,東西南北數千里。 其王治濱側河海,以石爲城郭。 其土地有松、柏、槐、梓、竹、葦、楊柳、梧桐、百草。 民俗,田種五穀,畜乘有馬、騾、驢、駱駝。 桑蠶。 俗多奇幻,口中出火,自縛自解,跳十二丸巧妙。 其國無常主,國中有災異,輒更立賢人以爲王,而生放其故王,王亦不敢怨。 其俗人長大平正,似中國人而胡服。
Along the southern road you reach the western terminus, then swing southeast until the known world runs out. On the central road westward, Yuli, Weixu, and Shanwang all answered to Yanqi; Guimo, Wensu, and Weitou all fell under Kucha. Zhenzhong, Shache, Jieshi, Qusha, Xiye, Yinai, Manli, Yiruo, Yuling, Sundu, Xiuxiu, and Qin all lay within Kashgar's sphere. Beyond them stretched Ferghana, Parthia, Mesopotamia, and Hyrcania. Wuyi was also called Paite; these four polities formed the next tier westward—their core territories, neither enlarged nor trimmed. Older geographers placed Characene west of Rome, but it actually sits to Rome's east. Writers once imagined it stronger than Parthia; today it serves Parthia and is counted Parthia's western march. Ancients put the Weak Water west of Characene; it truly lies west of Rome. The old tale was that two hundred days west of Characene brought you to the sunset ocean; in truth you near the sundown sea only west of Rome. Da Qin—also called Lijian—stood beyond the western ocean past Parthia and Characene. From Anggu on Parthia's frontier you sailed straight across the sea; fair winds delivered you in two months, sluggish winds in a year, dead calms in three. Because it lay west of the sea, people simply called it Haixi, 'west of the waters.' A great river rose in their land, and still farther west opened another ocean. Haixi held Chisan; from the capital due north you reached Wudan, then crossed a southwestern river in a day's sailing. Another river to the southwest took another full day by boat. Three great metropolitan clusters existed: from Anggu you marched north by land to the sea's north shore, then due west along the western coast, then south through Wuchisan, where a river required a day's ferry. The roundabout sea passage took six days of open ocean to reach the realm. The empire counted more than four hundred towns and stretched thousands of li in every direction. The ruler built his capital where river meets sea, encircled by stone ramparts. The land bore pine, cypress, pagoda tree, catalpa, bamboo, reeds, willows, paulownia, and myriad herbs. Farmers sowed the staple grains and kept horses, mules, donkeys, and camels for riding and baggage. They cultivated mulberries and silkworms. Their entertainers breathed fire, slipped knotted ropes, and juggled twelve balls with uncanny dexterity. They rotated rulers when disaster struck, elevating some worthy and exiling the old king alive—who dared not complain. They were tall, well proportioned, almost Chinese in looks, though they dressed in western fashion.
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自云本中國一別也,常欲通使於中國,而安息圖其利,不能得過。 其俗能胡書。 其制度,公私宮室爲重屋,旌旗擊鼓,白蓋小車,郵驛亭置如中國。 從安息繞海北到其國,人民相屬,十里一亭,三十里一置,終無盜賊。 但有猛虎、獅子爲害,行道不群則不得過。 其國置小王數十,其王所治城周回百餘里,有官曹文書。 王有五宮,一宮間相去十里,其王平旦之一宮聽事,至日暮一宿,明日復至一宮,五日一周。 置三十六將,每議事,一將不至則不議也。 王出行,常使從人持一韋囊自隨,有白言者,受其辭投囊中,還宮乃省爲決理。 以水晶作宮柱及器物。 作弓矢。 其別枝封小國,曰澤散王,曰驢分王,曰且蘭王,曰賢督王,曰汜復王,曰于羅王,其餘小王國甚多,不能一一詳之也。 國出細絺。 作金銀錢,金錢一當銀錢十。 有織成細布,言用水羊毳,名曰海西布。 此國六畜皆出水,或云非獨用羊毛也,亦用木皮或野繭絲作,織成氍毹、毾㲪、罽帳之屬皆好,其色又鮮于海東諸國所作也。 又常利得中國絲,解以爲胡綾,故數與安息諸國交市於海中。 海水苦不可食,故往來者希到其國中。 山出九色次玉石,一曰青,二曰赤,三曰黃,四曰白,五曰黑,六曰綠,七曰紫,八曰紅,九曰紺。 今伊吾山中有九色石,即其類。 陽嘉三年時,疏勒王臣槃獻海西青石、金帶各一。 又今西域舊圖云罽賓、條支諸國出琦石,即次玉石也。 大秦多金、銀、銅、鐵、鉛、錫、神龜、白馬、硃髦、駭雞犀、玳瑁、玄熊、赤螭、辟毒鼠、大貝、車渠、瑪瑙、南金、翠爵、羽翮、象牙、符采玉、明月珠、夜光珠、真白珠、虎珀、珊瑚、赤白黑綠黃青紺縹紅紫十種流離、璆琳、琅玕、水精、玫瑰、雄黃、雌黃、碧、五色玉、黃白黑綠紫紅絳紺金黃縹留黃十種氍毹、五色毾㲪、五色九色首下毾㲪、金縷繡、雜色綾、金塗布、緋持布、發陸布、緋持渠布、火浣布、阿羅得布、巴則布、度代布、溫宿布、五色桃布、絳地金織帳、五色鬥帳、一微木、二蘇合、狄提、迷迷、兜納、白附子、薰陸、郁金、芸膠、薰草木十二種香。
They claimed kinship with China and longed to open embassies eastward, but Parthia monopolized the trade and blocked their passage. They mastered alphabetic scripts of the west. Their palaces rose in stacked galleries; banners and drums announced authority; white-canopied gigs rattled along post roads laid out like the Han relay system. From Parthia along the northern shore the population was unbroken; watchtowers stood every ten li, relays every thirty; banditry was unknown. Only lions and tigers menaced the roads; lone travelers could not get through. The realm was dotted with dozens of client kings; the royal capital spanned a hundred li of walls and housed bureaucratic archives. The monarch kept five palaces ten li apart, rotating through them: dawn audiences, night lodgings, a five-day circuit of government. Thirty-six marshals sat council; if one failed to appear, no business was decided. When the king rode abroad, attendants carried a leather satchel for petitions dropped in sealed; only back at court did he read and rule on them. Crystal formed columns and palace vessels. They forged bows and arrows of fine make. Vassal kings ruled Zesan, Lüfen, Qielan, Xiandu, Sifu, Yuluo, and countless other petty realms too many to list. The country exported gossamer gauze. They struck gold and silver money at a ten-to-one exchange. They wove a fine fabric from 'water-sheep' fleece, the famed Haixi woolens. Legend said their livestock rose from the sea; weavers used not only wool but bark fiber and wild silk for carpets and felts brighter than eastern looms could match. They bought Chinese silk, re-spun it into western damask, and traded endlessly with Parthian ports on the ocean. Bitter seawater kept most merchants from pushing inland. Their hills yielded nine grades of banded jade—azure, vermilion, yellow, white, black, green, purple, scarlet, and indigo. The nine-hued stones still found near Yiwu belong to the same family. In Yangjia 3, Shule's king Chenpan sent a Haixi bluestone and a gold belt as tribute. Western maps mark Kashmir and Characene for 'wonder-stones'—these banded jades." Rome's tribute lists ran endless: precious metals, sacred tortoise shell, white horses, flame-maned chargers, 'startled-bird' rhino horn, hawksbill, bears, chilong, antidote mice, giant shells, tridacna, agate, southern gold, kingfisher plumes, ivory, figured jade, moon-bright and night-glow pearls, true white pearls, amber, coral, ten hues of glass, qiulin and langgan crystals, rose quartz, realgar and orpiment, jasper, five-tint jade, ten grades of tapestry, multicolored felts with brocaded borders, gold-thread embroidery, assorted silks, gold-washed and fire-proof cloths from a dozen named workshops, crimson gold-woven canopies, five-colored valances, rare woods and twelve aromatics from frankincense to storax.
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大秦道既從海北陸通,又循海而南,與交趾七郡外夷比,又有水道通益州、永昌、故永昌出異物。 前世但論有水道,不知有陸道,今其略如此,其民人戶數不能備詳也。 自蔥領西,此國最大,置諸小王甚多,故錄其屬大者矣。 澤散王屬大秦,其治在海中央,北至驢分,水行半歲,風疾時一月到,最與安息安穀城相近,西南詣大秦都不知里數。 驢分王屬大秦,其治去大秦都二千里。 從驢分城西之大秦渡海,飛橋長二百三十里,渡海道西南行,繞海直西行。 且蘭王屬大秦。 從思陶國直南渡河,乃直西行之且蘭三千里。 道出河南,乃西行,從且蘭復直西行之汜復國六百里。 南道會汜復,乃西南之賢督國。 且蘭、汜復直南,乃有積石,積石南乃有大海,出珊瑚,真珠。 且蘭、汜復、斯賓阿蠻北有一山,東西行。 大秦、海西東各有一山,皆南北行。 賢督王屬大秦,其治東北去汜復六百里。 汜復王屬大秦,其治東北去于羅三百四十里渡海也。 于羅屬大秦,其治在汜復東北,渡河,從于羅東北又渡河,斯羅東北又渡河。 斯羅國屬安息,與大秦接也。 大秦西有海水,海水西有河水,河水西南北行有大山,西有赤水,赤水西有白王山,白玉山有西王母,西王母西有脩流沙,流沙西有大夏國、堅沙國、屬繇國、月氏國、四國西有黑水,所傳聞西之極矣。 北新道西行,至東且彌國、西且彌國、單桓國、畢陸國、蒲陸國、烏貪國,皆並屬車師後部王。 王治于賴城,魏賜其王壹多雜守魏侍中,號大都尉,受魏王印。 轉西北則烏孫、康居,本國無增損也。
Roman trade reached north by land and south by sea alongside the tribes beyond Jiaozhi's seven commanderies; a waterway also linked Yizhou and Yongchang—hence Yongchang's exotic bazaar. Earlier writers knew only the sea lane, not the caravan road; this sketch supplies both, though population figures remain guesswork. West of the Pamirs it was the greatest power, riddled with client kings—only the major dependencies are listed here. Zesan's king, a Roman vassal, ruled a mid-sea island six months' sail from Lüfen—or one month in a gale—nearest Parthian Anggu; the distance southwest to Rome itself was uncounted. Lüfen's client king sat two thousand li from the imperial city. West of Lüfen a two-hundred-thirty-li pontoon spanned the sea; the coastal road then ran west along the shore. Qielan's ruler was another Roman client. From Sitao you crossed a river due south, then marched west three thousand li to Qielan. South of that river the road turned west; another six hundred li from Qielan brought Sifu. The southern highway met Sifu, then swung southwest toward Xiandu. South of Qielan and Sifu lay heaped boulders, beyond which opened a sea rich in coral and pearl. North of Qielan, Sifu, and Sībīn'aman stretched an east-west mountain chain. Haixi flanked Rome with paired north-south ranges east and west of the sea. Xiandu's king, Roman-fed, ruled six hundred li northeast of Sifu. Sifu's king sat three hundred forty li northeast of Yuluo across the strait. Yuluo lay northeast of Sifu beyond successive ferries; Siluo lay beyond another crossing northeast. Siluo was Parthian territory touching Rome's frontier. West of Rome lay ocean, then a great river trending southwest; beyond rose mountains, the Red River, and the White-Jade peak where Xiwangmu dwelt; past her stretched the Moving Sands, then Dayuezhi and allied realms, then the Black Water—farthest rumor recorded here. The northern new road westward passed Eastern and Western Juimi, Danhuan, Bilu, Pulu, and Wutan—all under the Rear Cheshi king. He ruled Yulai; Wei ennobled King Yiduoza as palace attendant and grand commandant with the Wei seal. Northwest lay Wusun and Kangju unchanged from earlier accounts.
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北烏伊別國在康居北,又有柳國,又有岩國,又有奄蔡國一名阿蘭,皆與康居同俗。 西與大秦東南與康居接。 其國多名貂,畜牧逐水草,臨大澤,故時羈屬康居,今不屬也。 呼得國在蔥嶺北,烏孫西北,康居東北,勝兵萬餘人,隨畜牧,出好馬,有貂。 堅昆國在康居西北,勝兵三萬人,隨畜牧,亦多貂,有好馬。 丁令國在康居北,勝兵六萬人,隨畜牧,出名鼠皮,白昆子、青昆子皮。 此上三國,堅昆中央,俱去匈奴單于庭安習水七千里,南去車師六國五千里,西南去康居界三千里,西去康居王治八千里。 或以爲此丁令即匈奴北丁令也,而北丁令在烏孫西,似其種別也。
North of Kangju stood the detached realm of Wuyi, then Liu, Yan, and Alani, also known as Yancai, all sharing Kangju's speech and ways. They touched Rome on the west and Kangju on the southeast. They herded famous sables by a great marsh; once Kangju's tributaries, they had since broken free. Hude sat north of the Pamirs between Wusun and Kangju with ten thousand warriors, fine horses, and sable pelts. Jiankun northwest of Kangju fielded thirty thousand riders, rich in sable and horseflesh. Dingling north of Kangju mustered sixty thousand herdsmen and traded prized white and blue 'kunzi' furs. These three clustered around Jiankun, seven thousand li from the chanyu's Anxi River camp, five thousand li north of the Cheshi confederation, three thousand li from Kangju's border, eight thousand li east of Kangju's capital. Some equated them with the northern Dingling west of Wusun, yet the stock seemed distinct.
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又匈奴北有渾窳國,有屈射國,有丁令國,有隔昆國,有新梨國,明北海之南自復有丁令,非此烏孫之西丁令也。 烏孫長老言北丁令有馬脛國,其人音聲似雁騖,從膝以上身頭,人也,膝以下生毛,馬脛馬蹄,不騎馬而走疾馬,其爲人勇健敢戰也。 短人國在康居西北,男女皆長三尺,人衆甚多,去奄蔡諸國甚遠。 康居長老傳聞常有商度此國,去康居可萬餘里。
North of the Xiongnu lay Hunyu, Qushe, Dingling, Gekun, and Xinli—another Dingling belt south of the Arctic Sea, not the band west of Wusun. Wusun elders spoke of a 'horse-shin' people among northern Dingling whose speech honked like waterfowl, human to the knee, horsed below, fleet afoot without mounts, fierce in war. A pygmy realm northwest of Kangju stood three feet tall and thickly peopled, immensely remote from Alani. Kangju traders guessed it lay over ten thousand li away.
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魚豢議曰:俗以爲營廷之魚不知江海之大,浮游之物不知四時之氣,是何也? 以其所在者小與其生之短也。 餘今氾覽外夷大秦諸國,猶尚曠若發蒙矣,況夫鄒衍之所推出,大易、太玄之所測度乎! 徒限處牛蹄之涔,又無彭祖之年,無緣讬景風以迅遊,載騕褭以遐觀,但勞眺乎三辰,而飛思乎八荒耳。
Yu Huan observed: folk say pond fish never grasp the ocean, and drifting gnats never feel the year's breath—why? Their world is tiny and their lives brief. Even after touring Rome's neighbors I feel only newly sighted—how trifling beside Zou Yan's cosmology or the divinations of the Yijing and Taixuan! Trapped like cattle in a hoofprint, denied Pengzu's longevity, unable to ride the wind or a swift courser to see the world, we may only squint at sun, moon, and stars and send the mind across the eight wastes.