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Root / 中國漢文 / clean / 商殷朝 / 商 / 甲骨文 / 殷墟 / 花園莊東地 / H3 / 花東474
甲子卜子 (金) 一
甲子卜夕歲且(祖)乙祼告匕(妣)庚用 二
乙丑卜子學 一
己巳卜子祼告其 革于匕(妣)庚 一二
率 (酒)革不用 一
子叀(惠) (戎)田言匕(妣)庚眔一 (酒)于 (戎)用 一
庚午卜子其祼于癸子 一二
辛未歲且(祖)乙彘子舞 (拔) 一
辛巳卜于癸 (殺)旬(荀)牛不用于甲 (殺) 一
Divined on Jiazi: (about) Lord Jin. 1
Divined on Jiazi: Make an evening sacrifice (for) Ancestor Yi; libate ale and make announcements (to) Ancestress Geng.577 2
Divined on Yichou: Our lord will practice. 1 “Qiang”, however, is not an attested song and dance, and for this reason I interpret it as refer- ring to Qiang people. Divinations (1)-(2) are likely related. Since Ji Nai is a person in the HYZ OBI who is directly related to the handling and processing of Qiang (11, 137), it seems likely that the verb 學 in (1) is an action directed at living people (137), and not something more abstract. I suggest to read 學either as “instruct” or “practice”/ “train”. 241.11 mentions a Qiang stone cutter. 576 This compound graph is written with rock 石 over foot 止. ZSKY 2003 transcribes it 砋; I transcribe it zhi 跖 “sole (of the foot)”. The graphs 跖and zhi 蹠 “(v.) step on, jump; (n.) sole” are later variants spelling the same word (see Guxun huizuan, 2213). An alternative reading is to take 又(有)跖 as a toponym and as the object of 往wang; in that case 又would be a prefix “the”. 577 This day 1/10 divination concerns planning for upcoming rites for both the protagonist’s grandfather and grandmother. The sacrifice for Ancestor Yi was to take place on the next day, 2/10, day Yichou. Sui 歲-sacrifice and guan 祼-ale libation were the two main activities for an ancestor’s weekly worship (see HYZ 318). This seems to be an instance of joint offerings (Schwartz 2019: 30-32). Ancestor Yi is to receive the sacrifice and his spouse, Ancestress Geng, is to receive the 祼-ale libation. In the HYZ OBI, 祼were usually the occasion to make announcements. (It is notable that the HYZ OBI never record the protagonist performing a guan-ale libation for Ancestor Yi.) An alternative interpretation is that this divination is proposing what the protagonist himself wants to do for these two ancestors on their respective temple-days of the present week. If ances- tor worship was a cooperative royal family activity (see for instance 495.1), then other family members would have been responsible for other tasks and for performing other rites. HYZ 475 | 373
Divined on Jisi: Our lord will libate ale and make announcements; (he) should skin a portion of (the sacrificial animals) for Ancestress Geng. 12
Both an ale libation and an animal skinning. Not used. 1
It should be in the fields of Rong that our lord speaks (about what) is to be joined with one pen-raised sheep and an ale libation (for) Ancestress Geng in Rong. Used.578 1
Divined on Gengwu: Our lord should libate ale to Gui-day Child. 12
On Xinwei, sacrifice (to) Ancestor Yi some wild boars, (and) our lord will dance “Uproot”. 1
Divined on Xinsi: By day Gui, kill Xun’s cattle.579 Not used. By day Jia (they) were killed. 1