MA YUAN and the Lonely Fisherman

probably one of the best  if not the best known painting on the Lonely Fisherman Theme is this one by #MaYuan

This Song dynasty painting was probably inspired by this poem by Liu Zong Yuan a Tang dynasty writer noted for both poetry and prose who wrote "River Snow"

This is a very loose translation

Over a thousand mountains the flight of birds has ceased
On ten thousand pathways human tracks have disappeared
In just one boat in a reed cloak and bamboo hat an old man
Alone he continues fishing on the cold river in the snow.

Ma Yuan fisherman is not in the snow and his hat and cape are piled neatly onto of his boat but the general mood is similar ... one man alone ...

Some critics think Liu's poem refers to himself but I wonder also if he saw from a riverbank one fisherman so desperate for a catch they worked even as snow begun and continued to fall?

I have some more Fisherman paintings to show you

Do consider following ! ?

THREE MARICI SCULPTURES

THREE #MARICI #SCULPTURES to finish off the marici sequence

Chinese Buddhist Temple Image

Tibetan or Himalayan 

Chinese Ceramics Image 

Next time back to those lonely fisherfolk in art and poetry !

Two Porcine Delights

Some Porcine Delights for the YEAR for the PIG

#yearofthepig #asianart

Despite the Pig being an Asian "Zodiac" animal I could not find any really good older ukiyo-e calendar prints! I did however find this print by Hiroshige of a wild boar.

I also found this photo of an antique Tsuba featuring Marici riding a boar.

A Bing and Bang of Thunder

I was looking at some older file and found this and went over my notes adding to them with new info.

#thunder #hanzi

Yes its a rare word but it is a real one


Thunder bing 4 and yes its BANG in Cantonese The Unihan is 9750

MARICI TWO

#Marici #asianart #buddhist #iconography

Marici may have originally been another form of Ushas the dawn goddess as she is described as travelling before the sun and moon

She rides either a single wild pig or a chariot drawn by 7

2 Tibetan depictions of Marici

A more modern image stressing her as a guardian warrior and archer 

More Marici images to come ! 

MARICI'S YEAR

Given its the Year of the Pig perhaps the "patron" divinity should be #Marici known as #Marishi or #Marichi in Japan and #molishitian in China.

If you're travelling in Japan and see something similar to this you are probably near an Esoteric Buddhist Temple once favored by Samurai who quite liked the idea of the god/goddess as an archer.

More on Marici in the next posts.

I have also finished a couple of New Year cards I'll be sharing soon!

LIU ZONG YUAN the OLD fisherman

#lizongyuan #chinese poetry #oldfisherman

The painting I showed you in the last post was an illustration probably of this famous poem.

Beware there is another famous poem with only four lines about a fisherman by this writer who was also noted for his prose essays.

Here are my notes and VERY ROUGH translation VERY ROUGH

I'm hoping for feedback so I can finish it.

THE OLD FISHERMAN

yu weng ye bang xi yan su
fishing elder night side west cliff spends night

West Cliff may be a place name not just a description
Whether the fishing elder was Liu Zong Yuan himslef or a different person I leave you to decide!

xiao ji qing xiang ran chu zhu

first light draws water clear Xiang lights fire CHU bamboo
Most translations just say river and don't mention its the Xiang River
Chu bamboo was he cooking with dry bamboo using a bamboo steamer or what ?
Chu is the name of an independent realm predating the unification covering the area Liu Zong Yuan was travelling thru so is CHU bamboo actually a cooking style or what?

Note the U final rhyme scheme
(then) yan xiao then into the mists disappears (as) sun rises not see man

ai nai yi sheng shan shui cui

alas regret literary form of verb to be or an adverb ? one sound landscape green
there is no mention in the original text of an oar so what is the sound ?

turn see sky edge down stream mid current

cliff above not have heart/mind cloud(s) each other one by one moving

so just as the river flows on so do the clouds above in the sky

Lets tidy that up

The old fisherman for the night moors beside West Cliff

At daybreak draws clear water from the Xiang cooks with Chu bamboo

Into the mists he disappears when the sun rises
or the mists disappear when the sun rises I no longer see the man ?

again who is making the one sound ? the poet or the fisherman ?

sighing make one sound at the verdant landscape

turning I look at the skys edge down mid current

above the cliffs mindlessly the clouds follow each other

Comments invited