Shen Qi Mi Pu - The Handbook of Spiritual and Marvelous Mysteries #
The earliest surviving handbook of tablatures using the modern shorthand (jianzi pu) system is the Shen Qi Mi Pu (Handbook of Spiritual and Marvelous Mysteries), has 64 pieces and dates from 1425. It was compiled by Zhu Quan (1378-1448), the seventeenth son of the founding emperor of the Ming (1368-1644). The full title is Qu Xian Shen Qi Mi Pu, The Emaciated Immortal’s Handbook of Spiritual and Marvelous Mysteries (Emaciated Immortal was a nickname of Zhu Quan).
Zhu Quan was originally enfeoffed in Da Ning, beyond the Great Wall, north of Beijing. Because of a power struggle ending with the accession of the Yongle emperor in 1403, Zhu Quan was “banished” to Nanchang in Jiangxi province. Here he had to be very careful about any political activity. His tenuous situation is revealed in much of his commentary on qin.
Zhu Quan was prominent in several areas of study. He wrote a number of dramas and published an important book on Yuan drama. He also published works in such areas as incense burning, geomancy, Taoist, travel and science, and at least 70 of his poems have survived.
Most of our knowledge of his work with the qin comes from his general introduction. Here he writes that he and five assistants spent 12 years collecting guqin music in preparation for this publication. According to him the number of players in his day was rather small, and most guqin tablature, all hand-copied, had disappeared during the Yuan dynasty (1280-1368).
Related links:
- John Thompson’s website
- Digitised Shen Qi Mi Pu (Singapur National Library)
- Celestial Airs Of Antiquity: Music of the Seven-String Zither of China A-R Editions. Edited by Bell Yung