69. Ode on the Stone Drums

A poem by Han Yu, translated by Hyun Woo Kim

Mr. Zhang, with the text from the Stone Drums in his hands,

Suggested that I should compose an ode on the Stone Drums.

There is no man in Shaoling, and the Banished Immortal died;

My talent is thin—what can be done with the Stone Drums, and how?

The customs of Zhou had been flattened, and the Four Seas boiled;

King Xuan rose in indignation and wielded the heavenly spear.

He opened wide the royal audience hall to accept the greetings from his vassals;

The swords and jade pendants of the lords clinked against each other.

He went hunting to Qiyang in the spring, making men of valor ride;

Birds and beasts within ten thousand lis were all captured in nets.

To engrave the merits and inscribe the fruits, and to let them be known forever,

Stone has been quarried to become drums, tearing down the towery and lofty.

The talents and skills of the accompanying vassals were all unrivaled;

The distinguished and selected wrote and made inscriptions to put them on the foot of the mountain.

Rains dampened, the Sun scorched, and wildfires burned;

The spirits would protect them, taking the trouble to wave their arms and scold.

Sir, where did you get this paper copy from?

To the furthest extent, it has no error, not a strand of it.

The writing is precise, its meaning hidden, and it is hard to shed light on it after reading;

Its script is not of the same kind as Li and Ke.

The years added up—how could it avoid having some worn-down strokes?

Fast swords slay and cut, but crocodiles are alive.

Luans fly, Fengs soar, and a group of immortals come down;

Corals and jade trees cross their branches.

Golden strings and iron ropes are shackled and tied into grandeur;

An ancient cauldron jumps into water, and a dragon leaps like a weaving shuttle.

The pedantic scholars, compiling Poetry, did not include it;

The two Yas are narrow and impetuous, without calmness and unhurriedness.

Confucius went west but never reached Qin,

Gathering the stars but leaving the sun and the moon.

It is lamentable that I like the old but was born painfully late;

Facing this, I shed tears, two streams of rainwater and rivers.

I remember the past when I, an ignoramus, was first called a doctor:

In that year, the reign title was first changed to Yuanhe.

An old friend, serving in the army as an Aide on the Right,

Measured them for me and dug a mortar-like pit.

I washed my headdress, took a bath, and reported to the head of the academy:

"Precious treasures like these, can there be many?

They can be brought, covered with blankets and mats;

Ten Stone Drums—only a few camels to carry them.

If we display and array them at the Great Shrine, along with the Cauldron of Gao,

Will their brilliant value cease only at surpassing a hundredfold?

If His Highness allows them to stay at the Great Academy,

I will prelect and explain to the students, so that they will polish up their studies.

To take a look at scriptures, Hongdou was crowded and clogged;

Seated, I can see the whole country will come, running like waves.

The moss shall be shaven off to show the joints and the swoops;

They will be safely placed, smoothly taken care, and evenly put, not slanted.

With deep overhangs for big mansions, they will be covered,

Lest anything happens over the course of time, old and far."

The high-ranking officials in the palace are used to work;

How come they enjoy the awe and hesitate in vain?

Shepherds are using them as flint to start a fire, and cows grind their horns on them;

Who will put their hands on them again, caressing?

Each day, they get erased and each month, they wear out, getting buried;

For six years, looking back towards the West, I have moaned to no avail.

Xizhi's vulgar calligraphy, pursuing the prettiness of its shape,

Could change a few sheets of paper with a white goose.

Succeeding Zhou, eight dynasties ceased wars;

No one collected them—what could be the reason?

These days it is peaceful, and nothing happens each day;

The Confucian arts are respected, and Qiu and Ke are revered.

How will I be able to raise this for discussions at the court?

I want to borrow some speech skills like a far-reaching river.

The ode on the Stone Drums halts here;

Alas! My will slips and missteps in the end.

「石鼓歌」

張生手持石鼓文

勸我試作石鼓歌

少陵無人謫仙死

才薄將奈石鼓何

周綱陵遲四海沸

宣王憤起揮天戈

大開明堂受朝賀

諸侯劒珮鳴相磨

蒐于岐陽騁雄俊

萬里禽獸皆遮羅

鐫功勒成告萬世

鑿石作鼓隳嵯峨

從臣才藝咸第一

簡選譔刻留山阿

雨淋日炙野火燒

鬼物守護煩撝訶

公從何處得紙本

毫髮盡備無差訛

辭嚴義密讀難曉

字體不類隷與蝌

年深豈免有缺畫

快劒斫斷生蛟鼉

鸞翔鳳翥衆仙下

珊瑚碧樹交枝柯

金繩鐵索鏁紐壯

古鼎躍水龍騰梭

陋儒編詩不收入

二雅褊迫無委蛇

孔子西行不到秦

掎摭星宿遺羲娥

嗟余好古生苦晚

對此涕淚雙滂沱

憶昔初蒙博士徵

其年始改稱元和

故人從軍在右輔

為我量度掘臼科

濯冠沐浴告祭酒

如此至寶存豈多

氈包席裹可立致

十鼓只載數駱駝

薦諸大廟比郜鼎

光價豈止百倍過

聖恩若許留太學

諸生講解得切磋

觀經鴻都尚塡咽

坐見擧國來奔波

剜苔剔蘚露節角

安置妥帖平不颇

大廈深簷與盖覆

經歷久遠期無他

中朝大官老於事

詎肯感激徒媕啊

牧童敲火牛礪角

誰復著手為摩挲

日銷月鑠就埋沒

六年西顧空吟哦

羲之俗書趁姿媚

數紙尙可博白鵝

繼周八代爭戰罷

無人收拾理則那

方今太平日無事

柄用儒術崇丘軻

安能以此上論列

願借辯口如懸河

石鼓之歌止於此

鳴呼吾意其蹉跎

From Hyun Woo:

God, I believe this must be the longest poem I have translated so far. Mr. Zhang suggested that you should write an ode, not an essay, Han Yu! John Keats wrote an ode for sure, but Thomas Browne never claimed that his work was an ode… Anyhow, if you have finished reading the wall of lines above, I believe you might have also thought about Ode on a Grecian Urn and Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial like I did.

The Stone Drums are boulders cut in the shape of a drum with inscriptions on them. Han Yu believes that King Xuan of Zhou made them, but the modern academic consensus is that they were made much later in Qin. Nevertheless, the Stone Drums were still over a thousand years old for Han Yu, who was born in the eighth century. It was a spectacular discovery indeed.

When they were first discovered, Han Yu had just been given a doctorate. (The original term, “博士” is still used as the translation for the word ‘doctor’.) He is fascinated by the Stone Drums and their inscriptions and hopes that the government will do something to preserve and study them. Sadly, in either medieval China or our modern world, things do not go as young enthusiastic academics expect them to. For six years, no one had cared, and the Stone Drums stayed neglected, being visited by shepherds and cows. Alas, Han Yu, why couldn’t you study STEM instead? It might have been easier to get government funding if you weren’t the kind of guy who gets excited by some old stones with inscriptions…

If you enjoyed my work, you can buy me a cup of tea. I am not a coffee person, by the way.