もうひとつの文筆說 : 「筆」をめぐる試論

Abstract

In the late Six Dynasties period 六朝 it appears that the broad sence of wen 文 was classified into two different concepts : the narrow sense of wen, and bi 筆. According to research into theories of Chinese literature, the argument has been repeated that when the distinction between wen and bi is made, it is related to concepts of shi 詩 and wen. Since this distinction directly reflects the contemporary understanding of wen, it is a very important problem. Until recently, it was forgotten that bi meant not only a type of writing but also calligraphy 書法. Looking at it from this point of view, I took up a new approach toward 'wen bi shuo' 文筆說, reviewed many examples of wen and bi, shi and bi in individual sentences and some important facts emerged as the result of my investigation. According the Wen xin diao long 文心雕龍, bi has been commonly regarded as a type of writing without rhym, but, strictly speaking, there are very few examples of this. On the contrary, there are several examples of the use of the word bi that mean calligraphy. For instance, 'Wang bi' 王筆 and 'Xie shi' 謝詩 in the Wen Tingyun 溫庭均 poems certainly refer to Wang Xizhi's 王羲之 calligraphy and Xie Lingyun's 謝靈運 verse, while the mention of Yan Chun's 顏竣 bi in the biography of Yan Chun in the Song annals 宋書顏竣傳 probably refers to Yan Chun's calligraphy. It has been frequently pointed out that bi refers to official documemts, however, it should be added that the calligraphy of official documents was very important. During China's Middle Ages, calligraphy was a very important skill for government officials, as they were often recruited on the basis of their calligraphic talents. Bi is most closely related to both calligraphy and official documents. Of course most official documents were generally without rhym. Therefore, we can ascribe all three features : calligraphy, official documents, lack of rhym to bi. At first, all three features were attributed to bi, but after the Yong Ming era 永明期, when debate over rhym became heated, bi was perhaps best characterized by its lack of rhym. In conclusion, I have advanced a new model of 'wen bi shuo'. The occurrence and transition in the use of wen and bi can be divided between the growth and decline of the bi and shi's independence from literature.