Gai Lu: A Translation and Commentary on a Yin-Yang Military Text Excavated from Tomb M247, Zhangjiashan

Abstract

Since they were first excavated in 1983, the early Han dynasty texts discovered in Tomb M247 at Zhangjiashan have been the subject of much scholarly research. This paper focuses on the Gai Lu, the only military text excavated at this site, and one that continues to pose many problems. Although the manuscript of the Gai Lu appears to have been written at the very beginning of the Western Han dynasty, the text is highly corrupt and is likely to have gone through many recensions prior to being buried in this tomb. The antiquity of this text is entirely consistent with its status as an early example of a yin-yang military text, an important branch of strategic thought in early China which is recorded in the 'Yiwen zhi' chapter of the Han shu, but which is now survives only through archaeological material. These have allowed scholars to interpret transmitted military texts in an entirely new light. The Gai Lu represents an extremely important example of such a yin-yang text, and also forms part of a major early Chinese literary genre: writings connected with the conflict between the kingdoms of Wu and Yue.

1983年在湖北江陵張家山ニ四七墓發掘的西漢早期文獻被許多學者所 重視。本文則主要關注在此墓發現的唯一一部兵書：《蓋廬》。此篇兵 書有不少難解之處。《蓋廬》的手稿似乎是在西漢早期寫的，而此文獻 的字跡卻很混亂，很可能入墓之前已經被多次修訂。至於《蓋廬》的 思想內涵，學者們基本上認爲是兵陰陽家的作品，而且是在戰國中末 期成書的。《漢書•藝文志》指出的兵陰陽家的文獻早已佚失，但是ー 些很重要的陰陽兵書如今被出土了。這些發現為學者們在解釋文本的 傳輸時帶來了全新的希望。《蓋廬》不但是一本非常罕見的古代陰陽兵 書，而且也是在早期漢文文學領域裡的一個重要的組成部分一一有關 吳國和越國交戰的文獻。