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Su Shi. "To the tune “River Town”—Hunting in Mizhou." Global Medieval Sourcebook.Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965, 299. .
江城子 | To the tune “River Town”
Source Information
江城子 | To the tune “River Town”
by Su Shi
Text Source:
Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965, 299.
Responsibility Statement:
- Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965, 299.
- Translation by Qian Jia
- Notes by Nina Du, Runqi Zhang, and Dante Zhu
- Encoded in TEI P5 XML by Manya Bansal and Dante Zhu
Editorial Principles:
Texts are translated into modern English with maximum fidelity to the original text, except where it would impair comprehension or good style. Archaisms are preserved where they do not conflict with the aesthetic of the original text. Creative translation choices are marked and discussed in the critical notes.
The original text of this ci is based on the edition by Tang Guizhang 唐圭璋 (Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965). Punctuation follows the edition. Since ci poetry rarely includes personal pronouns, and gender-differentiated pronouns did not exist in Classical Chinese of this period, the gender of the speaker as well as their perspective (e.g. first, second or third person) must often be deduced by the translator from context.
Punctuation follows the edition.Publication Details:
Published by The Global Medieval Sourcebook.
The Global Medieval Sourcebook is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
江城子 To the tune “River Town” 密州出獵 Hunting in Mizhou
老夫聊發少年狂。 I take on a young man’s arrogance for a moment,
左牽黃。 Pulling a yellow dog with my left hand,
右擎蒼。 And holding a goshawk with my right.
錦帽貂裘, I am capped in brocades and clothed in a mink fur coat
c
, Critical note:
Refers to the typical hunting attire of a prefect at that time.
5
千騎卷平岡。 And thousands of cavalrymen are sweeping the smooth hillside.c
Critical note:
The speaker uses “thousands of” as an exaggeration to emphasize the size of his retinue and the grandeur of the occasion.
爲報傾城隨太守。 To show gratitude to the entire town for following me hunting,
親射虎, I will shoot the tiger myself,
看孫郎。 like Sun Quan.
c
Critical note:
Sun Quan (182-252 CE) was the ruler of the State of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 CE). He once pursued a tiger on horseback, managing to kill it even though it had bitten his horse. Here the speaker compares himself to Sun Quan.
酒酣胸膽尚開張。 As I drink to satisfaction, my chest opens and my courage is strengthened.
10
鬢微霜。 My temples are touched by frostc
, Critical note:
This implies that the poet is already old and has white hair at his temples.
又何妨。 But why bother with that?
持節雲中。 Feng Tang, who went to Yunzhong
c
with a Fu JieCritical note:
Yunzhong was the name of a place in present-day Inner Mongolia.
c
: Critical note:
During the Song Dynasty, a “Fu Jie” was a staff that symbolized the court’s pardon of an official.
何日遣馮唐。 when will the court dispatch him
c
? Critical note:
The implication here is “When will the court dispatch Feng Tang to pardon Wei Shang?”, with the poet using Wei Shang to represent himself. The Prefect of Yunzhong, Wei Shang, successfully defeated the invading Xiongnu troops but was deprived of his official title because his battle report stated a number of enemies killed that was six fewer than the actual number. Feng Tang, a court official, defended the prefect and convinced Emperor Wen of Han (r. 180-157 BCE) that his sentence was too severe. The emperor thus sent Feng Tang to pardon the prefect and restore the latter’s title. Here the speaker refers to himself as the prefect and hopes to retrieve the court’s trust and favor. The order of the words in the original has been modified in the translation to make the sentence easier to understand. The literal translation of this line and the preceding line is: “Going into Yunzhong with a Fu Jie; / When will the court dispatch Feng Tang?”
會挽雕弓如滿月, By that time I will pull my carved bow into the shape of a full moon,
15
西北望, aim to the northwest, 射天狼。 and shoot down Sirius
c
. Critical note:
In ancient China, “Sirius” was the name given to a star that was commonly believed to control warfare. “Shoot down Sirius” indicates the speaker’s wish to defeat major rivaling states, very likely the Western Xia in the northwest, which was a great threat to the Northern Song court.
江城子 To the tune “River Town” 密州出獵 Hunting in Mizhou
老夫聊發少年狂。 I take on a young man’s arrogance for a moment,
左牽黃。 Pulling a yellow dog with my left hand,
右擎蒼。 And holding a goshawk with my right.
錦帽貂裘, I am capped in brocades and clothed in a mink fur coat
c
, Critical note:
Refers to the typical hunting attire of a prefect at that time.
5
千騎卷平岡。 And thousands of cavalrymen are sweeping the smooth hillside.c
Critical note:
The speaker uses “thousands of” as an exaggeration to emphasize the size of his retinue and the grandeur of the occasion.
爲報傾城隨太守。 To show gratitude to the entire town for following me hunting,
親射虎, I will shoot the tiger myself,
看孫郎。 like Sun Quan.
c
Critical note:
Sun Quan (182-252 CE) was the ruler of the State of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 CE). He once pursued a tiger on horseback, managing to kill it even though it had bitten his horse. Here the speaker compares himself to Sun Quan.
酒酣胸膽尚開張。 As I drink to satisfaction, my chest opens and my courage is strengthened.
10
鬢微霜。 My temples are touched by frostc
, Critical note:
This implies that the poet is already old and has white hair at his temples.
又何妨。 But why bother with that?
持節雲中。 Feng Tang, who went to Yunzhong
c
with a Fu JieCritical note:
Yunzhong was the name of a place in present-day Inner Mongolia.
c
: Critical note:
During the Song Dynasty, a “Fu Jie” was a staff that symbolized the court’s pardon of an official.
何日遣馮唐。 when will the court dispatch him
c
? Critical note:
The implication here is “When will the court dispatch Feng Tang to pardon Wei Shang?”, with the poet using Wei Shang to represent himself. The Prefect of Yunzhong, Wei Shang, successfully defeated the invading Xiongnu troops but was deprived of his official title because his battle report stated a number of enemies killed that was six fewer than the actual number. Feng Tang, a court official, defended the prefect and convinced Emperor Wen of Han (r. 180-157 BCE) that his sentence was too severe. The emperor thus sent Feng Tang to pardon the prefect and restore the latter’s title. Here the speaker refers to himself as the prefect and hopes to retrieve the court’s trust and favor. The order of the words in the original has been modified in the translation to make the sentence easier to understand. The literal translation of this line and the preceding line is: “Going into Yunzhong with a Fu Jie; / When will the court dispatch Feng Tang?”
會挽雕弓如滿月, By that time I will pull my carved bow into the shape of a full moon,
15
西北望, aim to the northwest, 射天狼。 and shoot down Sirius
c
. Critical note:
In ancient China, “Sirius” was the name given to a star that was commonly believed to control warfare. “Shoot down Sirius” indicates the speaker’s wish to defeat major rivaling states, very likely the Western Xia in the northwest, which was a great threat to the Northern Song court.
Critical Notes
Translation
Line number 4
Critical note: Refers to the typical hunting attire of a prefect at that time.
Translation
Line number 5
Critical note: The speaker uses “thousands of” as an exaggeration to emphasize the size of his retinue and the grandeur of the occasion.
Translation
Line number 8
Critical note: Sun Quan (182-252 CE) was the ruler of the State of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 CE). He once pursued a tiger on horseback, managing to kill it even though it had bitten his horse. Here the speaker compares himself to Sun Quan.
Translation
Line number 10
Critical note: This implies that the poet is already old and has white hair at his temples.
Translation
Line number 12
Critical note: Yunzhong was the name of a place in present-day Inner Mongolia.
Translation
Line number 12
Critical note: During the Song Dynasty, a “Fu Jie” was a staff that symbolized the court’s pardon of an official.
Translation
Line number 13
Critical note: The implication here is “When will the court dispatch Feng Tang to pardon Wei Shang?”, with the poet using Wei Shang to represent himself. The Prefect of Yunzhong, Wei Shang, successfully defeated the invading Xiongnu troops but was deprived of his official title because his battle report stated a number of enemies killed that was six fewer than the actual number. Feng Tang, a court official, defended the prefect and convinced Emperor Wen of Han (r. 180-157 BCE) that his sentence was too severe. The emperor thus sent Feng Tang to pardon the prefect and restore the latter’s title. Here the speaker refers to himself as the prefect and hopes to retrieve the court’s trust and favor. The order of the words in the original has been modified in the translation to make the sentence easier to understand. The literal translation of this line and the preceding line is: “Going into Yunzhong with a Fu Jie; / When will the court dispatch Feng Tang?”
Translation
Line number 16
Critical note: In ancient China, “Sirius” was the name given to a star that was commonly believed to control warfare. “Shoot down Sirius” indicates the speaker’s wish to defeat major rivaling states, very likely the Western Xia in the northwest, which was a great threat to the Northern Song court.
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