Liubo

Main article: TLV mirror

Han dynasty bronze mirror with TLV pattern

The pattern found on the surface of Liubo boards is also found on the most common type of Han dynasty bronze mirror, known from their distinctive markings as TLV mirrors. There is some debate over whether the Liubo pattern on these mirrors was simply decorative, or whether it had a ritual significance, or whether perhaps the mirrors doubled as portable Liubo game boards. Zhou Zheng has pointed out that one TLV mirror dating to the reign of Wang Mang (9–23) has an inscription that includes the words "Carved with a Liubo board pattern to dispel misfortune" (刻具博局去[祛]不羊[祥]), which suggests that the main purpose of the Liubo pattern on mirrors was ritual, and that the pattern had a special significance beyond game-playing. ^[29]

Coins

The Liubo pattern is also sometimes found on the reverse of Wu Zhu coins. Such coins were not used as currency but were probably lucky charms. ^[30]

Sundials

A Han stone sundial overcarved with a Liubo board pattern

In 1897 a Han dynasty stone sundial was discovered in Inner Mongolia which had been overcarved with a Liubo board pattern. ^[31] The only other complete Han dynasty sundial, in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum, also has a Liubo pattern carved on it. It may be that the sundials were repurposed as Liubo boards by carving the Liubo pattern over the original sundial markings, or it may be that the Liubo markings were added for some unknown ritual purpose.

Divination boards

In 1993, a wooden board with turtle divination diagrams and prognostications on one side and a Liubo diagram and forty-five prognostications on five topics on the other side was excavated from a late Western Han tomb at Yinwan in Donghai County, Jiangsu. ^[32] The Liubo diagram is too small to have been used for playing Liubo, and is covered with the sixty terms of the sexagenary cycle which are written all along the lines of the Liubo diagram, in a similar way that the turtle diagram on the other side of the board is filled with the sixty terms. The prognostications under the Liubo diagram are headed with one of nine terms that correspond to the words of an enigmatic, mnemonic rhyme about Liubo written by Xu Bochang (許博昌) during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (141–87 BCE); Lillian Tseng (Zeng Lanying) argues that these are the names for particular points on the board (the two lines of the "V" mark, the two lines of the "L" mark, the two lines of the "T" mark, the circle or line between the corner and the central square, the outside edge of the central square, and the inside of the central square). ^[33]

Schematic diagram of the Yinwan Han dynasty Liubo divination diagram, showing the positions of the sixty terms of the sexagenary cycle (following the corrections of Zeng Lanying) and examples of the nine board positions: A=fāng 方 "square"; B=lián 廉 (pàn 畔) "edge"; C=jié 楬 (jiē 揭) "lift"; D=dào 道 "path"; E=zhāng 張 "stretch"; F=qū 曲 (jiǔ 究) "bend"; G=qū 詘 (qū 屈) "curve"; H=cháng 長 (xuán 玄) "long"; I=gāo 高 "tall" (terms used in Xu Bochang's rhyme given in brackets if different).

Li Xueqin has suggested that the board was used for divination by matching the day to be divined to the corresponding sexagenary term on the Liubo diagram, and then reading off the corresponding prognostication according to the position of the sexagenary term on the Liubo diagram. ^[34] However, Lillian Tseng points out that the divination could also be done the other way round, by looking for the desired prognostication (for example an auspicious marriage day), and then all the days on the Liubo board that were written on the position corresponding to the term heading the prognostication would match the desired prognostication.

It has been theorized that the placement of the sixty sexagenary terms on the points of the Liubo divination diagram indicate the possible positions for placing pieces when playing Liubo, and that the sequence of the terms across the divination diagram reflects the path to be followed around the board when playing the game (starting at the north-east corner and ending at the north side of the central square). ^[35]

Players

Liubo players inside an Eastern Han model pottery tower

People who have played Liubo include:

• King Mu of Zhou (reigned 977–922 BCE), who according to the apocryphal Travels of King Mu once played a game of Liubo with a hermit that lasted three days. ^[36]
• Duke Min of Song (宋湣公), who in 682 BCE got into an argument with Nangong Wan 南宮萬 whilst playing Liubo with him, and was killed by Nangong Wan when he hit the duke with the Liubo board. ^[37]
• King Anxi of Wei 魏安釐王 (reigned 277–243 BCE) and his half-brother Lord Xinling of Wei 信陵君 (died 243 BCE). Once when the two of them were playing Liubo a message came that the beacons on the northern border had been lit; King Anxi wanted to stop the game and discuss the situation with his ministers, but his brother told him not to worry as it was only the king of Zhao on a hunting trip, and so they continued playing. The king was worried and could not concentrate on the game, but after the game was over news came that it was indeed the king of Zhao out hunting. ^[38]
• Jing Ke (died 227 BCE), the failed assassin of Qin Shi Huang, once had an argument with Lu Goujian (魯句踐) over a game of Liubo, and had to flee for his life. ^[39]
• Emperor Jing of Han (reigned 156–141 BCE), who when he was crown prince became angry during a game of Liubo with the Prince of Wu, and threw the Liubo board at the prince, killing him (cf. Rebellion of the Seven States). ^[40]
• Liang Ji (died 159), who according to his biography was fond of playing Liubo.
• Li Guangyan (761–826), a Uyghur general who was presented with a girl who was trained in the arts of "song, dance, music and Liubo". ^[41]
• Liu Min (895–954), a Shatuo Turk and founder of the Northern Han kingdom, liked to play Liubo and gambling games when he was young. ^[42]

Confucius did not approve of Liubo. In the Analects he grudgingly allows that playing Liubo and Go is better than being idle, ^[43] and according to the Kongzi Jiayu (Family Sayings of Confucius) he stated that he would not play the game as it promoted bad habits. ^[44]

See also

• TLV mirror  – Type of bronze mirror that was popular during the Han dynasty in China
• Mandala

References

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9. 熊传新 (Xiong Chuanxin). 谈马王堆3号西汉墓出土的陆博[Discussion of the Liubo set unearthed from the No. 3 Western Han tomb at Mawangdui]. 文物 (Cultural Relics) (in Chinese). 1979 (4): 35–39.
10. 大葆台汉墓发掘组 (Dabaotai Han Tomb Excavation Group) (1989). 北京大葆台汉墓[The Han tomb at Dabaotai in Beijing] (in Chinese). Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe. p. 53. ISBN   7-5010-0238-X.
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13. 莱西县文化馆 (Laixi County Culture Hall). 山東萊西縣岱墅西漢木槨墓[The Western Han timber-chambered tomb at Daishu in Laixi county in Shandong]. 文物 (Cultural Relics) (in Chinese). 1980 (12): 15.
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15. Yan, Zhitui. 顏氏家訓/卷第7 [The Family Instructions of Master Yan vol. 7] (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). Retrieved 2009-06-26. 古为大博则六箸，小博则二茕，今无晓者。比世所行，一茕十二棋，数术浅短，不足可翫。
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18. "The Ancient Game of Liubo". 2011-04-11. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
19. "Lost Game's Rules Found in Marquis of Haihun's Tomb". 2019-03-13. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
20. "China discovers bamboo slips recording rules of ancient board game". 2019-03-13. Archived from the original on March 13, 2019. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
21. 色子的五木、投瓊和彩戰等 Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
22. "[전통놀이] 저포놀이" [[Traditional Games] Play Jeopo]. 20 May 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
23. "Give up Persian Chess – play Chinese Chess instead! (interview between Dr. René Gralla and Prof. David H. Li)". ChessBase. 2005-06-15. Retrieved 2009-06-26. Professor Li, it seems to be that historians from China endorse your thesis – that the origins of chess can be found in China. In summary: XiangQi originates from the mysterious game Liubo; Liubo turned into GeWu, the latter has turned into Proto-XiangQi. Peter Banaschak analysed the sources that the representatives of the Chinese school cite, and he thinks that all those quotations from the past can be references to some game, but not necessarily to the game of chess or XiangQi.
24. "Liubo – the Ancestor of Board Games". Cultural China. Retrieved 2009-06-26. According to the research of modern board game historians, liubo is actually the ancestor of all battle board games of the world today, such as Chinese chess, chess etc. These games all evolve from liubo.
25. Cazaux, Jean-Louis (2001). "Is Chess a Hybrid Game ?" (PDF). pp. 5–8. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 16, 2007. Retrieved 2009-06-26. My idea, very speculative I must confess, is that someone could have turned this race game into a confrontation game opposing in each side the 6 stones as Soldiers, with a notion of promotion during the course of the game, and 10 fishes as Officers. ... Also, to divide the two sides on a battlefield, the best was probably to convert the central water into a river in the middle.
26. Cazaux, Jean-Loius. 2001. Is Chess a Hybrid Game ? "A westward birth followed by an eastward diffusion. An Indian origin of Chess is the dominating opinion among historians so far."
27. Cazaux, Jean-Louis; Knowlton, Rick (2017). A World of Chess. Its Development and Variations through Centuries and Civilizations. McFarland. P. 349-352. "So, did chess first arise in India, Persia or China? Each hypothesis has credible support, but each one also leaves quite considerable doubts.
28. Banaschak, Peter. "A story well told is not necessarily true – being a critical assessment of David H. Li's "The Genealogy of Chess"" . Retrieved 2009-06-26.
29. 周铮 (Zhou Zheng). "规矩镜"应改称"博局镜"["Geometric mirrors" should be called "Liubo pattern mirrors"]. 考古 (Archeology) (in Chinese). 1987 (12): 1116–1118.
30. "#54832: China, charm – Wu Zhu coin". Zeno Oriental Coins Database. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
31. 孙机 (Sun Ji). 托克托日晷[The Togtoh sundial]. 中国历史博物馆馆刊 (Journal of the Museum of Chinese History) (in Chinese). 1971 (3): 74–81.
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33. 曾蓝莹 (Lillian Tseng). 尹湾汉墓"博局占"木牍试解[Attempt to explain the "Liubo divination" wooden slip from the Han tomb at Yinwan]. 文物 (Cultural Relics) (in Chinese). 1994 (8): 62–65.
34. Li Xueqin. "博局占"与规矩纹["Liubo board divination" and geometric patterns]. 文物 (Cultural Relics) (in Chinese). 1997 (1): 49–51.
35. Cazaux, Jean-Louis. "Liubo" . Retrieved 2009-06-26.
36. 穆天子傳/卷五 [Account of King Mu of Zhou vol.5] (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). Retrieved 2009-06-26. 是日也，天子北入于邴，与井公博，三日而决。
37. Sima, Qian. 史記/卷038 [Records of the Grand Historian vol.38] (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). Retrieved 2009-06-26. 十一年秋，湣公與南宮萬獵，因博爭行，湣公怒，辱之，曰：「始吾敬若；今若，魯虜也。」萬有力，病此言，遂以局殺湣公于蒙澤。
38. Sima, Qian. 史記/卷077 [Records of the Grand Historian vol.77] (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). Retrieved 2009-06-26. 公子與魏王博，而北境傳舉烽，言「趙寇至，且入界」。魏王釋博，欲召大臣謀。公子止王曰：「趙王田獵耳，非為寇也。」複博如故。王恐，心不在博。
39. Sima, Qian. 史記/卷86 [Records of the Grand Historian vol.86] (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). Retrieved 2009-06-26. 荊軻遊於邯鄲，魯句踐與荊軻博，爭道，魯句踐怒而叱之，荊軻嘿而逃去，遂不復會。
40. Sima, Qian. 史記/卷106 [Records of the Grand Historian vol.106] (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). Retrieved 2009-06-26. 孝文時，吳太子入見，得侍皇太子飲博。吳太子師傅皆楚人，輕悍，又素驕，博，爭道，不恭，皇太子引博局提吳太子，殺之。
41. Xu, Liu. 列传第一百一十一 [Biographies chapter 111]. 旧唐书 (Old Book of Tang) (in Chinese). 梦远书城 (my285.com). Retrieved 2009-06-26.
42. Xue, Juzheng. 舊五代史/卷135 [Old History of the Five Dynasties vol. 135] (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). Retrieved 2009-06-26.
43. Kong, Qiu. 論語/陽貨第十七 [Analects ch. 17] (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). Retrieved 2009-06-26. 子曰：「飽食終日，無所用心，難矣哉！不有博弈者乎？為之，猶賢乎已！」
44. 孔子家語/卷一 [Family Sayings of Confucius vol. 1] (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). Retrieved 2009-06-26. 哀公問於孔子曰："吾聞君子不博，有之乎？"孔子曰："有之。"公曰："何為？"對曰："為其二乘。"公曰："有二乘，則何為不博？"子曰："為其兼行惡道也。"

External links

• Liubo Illustrated article by Jean-Louis Cazaux
• Pictures of Liubo artefacts on the Cultural China website
• Andrew West, Pictures of funerary statuettes of Liubo Players

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Liubo
A pair of Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE) ceramic tomb figurines of two gentlemen playing liubo