If you often watch costume court dramas, you will find that no matter which dynasty, as long as eunuchs are involved, they will hold something like a broom in their hands, which is what we usually call dust. In some plots, no matter how high or low the eunuch's status is, he will hold a dust in his hand, and even in martial arts dramas, he can become a weapon for killing.
What is this duster like a broom or feather duster doing? Why do eunuchs hold it in their hands every day? I don't know if you have noticed again, in addition to eunuchs, some Taoists and immortals will also hold dust in their hands, and these dust will even become tools for emitting divine functions in the hands of the gods, and they can make fire and smoke with a wave of dust, or change the goblins back to their original form.
Screenshot from "The Biography of Zhen Huan"
The Modern Chinese Dictionary says that dusting is used as a noun as "dust dust and a tool for repelling mosquitoes and flies, with a ponytail tied at one end of the handle." The Ci Hai explains, "Dust: Whiskers, dust removal apparatus made of a tail or ponytail." ”
麈, the name of the beast. "Pi Ya Shi Beast": "The crane is like a deer and is big." Its tail is dusty. In the "Pi Ya Shi Beast", it is said: "The crane is like a deer and is large, and its tail is dusty." Because its horns resemble deer instead of deer, its head resembles a horse instead of a horse, its body resembles a donkey instead of a donkey, and its hooves resemble cattle instead of cattle, it is also known as "four no-elephants." It is a specialty of the mainland. It is recorded in volume VIII of the Heilongjiang Waiji of the Qing Dynasty: "The four are not like deer. The Spring Campaign of Oron is like an ox and a horse, and if there is a whistle, it will come, and if it is licked with salt, it will go, and the people will rely on it, and they will not kill it. Chinese called it 'Orembuhu', while the Alien Chronicle called it the horned deer. Taste the "Qing Wen Hui Shu" cloud: "The four are not like, and the mu and the oyster have horns." 'Then call the horned deer not a lack of roots. Natives feed stone flowers, that is, moss. ”
Because the tail of this deer is relatively long and can "remove dust", it was often used in ancient times to make a kind of instrument to blow away dust and drive away mosquitoes and flies, called "tail". In the Wei and Jin dynasties, scholars advocated qing talk and often held this kind of thing in their hands. In the "New Language of the World", it is said: "Wang Yifu has a beautiful appearance and is better than talking about Xuan. Constantly catching the white jade handle and tail, there is no difference between the hand and the hand. "Future generations also have the legacy of holding a tail and talking. Song Jiangkuo's "Ciyun Qianyan Miscellaneous Ballads": "The phoenix always accompanies Yan to talk." ”
Although most people think that dust and tail have some similarities, there is still a certain difference between the two.
In the early Qing Dynasty, the "Integration of Ancient and Modern Books" painted the tail as a dusty shape. In the Ming Dynasty's "Hushan Shengjiao" illustrations "Qingyi Stone Spring" and "Taixu Buyue", there is a figure holding a similar ponytail artifact.
In the encyclopedic catalogue book "Three Talents And Tuhui", published in the thirty-seventh year of the Ming Dynasty (1609) and co-compiled by Wang Xi and his son Wang Siyi, the section "Ruyi and Lu" quotes the "Interpretation of Tibet Finger Return" Yun: "The great one of the deer is known as the elk, and the herd of deer follows, all depending on the direction of the deer, and the twist of the tail of the deer is prevailing." Now it is said that the monk holds the tail whisk, and the cover is like a commander who has the ear of the commander. The Ming Dynasty believed that this kind of artifact that tied animal hair, hemp, etc. into a bunch, plus a long handle, was "tail", also known as "whisker" or "dust".
During the Wei and Jin dynasties, scholars advocated clean talk, and legend has it that the tail of the crane does not stain dust, and the scholar used it to symbolize his own purity. In the note-taking novel "The New Language of the World", which records the anecdotes of the Wei and Jin literati, the tail is a frequent landmark prop. Exactly when the tail originated is not clearly recorded in ancient texts. The Southern Dynasty Song Zhang Yue wrote the "Mao Yao Que Ming" Yun: "Yao Gu Liu System, Shuo Dao Fei Wen." "Yao" is "yao", so "Yao gu" is "yao gu", and it can even be speculated that there was a system of tails in ancient times.
It was commonly used by eastern Han aristocratic intellectuals, especially those who taught Confucian classics. In that era, the tail represented traditional moral norms and ethical thoughts, which had a completely different cultural significance from the later literati yashi people, and the main source of the han dynasty was probably the famous royal garden Shanglin Garden.
It can be seen that at the latest in the Han Dynasty, the tail was already used by intellectuals, but the scope of popularity was still relatively narrow. During the Three Kingdoms period, The Tail began to see more important than the scholars. The Tang Dynasty painter Yan Liben (601-673)'s surviving work "Portrait Scrolls of Emperors of Past Dynasties" depicts Sun Quan, the lord of Wu, holding a tail. Excavated from June 1 to 29, 1972, there is a mural of "Tail and Side Face" on the south wall of the back room of the Jiayu Guanxi Jin Mural Tomb No. 4.
Tang Yan Liben's "Portrait Scrolls of Emperors of Past Dynasties" holds the tail of The Eastern Wu Emperor Sun Quan
Part of the Vimalaya Sutra Variations
From the figure, we can see that the shape of the tail is closer to the fan than the dust, and the "Art and Literature Cluster" quotes the Southern Dynasty Xu Ling's "Dusttail Ming", saying that the tail of the elk tail "member (circle) is in the shape of the sky, flat under the terrain, beautiful and silky, and the wisps are fine." This upward circle and lower flat shape seems to be different from the "one bunch of hairs plus one handle" artifacts that appear in the "Lake and Mountain Victory Overview" and the "Three Talents Picture Society". The Tang Dynasty painter Sun Wei's "Gao Yi Tu" depicts the image of Ruan Yuan, and what he holds in his hand is the dust tail. In the Dunhuang murals, there is a "Picture of the Transformation of the Vimal Sutra", in which the layman Vimal jie sits on the bed with his hand on the duster. In addition, there are also many figures holding tails in the stone carvings of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Obviously, the tail they hold in their hands is shaped like a leaf, and the lower part is often straight at the handle, plus the handle, and the edge is made long.
Tan shi used a tail, and from the history, it began with Wang Yan and Le Guang of the Western Jin Dynasty. Wang Yan was Wang Rong's younger brother. Wang Rong and Ruan Belong to the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest". During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the tail was still popular among the scribes and was a common object of the Tang Dynasty. Chen Ziang's "Order of the Tail" Yun: Jia Zi Nian, Tianzi in Luoyang. Time to begin to decontaminate brown, with... Place the wine in the Golden Valley Pavilion and gather guests. Drinking, giving food and things to the seat, and the rest of the life is given to the tail of the deer.
In the Song Dynasty, it was rare, and in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, it was more common in the chanting of the literati, which is why some people would mistake the tail for a kind of dust in the future. In fact, between the two, whether in terms of appearance or meaning, the difference is still very large.
A more accurate name for dusting would be broomstick, flybrush, or flinger, which is a ponytail tied to a thin rattan pole or wooden stick. The history of dusting is very long, the earliest can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty, from the existing books "History of Sima Xiangru Biography", the Qing Dynasty Cao Xueqin's "Dream of the Red Chamber" thirty-sixth time, as well as the painting song Dynasty "Eighteen Bachelors" and the Ming Dynasty "Thousand Autumns and Brilliant Pictures" can be seen in the use of dust.
Dusting was originally a tool to drive away flies, equivalent to "one of the functions of a horse's tail". Slender shanks, common wooden, bamboo, rattan, high-grade teeth, rhinoceros, jade and other materials; and the stalk is connected, such as half a leather ball of hair spindle bottom ring, commonly used bone, teeth, rhinoceros and other materials. The bristles planted on the bundle of fur rings are generally made of long, soft, medium-hard bristles. Commonly known as "whisker".
Buddhism attaches great importance to dusting. It is said that when Shakyamuni Buddha was on the throne, the Great Brahma King held his own dust attendant. Therefore, Buddhism attaches the greatest importance to the dust of white manes.
In addition, the Vinaya also contains records of various dust whisks prepared by Shakyamuni Buddhist monks in order to prevent mosquitoes and flies. Monks who preach the scriptures sometimes also hold utensils in their hands to aid in the sprinkling.
The Wei and Jin celebrities will also have monks participating in the talks, and the famous people will stick to the tail and think that they will talk about the handle, and the monks are likely to stick to the dust, and what they talk about is the Buddhist scriptures. It is also because of this that "tail" and "dust" will be mistaken for a thing by posterity.
"Lake and Mountain Victory Overview" illustration part, holding a dusty literati
During the Northern Song Dynasty, Zen Buddhism adhered to the saying of dust. The abbot who goes to the church will use the dust, called "Bingfu", to represent the abbot in the church. It is also specially called "Bingfu people". The monks who are chartered for five positions can only bingfu, commonly known as "bingfu five heads", they are: the first seat of the front hall, the first seat of the back hall, the lord of the eastern Tibet, the lord of Tibet, and the secretary. This kind of rule has been passed down to this day: now the abbot of the Zen forest and the pulpit go to the church, or hold the dust in his hand.
However, in the homes of ordinary people, or eunuchs, the greatest use of dust is still to sweep away dust and drive away mosquitoes. Volume 136 of the "Beitang Shuqian" quotes Han Qinjia's "Book of Women" as saying: "Nowadays, the tail of the ox is whisked around, but the dust can be whisked away" The eighteenth time in "Dream of the Red Chamber": "There are also deacon eunuchs holding incense towels, embroidered paws, gargling cups, dusting, and other things."
In the "Biography of Cixi" written by Yu Deling at the end of the Qing Dynasty, it was recorded: "If there is anything that the empress dowager hates the most, it must be a fly." There are a lot of flies every summer, but at this time this summer, there are especially many flies. Various methods of repelling mosquitoes were used, and each door was guarded by a eunuch holding a whisk of dust (a whip-like thing tied with horsetail hair tied to one end of a bamboo pole) and waiting in a tight line. ”
In the Qing Palace, in addition to repelling mosquitoes and flies, eunuchs rarely held dust anytime and anywhere as staged on TELEVISION, and there would be such interpretations, most of which also came from opera.
Dust is one of the more important props in opera performance, the stage often use dust are: gods, religious-related figures, court eunuchs, etc., in the opera use dust of the repertoire and characters a lot, most of them belong to the general symbolic props, the use of dust and water sleeves is similar, it extends the expressiveness of the limbs, strengthens the performance of the dance and ornamentation, especially with the opera singing, reading, doing, playing combined, dance modeling is very beautiful, the performance is more vivid and diverse. Therefore, through opera, people left a fixed impression that eunuchs had to hold dust in their hands.
References: Fan Ziye, "Research on the Transmission of Divine Portrayals of Wei and Jin's Demeanor"; Xu Chuanwu, "Ancient Literature and Ancient Culture"; Li Na, "Research on the Artistic Interests of the Late Ming Dynasty Literati"; "Cixi Biography" Deling; "Sinicized Buddhist Ritual Instruments and Costumes" Albino.
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