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a. Why does the King [inaugurate] the ploughing of the fields, and the Queen the picking of mulberry-leaves in person? It is to take the lead in the work of agriculture and sericulture in all under Heaven.
b. The Son of Heaven ploughs in person to contribute [with the produce of his harvest] to the sacrifices in the suburb and the ancestral temple.
c. The Queen in person gathers the mulberry-leaves to contribute [with the silk of the silk-worms to the weaving of] the sacrificial robes.
d. The Chi i says: "The Son of Heaven draws three furrows, the Three Ducal Ministers [each] five, the Ministers, the great officers, and the common officers [each] seven" 1.
e. Why does the ploughing [by the Son of Heaven] take place in the eastern suburb? The east [is the region where] the yang is young and where the work of husbandry is begun 2.
f. The gathering of mulberry-leaves [by the Queen] takes place in the western suburb because the west [is the region where] the yin is young, [the place where] the toil of women takes fruit 3. Therefore the Tsêng tzŭ wên says: "The Son of Heaven ploughs the eastern field by turning over [the earth] three times" 4.
g. The Chou kuan says: "The Queen in person gathers the mulberry-leaves; she leads the titled ladies of the exterior and the interior to the northern suburb, [where she inaugurates] the work of sericulture" 5.
h. This [place] is meant by what is stated in the Li chi i: "Anciently the Son of Heaven and the Feudal Lords must have their own mulberry-trees 6 and silk-worms' houses, built near a river 7. [The walls of] the building were ten feet 8 high and covered with thorns. It was closed on the outside" 9.
1. Not in the present ch. Chi i of the Li chi, but it occurs in the Yüeh ling (Li chi chu shu, 14.18b; C. I. 335), however with 'Ministers and Feudal Lords nine furrows' instead of 'great officers seven furrows'. Cf. also the Lü shih ch'un ch'iu, Wi. 2. The ploughing was done on the special field of the Son of Heaven.
2. The same sites (eastern and western suburbs) are given in Ho Hsiu's comm., Kung yang chu shu, Huan 14, 5.19a. The Chou li (B. I. 146; see n. 4) gives for the Queen the northern suburb, ch. Chi t'ung of the Li chi (C. II. 322) gives southern suburb for the King and northern suburb for the Queen.
3. The same sites (eastern and western suburbs) are given in Ho Hsiu's comm., Kung yang chu shu, Huan 14, 5.19a. The Chou li (B. I. 146; see n. 4) gives for the Queen the northern suburb, ch. Chi t'ung of the Li chi (C. II. 322) gives southern suburb for the King and northern suburb for the Queen.
4. Not in the present Li chi.
5. Chou li chu shu, Nei tsai, 7.19b; B. I. 146, where the wording is slightly different.
6. 公 桑 kung-sang, i.e. 'the Duke's [own] mulberry-trees', not 'öffentliche Maulbeerbäume', as Franke, Kêng tschi t'u, p. 25, translates.
7. To facilitate the 'bathing' of the eggs, for a description of which see Franke, o.c., p. 127.
8. The text reads 'one jên and three feet', one jên 仞 being seven feet, acc. to K'ung Ying-ta's subcomm. on the passage (see n. 8); Lu Tê-ming, probably by error, calls ten feet a jên (l.c.).
9. Li chi chu shu, 48.2a; C. II. 294.
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