SBE 3: Shih King: Odes of the Temple and the Altar: II. The Sacrificial Odes of Kâu: Ode 5. The Yû Kû

ODE 5. THE YÛ KÛ.

THE BLIND MUSICIANS OF THE COURT OF KÂU; THE INSTRUMENT OF MUSIC; AND THEIR HARMONY.

The critics agree in holding that this piece was made on occasion of the duke of Kâu's completing his instruments of music for the ancestral, temple, and announcing the fact at a grand performance in the temple of king Wăn. It cam hardly be regarded as a sacrificial ode.

There are the blind musicians; there are the blind musicians; In the court of (the temple of) Kâu. 1

1.

Harmoniously blend their sounds; In solemn unison they give forth their notes. Our ancestors will give ear. Our visitors will be there;--Long to witness the complete performance.

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Footnotes

323:1 The blind musicians at the court of Kâu were numerous. The blindness of the eyes was supposed to make the ears more acute in hearing, and to be favourable to the powers of the voice. In the Official Book of Kâu, III, i, par. 22, the enumeration of 324:1 All the instruments here enumerated were performed on in the open court below the hall. Nothing is said of the stringed instruments which were used in the hall itself; nor is the enumeration of the instruments in the courtyard complete.

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