A Study On The Six Ritual Systems In The Bronze Inscriptions Of The Western Zhou Dynasty

The extant literature are combined with the Ancient Bronze Inscription materials that are the main body of this thesis in order to research the six ritual systems in the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which are the sacrifice ceremony, the military ceremony ,the meeting ceremony ,the feudal ceremony, the matsuri ceremony and the archery ceremony.The purpose of this thesis is to promote the researches of Ritual Systems in the Western Zhou Dynasty and in pre-Qin Times.In the introduction, the history of research on the Bronze Inscription are reviewed. And the significance of the study, the selected materials,the methods as well as some related issues are also illustrated.In Chapter I, the sacrifice ceremony in the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou is studied. About twenty-eight kinds of rituals of the Western Zhou are summmarized and discussed in details. The four-season rituals and the temporary GaoJi(告祭) of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the deacon, ancestral worship, the ritual way, the rituals location, and sacrificial offerings seen in the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou are also analyzed. At last the manners of the sacrifice ceremony of the Western Zhou are concluded. Through the research,the differences of the sacrifice ceremony between the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Yin and Shang Dynasty and Spring and Autumn Period can be found.In Chapter II, the military salute is studied. There are two pypes of military salute,which are Da Sou ceremony and the war ceremony. That Da Sou ceremony was mainly in the middle time of the Western Zhou could be proved by the research . War ceremony is the focus of this chapter and sixty-eight bronze inscriptions are studied .Then the reasons for the war and martial laws are discussed. Finally the manners of the military salute are summarized,which are making military strategies,calling for armies,commanding generals, sacrificing ceremony ,parading, inspiring army,and presenting the captures.In Chapter III, the meeting ceremony is studied. The meeting ceremony in the Bronze Inscription of the Western Zhou Dynasty could be divided into three forms, which are YinJianLi (殷見禮),ChaoJinLi (朝覲禮),TiaoPinLi(覜聘禮).Some of the three forms of the meeting ceremony are the same with the literature-related records, and some of them are different from the literature-related records. People who participate in the meeting ceremony are almost the same with the literature-related records, but whose identity was different from the literature. Different forms of the meeting ceremony are prevalent in different times. The presents recorded in the Bronze Inscription are much the same with literature. The meeting ceremony is not so complex as the literature, but the basic ceremony has existed.In Chapter IV, the feudal ceremony is studied. The feudal ceremony could be divided into three forms, which are the first-time reward, the decent reward and the changed reward. The feudal ceremony's time is not the same as recordes in literature in the summer or autumn, but covers almost all the year. The feudal age is the same with the documents, mainly in the early Western Zhou. The core of the Feudal Ceremony is to rewared people and territories, and simultaneously the princes will also be rewarded some gifts. The feudal ceremony recorded in the bronze inscriptions is much the same with the literature.In Chapter V, the matsuri ceremony is studied. The matsuri ceremony can be divided into two kinds: DaXiang(大饗)and the general. Time for the matsur ceremony is not done in spring and autumn as records in the documentary, but can be held at any time according to actual conditions. Aba ceremony was held more in the early and middle time, but was rare in late. The location of Aba ceremony is not fixed. The juice used in Aba ceremony can be alcohol or sweet wine. During the early time, alcohol was much more used, but in the middle time sweet wine was more prevalent. The matsuri ceremony is often held with the sacrifice ceremony, the archery ceremony and the ceremony of presenting the captures together. The matsuri ceremony are not so complex as the records in the literature,but the main ceremony already exists.In Chapter VI, the archery ceremony is studied. There are two forms.One is shooting Hou(侯), the other is shooting the animals. The location of the archery Ceremony was not fixed.It can be held in the king's temporary resident or in the manors of princes. And it may be held in water or on land. Time for the shooting ceremony is also not fixed. The prevalent age is the middle dynasty. After the ceremony there are many presents to be rewarded, most of which are weapons. The essence of archery ceremony can not be summerized generally.There are three different forms of archery ceremony. The archery ceremony in the Western Zhou Dynasty are developed on the basis of the archery ceremony during the late periods of Yin and Shang Dynasty. Some etiquettes of the archery ceremony in the later ages already appear in the Bronze Inscriptions of the Western Zhou DynastyThrough the studies of the six systems,the conclusion is that some of the literature records can be proved correct, and some others can not been proved correct by the bronze inscriptions.The confirmed literature records are not groundless. The non-confirmed literature records may be restriced by the limited number of bronze inscriptions on one hand or may be made by the later people on the other hand.