Review Of Interpretations: Inscriptions On Dagger-axes In Times Of Monarch Yan Of The Warring States

In the turbulent times of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States, the importance of weapons is evident. Numerous inscriptions on dagger-axe are of great academic value to the study on the history of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States, especially the self-contradictory and rather compendious historical records of Yan. of Yan are the most abundant among all types of the ancient literal materials, which can rank first among all the States. Naturally, The inscriptions on dagger-axe are the critical materials for the research on Yan characters. With several exceptions made in the Western zhou Dynasty, most of the dagger-axes with inscriptions of Yan are made in the period of the Warring States. Moreover, the majority of weapons of Yan are daggers of which a large number were made under the supervision of Monarch Yan. Therefore, it is of great significance for the study on Yan characters to perform a probe into the inscriptions on the in times of Monarch Yan.In the study, 66 pieces of unquestionable and legible dagger-axes are selected as the studied objects, and the rubbings of the inscriptions, embodied in A Collection of Inscriptions on Ancient Bronze Objects of Yin and Zhou Dynasty, as well as some relevant records are taken as the major materials. To get started, the paper divides the dagger-axes into two types and eight species in terms of shape. Then, the layouts and patterns of the inscriptions are reorganized. The patterns of the inscriptions fall into the title of Monarch Yan, verbs, distributees and dagger-axes. By analyzing one by one, several primary conclusions are reached.First of all, it is Monarch Yan who was the nominal supervisor and producer of dagger-axes. There exists six different monarchal names of Yan in the inscriptions, in which "tuo", "rongren", "zhi", and "xi" are generally acknowledged regarding literal identification. Most scholars accept "zhi " as "King Yan Zhao" and "xi" as "the last king of Yan". In addition, "tuo" and "zai", which was specialized and used exclusively as the names of the kings of Yan, are identical in pronunciation and connotation. The post-humous name of "Marquis yan" was "WenCheng", namely "Duke Yanwen" in shiji. The titles of Monarch Yan in the inscriptions can remedy the defect in the study on theconfusing and incomplete pedigree of King Yan.Secondly, there exists two verbs in the inscriptions— "zuo" pronounced as "zuo", which indicates the sense of" produce", and "shou" or the ancient Chinese prose "shou" — pronounced as "shou", which indicates that of "grant".Thirdly, there are totally ten species of disnbutees in the inscriptions, among which "Zuogong", "Yougong", "Zuojun" and "Youjun" were all the military organizations in the times of Marquis Yan Zai. As time went on, "Zuogong" and "Yougong" transformed into the pottery manufacturing organizations. " zu, "zu" "wangzu", and "jizu", respectively can be pronounced as "zu", "zu", "wangzou" and "jizu", and "wangzu" was the crake troops directly under the control of Yan King, "ji" is subordinate to "nan" with the pronunciation of "ji", conveying the sense of armour. Consequently, "jizu" were the troops in which the soldiers wore armours. Besides, "yusima" should be identical with "yusima" in historical documents, military officers who handled the carriages and horses, "xingyi" was the name of infantry honor guard, and "xingyi □ Dsima" was a title for military officers relevant to the honour guard.Lastly, the dagger-axes in the inscriptions were named in eight ways— "fu", "guifu", "gui", "ju", "chuiju", "juchuiju", "xie" and "ge", among which there is a wealth of historical materials related to "gui", "ju", "chuiju" and "juchuiju". The characteristics of their shapes are related to their names, "ju" are identical with "ju", "ju" and "ju" with regard to the senses and pronunciations. As for the shape of "ju", it is characterized with wave-like saw teeth, which are closely related to the carpenter's tool with saw tooth, "gui" shares the same sense and pronunciation with "gui" in historical r...