Solitary Orchid in Jieshi Mode

Introduction

The oldest surviving qin score, written out entirely in words rather than tablature signs

Solitary Orchid in Jieshi Mode is the oldest surviving guqin score, written in a prose notation that spells out each string and finger movement in words. The manuscript is held by the Tokyo National Museum and is a National Treasure of Japan; the museum dates it to the reign of Empress Wu from the special characters in its preface, though some scholars find the evidence thin and call it only a probable Tang copy. The preface says the piece came from Qiu Ming of Kuaiji, a recluse of the late Liang who died at ninety-seven in the tenth year of the Sui Kaihuang reign. The piece is in four sections. Yang Shoujing found a copy in Japan, and Li Shuchang reproduced it in a collection of rare books published in 1884, which brought it back to China.