A Record of the Four-Wheeled Pavilion (四輪亭)四輪亭記
承安四年。予始畫謀。欲立四輪亭於園上。俄有全州之命。未得果就。越辛酉。自全州入洛閑居。方有命搆之意。又以母病未就。恐因此不能便就。且失其謀畫。遂記之云。夫四輪亭者。隴西子畫其謀而未就者也。夏之日。與客席園中。或臥而睡。或坐而酌。圍棋彈琴。惟意所適。窮日而罷。是閑者之樂也。然避景就陰。屢易其座。故琴書枕簟。酒壺棋局。隨人轉徙。或有失其手而誤墮者。於是始設其計。欲立四輪亭。使童僕曳之。趨陰而就。則人與棋局酒壺枕席。摠逐一亭。而東西何憚於轉徙哉。今雖未就。後必爲之。故先悉其狀。四其輪。作亭於其上。亭方六尺。二梁四柱。以竹爲椽。以簟蓋其上。取其輕也。東西各一欄。南北亦如之。亭方六尺。則摠計其間凡三十有六尺也。請圖以試之。則縱而計之。橫而計之。皆六尺。其方如棋之局者亭也。於局之內。又周回而量各尺。尺而方如棋之方罫。罫各方一尺。則三十六罫。乃三十有六尺也。以此而處六人。則二人坐於東。人坐四罫。各方焉縱二尺橫二尺。摠計二人凡八尺也。餘四罫之方者。判而爲二。各縱二尺。以二尺置琴一事。病其促短。則跨南欄而半豎。彈則加於膝者半焉。以二尺置樽壺盤皿之具。東摠十有二尺。二人坐於西亦如之。餘四罫之方者虛焉。欲使往來小選者。必由此路。西摠十有二尺。一人坐於北四罫之方者。主人坐於南。亦如之。中四罫之方者。置棋一局。南北中摠十二尺。西之一人小進。而與東之一人對棋。主人執酌。酌以一杯。輪相飮也。凡肴菓之案。各於坐隙。隨宜置焉。所謂六人者誰。琴者一人。歌者一人。僧之能詩者一人。棋者二人。幷主人而六也。限人而坐。示同志也。其曳之也。童僕有倦色。則主人自下袒肩而曳之。主人疲則客遽下而助之。及其酒酣也。隨所欲之而曳之。不必以陰。如是而侵暮。暮則罷。明日亦知之。或曰已言亭方六尺。則其所以計之之意。非有難曉者。何至詳計曲算。以棋罫爲喻而期人之淺耶。曰。天圓地方。人所皆知。然說陰陽者。以蓋輿爲喻。至於縱橫步尺。無不摠擧者。欲論萬物之入於方圓。皆應形器也。今以是亭計人而坐。至於陬隙中邊。無使遺漏。皆入於用。則非詳計曲算而何耶。其以棋罫爲喻者。方圖畫之初。私自爲標。以備不惑耳。非款款指人也。曰。作亭而輪其下。有古乎。曰。取適而已。何必古哉。古者巢居。不可以處。故始立棟宇以庇風雨。至於後世。轉相增制。崇板築謂之臺。複欄檻謂之榭。構屋於屋謂之樓。作豁然虛敞者謂之亭。皆臨機商酌。取適而已。然則因亭而輪其下。以備轉徙。庸有不可乎。雖曰取適。亦豈無謂下輪而上亭者。輪以行之。亭以停之。時行則行。時止則止之義也。輪以四者。象四時也。亭六尺者。像六氣也。二梁四柱者。貳王贊政。柱四方之意也。嗚呼。亭成之後。當邀同志者落之。使各賦詩以記其詳。今取大槪。先夸於朋友。欲令翹首而待成耳。辛酉五月日。記。
In the fourth year of Seungan (承安) I first drew up a plan to set up a Four-Wheeled Pavilion (四輪亭) in my garden, but presently there came an order for me to go to Jeonju, and I did not carry it out. When the year sinyu came I went from Jeonju into the capital and lived at leisure, and was just of a mind to build it, when again my mother's illness kept me from carrying it out. For this reason, fearing that I should not carry it out and should lose my plan and my drawing besides, I write this down at last.
Now the Four-Wheeled Pavilion is what Nongseoja (隴西子) drew the plan of and did not carry out. On a summer's day, taking his seat in the garden with his guests, now lying down to sleep and now sitting to pour the wine, playing at go and playing the zither, doing only as his mind inclines, and breaking up only when the day is done — this is the pleasure of a man at leisure.
But in fleeing the sun and going toward the shade one shifts one's seat again and again, so that the zither and the books, the pillow and the bamboo mat, the wine bottle and the go board are carried about after the people, and sometimes a thing slips from the hand and is dropped amiss. At this I first laid my scheme to set up a four-wheeled pavilion and have the serving boys draw it, so that it should go on after the shade. Then people and go board and wine bottle and pillow and mat all follow one pavilion, and why should one mind being carried east and west?
Though I have not carried it out now, I shall surely make it later, and so I write down its whole shape beforehand.
There are to be four wheels, and upon them the pavilion is built. The pavilion is six feet each way, with two beams and four pillars; bamboo serves for the rafters, and a bamboo mat covers the top, which is to take advantage of its lightness. There is one railing each on the east and on the west, and so also on the south and on the north.
If the pavilion is six feet each way, then reckoning the whole space within it there are six-and-thirty feet. Let us try it by a drawing. Measured lengthwise and measured crosswise, it is six feet either way. That which is square like a go board is the pavilion. Within the board, if one measures round again one foot at a time, each foot is square like the squares (罫) of a go board. If each square is one foot each way, there are six-and-thirty squares, which is six-and-thirty feet.
By this there are six men. Two men sit on the east, each man sitting in four squares, which make a square two feet lengthwise and two feet crosswise, so that the two men together come to eight feet. The square made by the four squares that remain I divide into two, each of them two feet lengthwise. In two feet I set one zither, and if its being narrow and short is a trouble, I lay it across the southern railing and stand half of it up. When it is played, half of it rests upon the knee. In two feet I set the wine jar and the bottle, the tray and the vessels and their gear. The east comes in all to twelve feet. The two men who sit on the west are the same. The four squares that remain there I leave empty. It is that those who come and go and leave their seats a while may pass of necessity by this path. The west comes in all to twelve feet. One man sits in the four squares on the north, and the master, sitting on the south, is the same. In the four squares in the middle I set one go board. The south and the north and the middle come in all to twelve feet.
The one man on the west comes forward a little and plays go facing the one man on the east, and the master takes the cup and pours one cup for each in turn, and they drink together. And the trays of relishes and of fruit are set wherever is fitting in the spaces where they sit.
Who are the six men so called? One to play the zither, one to sing, one monk good at poetry, two to play go, and with the master, six. To limit the number of men and seat them is to show that their purposes are one.
When it is drawn, if the serving boys have an idle look, the master goes down himself, bares his shoulder, and pulls. When the master tires, the guests come down at once and help. When the wine is at its height, they pull it wherever they wish to go, and not of necessity to the shade. Going on thus, they break up when evening comes. And they will know to do the same on the morrow.
Someone said: 「You have already said that the pavilion is six feet each way, and the sense of reckoning it is not hard to understand. Why do you reckon it so minutely and count it bend by bend and liken it to the squares of a go board, as though you held men cheap?」
I said: 「That heaven is round and earth square is what all men know. Yet those who speak of yin and yang liken them to a canopy and a carriage, and leave nothing unmentioned, down to the lengthwise and the crosswise, the paces and the feet. This is because they would discuss how all things that come under the square and the round answer to shape and to vessel. Now I reckon men by this pavilion and seat them, leaving nothing out, down to the corners and the gaps and the middle and the edge, so that all come into use: what is this if it is not reckoning minutely and counting bend by bend? As for likening them to the squares of a go board, it was only that at the beginning, when I was drawing, I quietly made them marks for myself so that I should not be confused; it was not that I pointed at anyone in detail.」
「Was there of old such a thing as building a pavilion and putting wheels beneath it?」 I said: 「It is only to take what suits; why must it be of old? In the olden time men lived in trees and could not dwell there, and so they first set up ridgepole and eaves to screen off wind and rain. Coming to later ages they went on adding to the fashion one after another, and what was raised up by heaping planks they called a terrace (臺), and what had its railings doubled they called a belvedere (榭), and what was framed as a house upon a house they called a tower (樓), and what was made open and airy they called a pavilion (亭). All of these only reckoned with the time and took what suited. If so, then what should be amiss in following the pavilion and putting wheels beneath it and so providing for its being moved about?
And though it is said to take what suits, how should there be no meaning in putting wheels below and a pavilion above? By the wheels it goes, and by the pavilion it stays; it is the meaning of going when it is time to go and staying when it is time to stay. That the wheels are four is in the likeness of the four seasons; that the pavilion is six feet is in the likeness of the six breaths; and the two beams and the four pillars are the meaning of two lords aiding the government and making pillars of the four quarters.」
Ah, when the pavilion is finished I shall bring in those whose purposes are one with mine and hold its completion, and have each of them make a poem and write down its particulars. For now I take only the outline and boast of it to my friends beforehand, so that they may lift their heads and wait for its completion. Written on a certain day of the fifth month of the year sinyu.
Interlinear notes 1
罫綀道間方非也。
A gwae (罫) is a square between the lines of a go board.