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Wu Zang Shan Jing — Closing the Mountain Guides五臧山經

Shanhaijing (The Classic of Mountains and Seas) 山海經 · Unknown · commentary by Guo Pu · Warring States to Western Han (commentary, 4th century) · 2 passages · 171 Chinese characters · reading time 0.7 min

Shanhaijing (The Classic of Mountains and Seas) Classic of the Mountains — Centre The oldest geography of the lands beyond the mountains and outside the seas, and a storehouse of myth. No single hand made it: it took shape from the Warring States down to the Han through many hands, and in the fourth century Guo Pu set his commentary to it. The nine-tailed fox, the jingwei bird, Kuafu, Xingtian and Xiwangmu all come from here. "Within the Eastern Sea, in a corner of the Northern Sea, there is a land named Joseon" — one of the earliest records in which the name Joseon survives stands in this book.

禹曰:天下名山,經五千三百七十山,六萬四千五十六里,居地也。言其《五臧》,蓋其餘小山甚眾,不足記云。天地之東西二萬八千里,南北二萬六千里,出水之山者八千里,受水者八千里,出銅之山四百六十七,出鐵之山三千六百九十。此天地之所分壤樹穀也,戈矛之所發也,刀鎩之所起也,能者有餘,拙者不足。封于太山,禪于梁父,七十二家,得失之數,皆在此內,是謂國用。

Yu said: The famed mountains under heaven pass through five thousand three hundred and seventy mountains and take up sixty-four thousand and fifty-six li of land. This speaks only of what is set down here in the Wu zang; the smaller mountains besides are very many, and not worth recording. Heaven and earth are twenty-eight thousand li from east to west and twenty-six thousand li from north to south. The mountains that send forth water are eight thousand li, and the places that receive water are eight thousand li. The mountains that yield copper are four hundred and sixty-seven, and the mountains that yield iron are three thousand six hundred and ninety. This is how heaven and earth divided the soil and set grain to be planted. It is whence halberds and spears come forth, and whence knives and long lances arise. Those who are able have more than enough, and those who are clumsy fall short. Seventy-two houses performed the feng sacrifice on Mount Tai and the shan sacrifice at Liangfu, and the reckoning of what they gained and lost lies all within this. This is called the use of the state.

右《五臧山經》五篇,大凡一萬五千五百三字。

The five books of the Wu zang shan jing above come to fifteen thousand five hundred and three characters in all.