198 Chinese Clay Figures 



cussion in the second part of this publication that, according to my 

 interpretation, they are intended for the figure of the ancient shaman 1 

 (to, or fang siang shi). 



Among the exorcists of the Chou period, the Fang siang shi 2 occupies 

 a prominent place. According to the Chou li, 3 he donned a bear-skin 

 decorated with four golden eyes, 4 black trousers, and a red jacket. 

 Armed with a spear and a shield, accompanied by a suite of a hundred 

 attendants, he performed the purifications of every season, searching 

 through the houses and driving out disease. At a great funeral service 

 he strided in front of the coffin, and accompanied it to the grave. 



intended to convey a chronological notion, but is not applied here with reference 

 to technique or style. The age of the T'ang dynasty may safely be regarded as the 

 terminus ad quern for the industry of burial clay figures, for we know surely enough 

 that under the Sung and Ming dynasties the paraphernalia for the grave were carved 

 from wood, but not modelled in clay. This question will be treated fully in Part II. 



1 Our word "shaman" is derived from the Tungusian languages (Manchu saman, 

 Gold Sama). The Mirror of the Manchu Language {Manju hergen-i buleku bithe) 

 explains the word saman by means of the Chinese phrase chu shenjen ("a man who 

 invokes or conjures the spirits"); and it is defined, enduri weceku-de jalbarime baire 

 nialma ("a man who prays to and conjures spirits by sacrificing"). It is said in the 

 same Dictionary that the saman acts near the sick-bed, and that there are male and 

 female samasa (plural of saman). The Tungusian word has no connection whatever 

 with Chinese sha-men (from Sanskrit cramana, Pali samana) denoting a Buddhist 

 ascetic (Yule and Burnell, Hobson-Jobson, p. 820) ; a Buddhist monk and a Siberian 

 shaman will always remain two distinct affairs. Pelliot {Journal asiatique, Mars- 

 Avril, 19 1 3, p. 468) has traced the word Saman in the language of the Niuchi to a Chi- 

 nese document of the twelfth century. The identity of the notion conveyed by the 

 Chinese word wu ("sorcerer") with the word "shaman" becomes evident from T'ang 

 shu, where in the description of the Kirghiz it is remarked, "They call their sorcerers 

 kan (hu wu wei kan)." The latter word (formerly articulated kam) is identical with 

 Turkish kam, the general designation for the shaman in all Turkish dialects (compare 

 W. Schott, Uber die echten Kirgisen, Abhandlungen der Berliner Akademie, 1865, 

 p. 440). While reading the proofs, I receive No. 3 of the Revue orientale (Vol. XIV, 

 19 1 4), in which J. Nemeth devotes a special investigation to the origin of the word 

 saman: by applying methods of comparative philology, he arrives at the result that 

 the word is an ancient property of the Turkish-Mongol languages. 



2 Ch£ng K'ang-ch'eng, in his commentary to the Chou li (Biot, Vol. II, p. 150), 

 explains the word fang siang shi as "expellers of formidable things," by substituting 

 two other words for fang siang yielding this sense; but this conjecture is not adopted 

 by the editors of the Chou li under K'ien-lung. Biot translates the term, much too 

 literally, by inspecteurs de region, or by preservateur universel. Grube (Religion und 

 Kultus der Chinesen, p. 51) renders it "supervisors of the four points of the com- 

 pass." De Groot (The Religious System of China, Vol. VI, p. 974) proposes the 

 translation, "inspectors or rescuers of the country to the four quarters." These 

 translations do not render account of the two words Jang and siang: fang (No. 3435) 

 means not only "place, region, quarter," but also "a recipe, a prescription;" and 

 fang shi, according to Giles, is "a master of recipes, — a medicine man; a necroman- 

 cer." The word siang* (No. 4249) means "to judge of by looks; to practise physiog- 

 nomy" (hence in Buddhism: the lakshana or physical marks of beauty of a Buddha). 

 The fang siang shi, accordingly, is a "doctor" who has two functions, — he prescribes 

 medicines, and practises the art of physiognomy (siang fa). 



3 Biot, Vol. II, p. 225. 



4 Apparently a mask, which was worn by the Chinese shamans in all exorcising 

 ceremonies (see De Groot, The Religious System of China, Vol. VI, pp. 974-980, 

 1151, 1187 el seq.; also, Vol. I, p. 162). 



