870 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



accounts, to tbe Emperor Sbun (B. C. 2255). It is reputed as the first 

 of games in Cliiua, Korea, and Japan, and one of the few which receive 

 the api)robation of the educated classes in those countries. Simple as 

 the game appears, it embodies certain complex elements based upon 

 primitive notions of the universe, which, although they may in part be 

 secondary and late additions, are of the highest interest. Thus the 

 pieces, black and white, are regarded as representing the night and 

 the day; the four "angles" the four seasons, and the three hundred 

 and sixty-one points of intersection on the board (3G0 + 1) the number 

 of days in the year. Nine stations at the intersections, which are 



¥ 



Fig. 173. 



WAI K'i BOAED, SHOWING NAMES APPLIED TO FOUR QUARTERS. 



(After Voliiu-elli.) 



marked with spots upon the board, are, in the same manner, said to 

 correspond with the Nine Lights of Heaven (the Sun, Moon, and the 

 seven stars of the Dipper). 



The Chinese in thq books which treat of the game divide the board 

 into four equal parts, which they call "corners," and which they desig- 

 nate by the names of the four tones in the spoken language: 



P^ing, for the lower left-hand corner; 



Shcung, for the upper left-hand corner; 



Hii, for the upi)er right hand corner; 



Yap, for the lower right-hand corner. 



