492 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



Fig. 1. 



CHINESE DICE. 



GAMES WITH DICE. 



Chinese dice* are small cubes of bone marked on each side with 

 incised spots from 1 to (5 in number, (fig-. 1) which are arranged in the 

 same manner as the S])ots on modern European dice, as well as those of 

 Greece and Eomeof classical antiquity;! the " six" and "one," "five" 

 and "two," and "four" and "three" being on opposite sides. 

 The "four" and "one" spots on Chinese dice are painted red, and the 



"six," "five," "three," 

 and "two" are painted 

 black. The "one" is 

 always much larger and 

 more deeply incised than 

 the other spots, possibly 

 to compensate for its 

 op])osite, the " six." 



The origin of the cus- 

 tom of painting the 

 "fours" red is accounted for, according to the Wa Kan san sai dzu e,| 

 by the following story: 



An emperor of the Ming dynasty (A. D. 1368-1643) played at suqorokn with his 

 queen. He was ahnost defeated by her, but had one way of winning through the 

 dice turning "fours." He cried and threw the dice, and they came as he desired, 

 whereupon he was exceedingly glad, and ordered that the "fours" thereafter be 

 painted red, in remembrance of his winning. 



A similar story was related to me as a cominon tradition among the 

 Cantonese, by an intelligent Chinese, who gave the emperor's name as 

 Ld Ling Wong^\ who reigned under the title of Chung Tsung (A. D. 



* The common name for dice among the Cantonese is shik tsz', composed of shilc, 

 "colors," and tsz\ " seed," " dice." 



In Medhurst's English and Chinese Dictionary, Shanghai, 1847, three other names 

 for dice are given: t 'an tsz' composed of t' au, written with a character compounded 

 of the radicals, kivat, "bone," and shii, "a weapon," "to strike," and the auxiliary 

 tsz'; sJietuig Ink, "double sixes," from what is regarded as the highest throw with 2 

 dice, and htk ch'ik, literally "six carnation." The last name may be considered as 

 a compound of the terms for the most important throws: "six" and carnation or 

 red; the "four," to which, as will be seen, an especial signiticance is attached, as 

 well as the "one," the lowest throw with a die, being painted red. In Japanese dice 

 are called sai, a word written with a Chinese character, ts'oi, "variegated," "lucky." 



t About the only dotted cubical dice which depart from this arrangement are those 

 of the ancient Etruscans, which are regarded as having the "one" and the "three," 

 "two" and "four," and "five" and "six" opposite, a system which does not appear, 

 according to the writer's observation, to have been constant. 



t "Japanese Chinese Three Powers' (Heaven, Earth, Man) picture collection." 

 Osaka, 1714; vol. 17, fol. 4. 



^ Whence a vulgar name for dice among the Cantonese, hot lb, composed of hot, 

 "to call out loud," and lb, for Lb Ling Wong. 



Modern Indian dice are usually marked with black and red spots. In the Mahab- 

 harata (iv, 1, 25) reference is made to "dice, dotted black and red." (Prof. E. W. 

 Hopkins, J. A. O. S., vol. 13, p. 123.) 



