Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Lacquer Hu Zun

More than 100 objects belonging to the Shosoin Treasure House are divided into eight parts and displayed in the eight rooms downstairs of the Nara Museum.This day is the first day of the exhibition, and it is a day limited to scholars, educators, artists, and people related to the communication industry, etc., although it is not yet possible to see what can be foreseen from tomorrow's public exhibition That kind of crowding, one file at a time in front of the glass cabinets displaying the imperial objects, the crowds of people visiting the past one by one, but it never stopped.Although they are specific visitors, these people seem to come from all over the country.

Take the first exhibition room as an example. A group of three or four students who looked like students stood in front of the "Tianping Treasure Characters on June 1st, 2nd Year" and visited for nearly an hour. The professor from the University of Tokyo I met in the photo, and the face of Dr. M from Kyushu University, who may have forgotten it but we flew to Singapore on the same plane, were also among the visitors. Prior to this, the public exhibition of the treasures of the royal family, except for some people, the public exhibition of the imperial treasures of the Shosoin Treasure House, gave a ray of light to the collapsed hearts of the people after the defeat of Chacha. At the same time, with the cause of the country It can also be said to be a very timely activity.In addition, as far as the press is concerned, it is also a major cultural material that has rarely been encountered in the past few years.Every newspaper adopted a deliberate hype attitude. As early as a month before the exhibition, they published explanations and introductions of the exhibits in a huge space that exceeded the need for days.Under this kind of fueling, letters from all over the country applying for group visits poured into the museum like a snowflake, and some of them even came from a remote fishing village in the Hokuriku. The situation made the relevant principals at a loss.

With the roughness of a journalist, I first browsed through the eight exhibition rooms, and then returned to the fifth room. I stood in the corner and hung a "lacquer bottle" sign with a weird shape. In front of the vessel.A pictorial specially run by our newspaper office will soon publish its first issue, and I will be in charge of editing it. I decided to choose one from this Imperial Artifact Exhibition as the frontispiece. I studied economics in college, so I had nothing to do with fine arts or archaeology. Even if I put aside my professional awareness, the various rare treasures displayed in this venue are, after all, wasteful to me. With a very curious look, I sighed that such an exquisite thing was made in the past thousands of years ago, other than that, it didn't give me much shock.Public opinion has a high evaluation of ancient documents such as "Tianping Xianwu Zhang", "Yue Yilun", "Poetry Preface on Colored Paper", but I glanced at them from a respectful distance at the beginning, like ordinary people, picking up the incense burner Friends, boxes, mirrors, and even glass handicrafts for viewing.The unexpected Western European-style shapes and the beauty of the patterns of these things aroused my curiosity, so I read the explanations in the catalogue, one by one, and walked around the venue. When I regained my professional awareness and was thinking about which one to choose for my scroll, a pair of big lacquer-hulls named lacquer-hulls came into my mind almost without a moment's hesitation. A large black lacquered horn-shaped vessel, the catalog briefly notes as follows:

A pair of lacquer vases three feet three inches long (middle warehouse) The shape is weird like enlarged horns. It is made of wood, wrapped in cloth, and then poured with black lacquer, with iron hooks attached.There is an opening on the top, which seems to be a container for some kind of liquid.Hu is the meaning of the Western Regions of China. As the name suggests, it should belong to the utensils from the Western Regions.Presumably, when traveling to and from the desert in ancient times, this vessel was used to hold drinking water and carried on the back of a camel. The so-called Zhongcang means the Zhongcang stored in Shoso-in. Although I don’t know its value as a material, from the first time I saw it, I was drawn to it by the strangely shaped pair for no reason. The container is towed.Different from other exhibits, it is not a work of art at all, it is just a utensil from a foreign country in ancient times. However, looking at it, you can't help but feel that the surrounding air has calmed down miraculously, and there is a kind of What, from its strange shape that seems to be riding over, penetrates deeply into your heart.

I stood in front of the lacquer bottle again, and looked at it again with a calmer mood than before.I don't feel the need to revise my previous first impression. As stated in the catalogue, such a grotesque shape is rare for such a huge instrument that can be embraced by two arms. Rather, it looks like a sculpture.Should I say it is simple or vigorous, the appearance of it sitting firmly gives people a somewhat arrogant and rebellious feeling. Those exquisite curiosities inlaid with gold and silver or painted with gold and shellfish are holding each other's breath, and they are arranged there quietly and gorgeously. Under this atmosphere, the appearance of the lacquered Hu Zun is indeed very Out of season.

Still, what lurks deep within its grotesque shape?Because I stopped in front of the lacquer bottle, I felt my heart was miraculously calmed down and rested.If a work can be called a work of art if it can evoke something in the mind of the viewer, then this pair of lacquer vases is an out-and-out work of art, and it is the only supreme work of art in the entire venue . I decided to use lacquer bottle to decorate the first page of the first issue of the pictorial I was dealing with.And the weight of this utensil, in terms of front-page photos, is also very suitable for single-item close-ups. Fortunately, no news magazine uses it as a photo, which is also very important for me as an editor. attraction.

Walking out of the venue, I went to the office of the museum.I asked Numashiro, who is both the inspector of this museum and also the inspector of Shoso-in, who should be hired to write the commentary on the Urushi Gozuru. "I really can't find a suitable candidate. If Professor H in Kyoto is still alive, maybe he knows a little about lacquer Hu Zun—" This kind, middle-aged art historian answered the ringing phone and took time out of his busy schedule to accompany him. for a while. "Not to mention anything else, just such a short explanation took a lot of trouble." Numashiro said.

"How about Dr. N from Peking University?" "No, that's not his job." "And what about Herr K.?" I named as many artists and archaeologists as I could think of, but none of them got Numashiro's nod. "In the field of this stuff, what kind of experts should I find?" "What about the Western Regions? Or India? The problem is that you don't know what to do." Speaking of this, Numashiro suddenly remembered and said, "By the way, I think of a person who is an archaeologist who specializes in paint. His name is Toda Longying, this person is a bit strange, do you want to meet? He may know a little about Qi Huzun."

According to Numashiro's explanation, this Toda Ryuhide was born as a specialist in archeology at K University. After graduation, he lived in mainland China most of the time. After some academic finishing, however, in any case, the attainments in this area seem to be quite deep.Although he has not published any papers, famous scholars like the late Dr. H have a very high evaluation of his knowledge.I don't know what he has been working on. He returned home from mainland China one year before the end of the war. He is currently living in a dilapidated small temple in Nara. He has actually helped a lot with this exhibition of royal objects.

"He doesn't meet people easily, but if I come forward to ask, maybe he will agree to meet you." Numashiro said. Shortly after noon the next day, I went to visit Toda Ryuhide at the small temple in the northern suburbs of Nara. In a study facing the clean atrium, Toda Ryuhide and I sat facing each other across a large desk full of Chinese and Buddhist books that were messily piled up.This little man was much younger than I expected, and his small eyes flashed coldly behind the glasses from time to time, giving off a feeling of impatience and indifference.His shaven head is bald at the roots, but in fact it is only forty fringes. Although he lives in a monastery, he does not seem to be a monk, and he wears a kimono with a navy blue background and a pattern of broken white patterns.This man was so lazy, he put one hand in his bosom, poured tea with the other hand, and handed it to me silently.He seemed to have known the purpose of my visit from Numashiro, and slowly said, "That thing is a meteorite." His voice was very low, revealing an unpleasant taste.

"Meteorite?" I couldn't help but ask back. "It can only be said to be a meteorite. It has no name at all. The so-called lacquer bottle is of course a person of later generations. It is probably a random name given by the Japanese. However, if you really want to name it, apart from this ethnographic There is really no way to name it. Isn’t it? That thing was originally a tool in the life of ancient peoples, no, it should be said that it was life itself; because at that time life was very likely to be a bold and unrestrained festival era. At that time, even the desire for bloody national struggle had the melody of the music. I am afraid that the young men's courtship gestures have not lost the element of dance, and the lacquer Hu Zun It was created and used by such people in such an era." After he finished speaking in one breath, he suddenly fell silent, and with an expression of "Is this enough?", he lowered his face from the floor in displeasure.But seeing that I was also silent, he asked a bit harshly: "What are you going to do when you inquire about Qihu Zun?" I felt that he did not have any kindness, if not hostility, towards me. "I plan to use it as the front page of a pictorial. Since I want to use it, I still hope that the explanation can be as detailed as possible." "Why did you choose the lacquered Hu Zun alone?" "Maybe it's because I like it, and there is no particular reason, I just want to publish it." Then, I confessed the feelings I got from Qi Huzun in short words. Based on my many years of experience as a journalist, I know too well that honesty is the only magic weapon for this kind of character. Sure enough, the eyes behind Toda Ryuhide's glasses, the original sharpness disappeared, and his mouth became a little friendly: "You like it too? I like it too, that thing is really good." He went on: "I can't say what kind of subject you are going to write about, but since your Excellency has come here, I'll tell you all I know." "I also said just now that the name of lacquer-colored bottle was given by people of later generations. Now let's assume that the name of lacquer-shaped bottle existed from the beginning. Also, no one knows when the lacquered bottle was made. The story I want to tell begins two or three hundred years after the lacquer bottle was born, and you should listen to it with this kind of psychological preparation." Toda Ryuhide first made such a statement, and then from the desk and the bookcase respectively Take out two or three notebooks and books, open several places, arrange them all over the table, and then sit upright again as if preparing to teach, and unconsciously regain the previous indifferent eyes, and land on a book note above. Under the order of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian, who was the first envoy to the Western Regions, returned to his homeland after thirteen years in the Western Regions. It was in 126 BC.Zhang Qian brought more than a hundred companions with him when he left the fortress, and only one entourage remained when he returned to the court. At that time, there were so-called thirty-six countries in the Western Regions—thirty-six small tribes, scattered in the oasis around the Tarim Basin, each occupying a small city outline, and engaged in farming. They belonged to the Iranian race of the Aryan race.There is a saying in the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty: "—all are located to the west of the Huns, to the south of Wusun, with mountains (Tianshan Mountains and Kunlun Mountains) in the north and south, and rivers in the center, more than 6,000 miles from east to west, more than 1,000 miles from north to south, and Han in the east. Confined to Yumen and Yangguan, and limited to Congling (Pamirs) in the west—"They are often under the plunder of the northern nomads and the threat of nature. It is speculated that about a hundred years before Zhang Qian's envoy to the Western Regions, an accident occurred on this day in a certain tribe located in the southeast of the basin among the thirty-six countries.It was a day when the hot wind was slowly rippling like grease.All the residents of the city gathered in the western suburbs, and the backs of the camels that had also assembled were full of belongings and treasures.This group of people and animals soon formed a winding belt in the desert and began to move southwest. The drought that has lasted for several years has completely changed the appearance of this area; every river that flows into Lop Nur has been cut off, the wet area by the lake is completely dry, and gray and hard riverbeds are exposed everywhere on the endless vast land.They had to abandon the land, which was no longer able to farm, and build new cities on land with new water sources.The so-called "new water source" in their Zogutian language will still be used as the name of Xintiandi.In other words, they were preparing to abandon the city that had been in operation for many years before yesterday in the middle of the desert, and at the same time move the Shanshan tribe they called "Xin Shui" to the southwest coast of Lop Nur, fifty miles away. A total of 5,000 people from 700 households and a group of camels, once filled with water, has now become a riverbed of hard salt fields. The wide dry river gradually moves away from the cities where they have lived for many years. An hour and a half after leaving the city, they were already in a sea of ​​sand that was described as having no birds above and no animals below.After another hour or so, a small change suddenly occurred in one part of the orderly procession; one camel was unloaded and loaded onto the other, and the heavy load was removed. That one then left the long line, turned around and walked back towards the way it came from. On its back, apart from the young knight, there was only one left and one mounted in front of him, which had never been seen before. A black bag shaped like a water sac.This young man is among this group of people, and he is responsible for the work of water conservancy and irrigation. The night before, a grand banquet was held in the square of the city to celebrate today's departure. During the banquet, the young man saw the lacquered bottle filled with wine on the altar, and one of the wine bottles came from inside. Oozed out and wet the altar.He suddenly changed his face, because he felt an ominous omen from this incident; logically, it is impossible for the wine to seep through the lacquer bottle that was covered with a layer of cloth outside the wood and was also painted. This pair of wine bottles was a rare gift from the young man's grandfather when he married one of his daughters to a Khotan merchant more than 2,500 miles away.And the Khotanese exchanged a piece of jade he picked from the river with a Western merchant.The Jade River in Khotan is famous for the beautiful jade that can be caught on a moonlit night.The young man hadn't seen it yet, but every time he saw the Qihu bottle, it reminded him of the Jade River and the Khotan jade collected from its bottom. The strange thing is that as soon as the young man took the lacquer bottle off the altar, the wine stopped seeping out.This morning, he put the lacquer bottle containing wine on the back of the camel, so that he could take it to Xinyi and offer it to the altar, but for some reason, the ominous premonition of the night before was still lingering in his mind. When the journey was nearly halfway, the young man suddenly thought that the lacquer bottle on the altar last night leaked wine for no reason, probably because of Helong's request.On weekdays, he firmly believed that the successive years of severe drought was due to Helong's anger.He told his opinion to the elders in the company, and each of them said that the wine should be dedicated to He Long.The young man decided to go back to the city alone and pour the wine in the bottle onto a corner of the river bed.He estimated that he would be able to arrive at the place where everyone camped that day before the dawn of the next day at the latest. Soon the young man came again to the gates of the city which his people had abandoned that morning.And what appeared in front of his eyes was no longer the city he was used to living in for many years; the uninhabited city outline was already like a thousand-year-old ruins, desolate and half-buried deep in the desert.He drove the camels around the city wall for a week, and was about to head towards the river mouth that was spreading in front of him, when he suddenly saw dozens of horses gathered beside the city gate.In an instant, he quickly jumped off the camel, and after thinking for a while, he stepped on it again, leaning on his back, and hurried to the river bed. Apparently a detachment of the Huns was invading the abandoned city of his people.Over the past few decades, all these oasis countries in the Tarim Basin have suffered a lot for the willful plunder and expropriation of the fierce and violent nomads in the north. , in spite of the exorbitant taxes, was spared their plunder and violence; yet, even a three-year-old child knows that the traditional habit of the invaders is ready to turn into a murderous group at any time. thug. At this moment, they learned that this tribe was making a large-scale migration, so they attacked the empty city first, and then pursued the group that was moving in the desert with all their property. This is a natural process that can be easily imagined.The young man must rush in time to report the emergency to the tribe who is camping not far from here, so that they can try to defend themselves.However, on the other hand, he was worried that Helong would get angry, even more than he was afraid of the Xiongnu, so first he had to complete the task of turning back. Not long after running on the sandy ground, he felt something almost sinister passing by him, and just about to turn his head to look at it, suddenly, a sharp pain spread all over his body.The young man fell heavily from the back of the camel to the sandy ground, still holding tightly to the leather rope connecting the two lacquer bottles.The camel rushed forward 30 to 40 feet crazily, and then fell sideways. The animal straightened its upper body several times in an attempt to stand up. After kicking its limbs in the air for a while, it weakly stretched its head and neck on the sand. It let out several mournful neighs; from its head to its belly, more than a dozen arrows were inserted. The young man knew that he was lying on the dry sand at the mouth of the river.He pulled the leather rope, put the lacquer bottle into his arms, and pulled out the plug on it with his blood-stained hands.The aroma of the wine suddenly diffused into the dry atmosphere of the desert.When the three Huns got off their horses and picked up the lacquer bottle, the young man was already motionless. I don't know if it was because the river dragon calmed down, the Shanshan people were able to live in the southwestern bank of Lop Nur for three hundred years.However, three hundred years later, they finally had to abandon the two cities of Hanni and Yixun, Greek-style murals, numerous temples, and special culture that had been in operation for many years in the quicksand, and moved again. Fifty miles away, to find a new source of water.Not long after that, in order to escape the newly invaded alien race, they once again made a never-turning migration to the West.And Lop Nur, which has always maintained the shape of two equilateral triangles stretching and shrinking for a while, finally split into two small lakes that are less than a few tenths of the original; it turns out that the river dragon has always been angry. In the fourth year of Yuanshou, Wei Qing, a general of the Han Dynasty, and Huo Qubing, a general of hussars, resolutely fought a decisive battle with the main force of the Xiongnu in Mobei, which was more than 2,000 miles away from the border, to give them a complete blow. It has been a hundred years since the death of the young man.In this battle, the battle lasted for a whole day, and the Xiongnu army was bound to win. Soon after dark, King Shanyu led the elite troops in person and deployed in the Mobei area.The fierce fighting lasted all day, and shortly after dark, a great whirlwind was set off on the new battlefield in the desert.The left and right wings of the Han army took advantage of the chaos to surround the main formation of the Xiongnu.As soon as King Shanyu saw that the battle was going against him, he immediately led hundreds of strong cavalry and fled to the northwest. However, the urgent pursuit of the Han army caused the Xiongnu soldiers to mix with the Han soldiers. north. With this decisive battle as the boundary, the Han army finally suppressed the Xiongnu in a corner of the north, and safely passed the so-called period of "there is no Huting in the south of the desert".However, although there was no Hu Ting in the south of the desert, the tribes of the Huns were still scattered among the hills or valleys on the plateau at the western foot of the Xing'an Mountains, where soldiers and horses were not easy to enter.At this time, in the tent of a tribe at the western foot of Xing'an Mountains, which was close to the Han territory, there was a Han prisoner surnamed Chen. In the ten years of Difan, although his longing for the homeland has become more and more eager, he has never had the opportunity to escape and return to the country. He has been engaged in hunting and farming as a servant of the Huns. The news of the defeat of King Shanyu of the Xiongnu also spread to this remote area through the young men from the nearby tribes who participated in the battle.When Chen heard the news, he was deeply touched: this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to escape, so he made a plan, first of all, to seduce the wife of the patriarch who sympathized with him on weekdays, and finally got in touch with her, and decided to take advantage of it. The Xiongnu's defense in Monan was relatively loose, and they crossed the uninhabited plateau and desert and entered the Han land.Chen may not be scheming, but in order to return to his homeland, he will do whatever it takes. It was a moonlit and windy midsummer night.Most of the men in the tribe have been hunting since early in the morning, and it is estimated that they will not return home until late at night.The woman pulled out a horse and waited for Chen in the valley outside the tribe.Although it is hot summer, the night temperature on the plateau is extremely low, and the air-conditioning is biting.The man saw a strange-shaped utensil on the horse's back with food for several days, and asked the woman what it was, and the woman replied that it contained enough drinking water for the two of them to quench their thirst for several days.Chen then calculated in his heart that these rations and drinking water were enough for him to last for a few days, and then subtracted five days from this number; because a woman was needed to lead the way in the desert, he had to walk with him for at least five days. Chen and the woman walked down the rocky valley on foot. They traveled without sleep, and finally walked through the long wasteland of the plateau. On the evening of the third day, they came to the grassland area with gently rolling hills.When they climbed a slightly high hill, they accidentally saw some dots on the other side of the vast grassland, moving at the end of the horizon. Chen helped the woman to the back of the saddle, asked her to take a prone position, and tied her to the horse with ropes to prevent her from slipping off.The woman was exhausted and let Chen be at his mercy without saying a word. It was the first time for Chen to step on a horse since fleeing.The horse galloped all night on the hills of the grassland. From time to time, Chen turned his head and asked the woman tied behind his back: "Will it be uncomfortable?" Every time she replied with a weak voice: "No." After taking a break from the horse, the woman's fatigue becomes more and more obvious.Chen wanted to put the woman down, but she refused, and told Chen that she could travel a little longer and get closer to Hantu by saving the rest time. At dawn, Chen woke up from his hazy consciousness and repeated the question dozens of times: "Will it be hard?" "No." The woman replied.Surrounded by vast grasslands, the sea of ​​weeds is ten feet high.In the vast field of vision, there is no trace of the pursuer. Chen got off his horse and untied the rope from the woman.The latter fell to the ground like a heavy object and did not get up again. She was exhausted and lifeless.Chen asked her again: "Will it be uncomfortable?" This time she no longer said "No", but shook her head weakly, and stared deeply at him.Chen swallowed the water in the paint bottle and fed her directly with his mouth; only at this moment, Chen felt a trace of real love for this woman for the first time.After the woman put the saliva into her mouth, she quietly swallowed her last breath. Abandoning the woman, Chen got on the horse alone, and galloped down the hills in one go.He was afraid of the scorching sun of the desert that would soon cover him, and the hot wind that blew up from the sand. About ten days later, a Han army set out from Dingcheng to garrison Monan, and rescued the hungry and exhausted Chen from the brink of death.Two days later, the Han army found the body of a horse in the northern desert about 20 miles away from the place where Chen was rescued, and the lacquer bottle on the horse's back was brought back to the camp by two soldiers. Chen was in a coma for several days before waking up. He moaned like he was terrified of something, which made the soldiers unable to sleep every night.Occasionally someone would visit him and ask him if he felt bad, but he would only answer "No" in Hun language, and then continue to fall asleep. No one could always understand what he said and the meaning of that sentence. During the Yuanjia period of Emperor Huan of the Later Han Dynasty, the Qiangs in Liangzhou rebelled for a while, and Sichuan, Hubei, Shanxi, and Zhili suffered from it. The decline of the Han Dynasty has appeared, and history is taking its first step towards a long period of chaos . It was the autumn of the second year of Yuanjia (AD 152), villagers in a small tribe near Dayuan, Shanxi Province, at dawn, their dreams were shattered by the movement of unusual soldiers and horses.I saw one army after another passing through the village almost endlessly all day, heading north.The soldiers described them as extremely tired, and their morale was chaotic like a group of robbers; the yellow dust was stained with dripping sweat, and every face looked black and ugly. There are very few men in the village.There is a popular ballad in the capital that "most soldiers are conscripted, and only those who work hard are harvested".Fortunately, the village was spared from the tsunami-like plunder of the Qiang people, but the fields were left barren.When the village boys got tired of the soldiers and went into the house, the last batch of troops passed through the village, and the village regained its original silence.Before I knew it, night had fallen. Zhang, a small official who came here on a business trip from Dayuan, wasted a whole day because he was blocked by the troops going south. Therefore, even though it was already night, he rode his horse to the south on the dusty road.He entered this tribe, came to a farmhouse at the head of the village, reined in his horse, and looked inside from between the half-destroyed earthen walls. Something had caught his attention. Inside the earthen wall is the yard of a common farmhouse, with sloping eaves and dilapidated walls, making it look poor and desolate.In the yard an old woman was trimming her nails.The bright moonlight illuminated the surroundings like day, and at the same time cast the shadow of the empty box she was sitting on clearly on the side walls and the ground behind her.The old woman stretched out her fingers one by one under the moonlight, and slowly cut her nails with a pair of small scissors. After each cut, she brought her fingers to her mouth, and then stretched her fingers under the moonlight again for a careful inspection. , I found that some places were not cut well, so I trimmed them neatly.Zhang stood there looking at the old woman. The old woman looked carefree and unrestrained, but there was something peaceful in it that Zhang was not allowed to rush into. At this time, the old woman trimmed her nails and thought to herself that there is no other woman in the world who is more unfortunate than her: she has been deaf since middle age, and she thinks this is the result of the sufferings of life that patronize her. .I have been poor all my life, and in the past few years, I have been extremely poor. This is the second autumn since my only two sons were conscripted into the army.When she was young, her husband was often taken into the army, but never for more than two years.I only heard that the battlefield where the child was taken was thousands of miles away, and the old woman couldn't imagine what kind of place it was, even if she tried her best to guess, she still couldn't recall it. Try to imagine again. However, when she witnessed batches of soldiers heading north during the day, she suddenly thought that there might be her children among them.She stood in front of the wall for almost a whole day, and finally failed to notice which of the two sons.When the soldiers stopped passing through the village, the old woman went into the house, but did not want to do anything: a certain uneasiness that she had never felt before made her unable to settle down. After finishing cutting the nails on one hand, the old woman stood up suddenly. The indifferent anxiety that had enveloped her since just now suddenly surrounded her firmly in a clear form.The two children may have died, perhaps in the appearance of the soldiers they saw during the day, somewhere by the roadside or in a ravine!The old woman suddenly felt the bright moonlight piercing her sharply from all directions, she screamed, dropped the scissors in her hand, and ran towards the house.Zhang was surprised by the sudden change of the old woman. When he saw her rushing into the house, he hurried into the door.He accosted her from behind the old woman, and after realizing that the old woman hadn't heard, he came to the place where the old woman was sitting just now, looked up at the eaves, where hung a strangely shaped large utensil that had never been seen here.I don't know what it is used for, but he has seen this kind of leather bag used by Hu people to hold water, but the utensil hanging in front of him seems to be different from the kind of Hu people, but imagine it as belonging to Hu Guo and things with the same purpose, probably can't go wrong.Since two or three years ago, Zhang has devoted himself to collecting antiques and selling them at high prices. Now that he saw this stuff, he immediately moved his index finger.However, it is really puzzling, how could this kind of thing appear in the farmhouse in this place? Zhang looked into the room and greeted him at the same time.There was no light in the room, and it was pitch black.The old woman was supposed to be somewhere in the house, but no matter how many times he called, there was no answer. He originally planned to give this thing from the old woman for a few dollars, but now he has no choice but to give up this idea.Zhang went to the yard again, and after thinking for a while, he took two stacked boxes from the pile of boxes on the side and stacked them for feet, and then stood on them to make the pair of lacquer vases. hanging from the eaves by their leather ropes.I don't know how many years this kind of hanging has been. There are spider webs hanging all around, and the surface of the lacquer bottle is covered with strips of dust.Zhang lifted the lacquer bottle from the bottom, but the unexpected weight made him shrink back a bit. After a long time, he finally unloaded the pair of utensils to the ground. Zhang put the lacquer bottle on the horse's back, washed his hands with water from the well outside the door, and then calmly got on the horse and set off. In 515 AD, Emperor Shizong of the Northern Wei Dynasty died and Suzong came to the throne.Since then, the government has been in chaos, the common people have been desolate, and the local people have been exhausted. In the area of ​​Shanxi, in order to avoid conscription and royal service, the number of ordinary people who left their hometowns is increasing day by day.Li, the governor of Pingyuan, is usually used to fish meat for good people for personal gain. He has a wealth of private possessions, which can be said to be everything. It is even made into a ballad that even western wooden barrels can be found in his warehouse. As for The veracity of the legend is unknown. At that time, there was a so-called Yiyi religious group among the people. Several people formed a group and often donated property.After Li's death, his wife donated all the family property, which once again became a hot topic in the world.Among the family wealth she donated, in fact, included the Western lacquer bottle.In the next few years, the pair of strangely shaped utensils from the Western Regions were placed in the main hall of a monastery in Pingyuan, where they received people's curious eyes. Emperor Shomu of Japan sent Tang envoy Taji Hiroshige and deputy Shi Zhongchen Nadai and his party to complete the mission smoothly in the second year of the Tang Dynasty. They set off from Suzhou and returned to China in four sailboats in October of the sixth year of Tianping (AD 735) ).Ambassador Guangcheng took the first boat, and the second boat was Deputy Shi Mingdai. Others, more than 500 people, including judges, recorders, archers, sailors, and a group of overseas monks and students, took separate boats. The four boats embarked on the journey of returning home in mighty fashion. Not long after the ship sailed out of the Yangtze Estuary and came to the Pacific Ocean, it encountered a violent storm.The four sailboats suddenly fell into the hands of the waves, and the cabins were quickly filled with sea water.The first ship carrying monk Xuan Fang, Kibi Mabi, Danian Nagaoka and other young and promising foreign students drifted to Tanegashima fortunately, the second ship was blown back to Tang soil by the hurricane, and the third ship unfortunately drifted to Kunming. In Lunguo (the Chinese name for half a bird in Malay), all but four of the 115 crew members died of illness or were killed. As for the fourth ship, there was no news of it at all. It is not uncommon for the envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty to die. Only a very few lucky and lucky people can return to their homeland and make a memorial that "the envoys are almost all dead this time".And they even tried so recklessly to cross the crazy and raging waves of the East China Sea in autumn and winter with a sailboat that can only accommodate more than a hundred people. Blown back to the land of the Tang Dynasty, the second ship carrying Deputy Shi Zhongchen Mingdai was accompanied by a certain person from Dasheng Temple who was an interpreter, who had a monk status, but came from a humble background.When he set foot on the land of Tang Dynasty after a narrow escape, he had already lost the idea of ​​returning to the country again in the future; unlike other monks or students studying abroad, he had the great mission of recruiting thousands of volumes of Chinese classics for the motherland. Nor was there that enthusiasm; moreover, he was not like the rest of the entourage, as the glory and development of new knowledge awaited his return home. All he has with him is a precious wine bottle from the West, which he got from an antique dealer in Chang'an one day.The wine bottle followed him from Suzhou, but was blown back by the hurricane in the blink of an eye.所幸由于同着使节一行在京城长安待过两年，所以在此问多少有些熟人，不见得非要返国才能够生存。留学生和使节一行人里面，也有人热切的希望他返国，令他难以表明他的心迹；他当然并不是被淹没了长安九街十二衢每条街坊的那些四时奇花异草所迷惑，也不是因为国际城市长安那自由华丽的风潮而目眩，只是从大唐这片大陆风土文化中，感受到迷人的一种辽阔而荒漠的什么；这东西时时抓住他不放，连他自己也不清楚那是什么。 十五年过去了。他已经有了两个女儿，平日穿着唐装在市井贩卖商品。当孝谦帝的遣唐使藤原清河返国的日子有了定夺的时候，他突然立意要将漆胡樽送给曾在东大寺同窗了多年的那位好友，总觉得这样可以代表今生不再重踏故土的他，作为替身去回归故土。这一对漆胡樽显然在不太久远以前才髹过漆：想必是为了防锈罢，连钩鐶都上了漆，因而使它大失古意，但一打开顶上的盖子，只觉似有超越了时空的某种庞大者的声音，从洞窟一般幽暗的酒樽内部传了出来。他想起故国之友那宽阔的额头，心想，从这对漆胡樽上，这位好友必能体会他起初决意留在唐土的心意，以及因而招致的后来的命运，乃至安于那命运的他目前所怀的心境。 天平胜宝五年（西元七五三年）十一月，漆胡樽决定由随行的一名录事金井携带回国。不料，这回装载着漆胡樽的第一船于海上遭遇大风暴，被吹向遥远的南方，抵达了安南。终于那么一天，漆胡樽重又给搬进长安城他一度与妻子共同寄居的那名胡商家里。当他外出归来，看到原以为永不再见到的漆胡樽的刹那，一股无以自遣的强烈的寂寞紧紧的攫住他。他身着唐衫，着了魔似的来到户外，信步走进时常散见异国人士的春明门附近的人潮里。时值万紫千红，鲜艳欲滴的大唐京城之春。 十三年后，漆胡樽第三度离开长安，抵达洛阳，再顺着运河南下扬州，然后来到苏州，这是光仁天皇宝龟五年（西元七七八年）的事情。这次的日本遣唐使今毛人一行以及同行的五百余人，仍然分乘四艘帆船向故国出发。 十一月五日自苏州起航的第一、二两船，于八日初更便遭遇飓风光顾，三十余人惨作波臣，至十一日，船只分裂成二，漂流海上数日，情况尽管惨烈，两条船总算侥幸的分别漂抵达萨摩的甑岛和出水郡。第三船先行于九月九日自扬州出发，立时因旋风而触礁，经过修理之后再度扬帆，终于被冲上肥前松浦海岸。第四船同样在风浪播弄之下漂抵济州岛，全体乘员被岛民所拘，后来才九死一生的回到了萨摩的甑岛。 没人知道漆胡樽装载在这四条船中的哪一艘，也不清楚当初受大圣寺某某之托携带漆胡樽返国的，究竟是何许人。 漆胡樽被收藏在日本皇室的宝库——奈良的正仓院深处。没人知道是什么时候收藏进去的，不过，以宝库创设的原由看来，距离圣武帝驾崩（西元七五六年）的那一年应该不至于相隔太远。 具备了防潮防虫特殊装置的这座宝库，是幢脚柱很高的长方形建筑，内部分为北仓、中仓、南仓三室。漆胡樽就被摆放在中间那一室的正面最下一层，经过了悠久得可怕的时光。库房的门扉隔个几年或是几十年，甚至一百多年，才打开那么一段极短的时间，开门之际，总要在宝库前面循着古礼，由奉币使举行一番仪式；一名僧侣对着东南方高举二十四两金币，连呼三声“宝库御门开启”。三声喊毕，只见沉重的门扉徐徐开启，户外的光线泄入幽暗的宝库一角。除了一度被火星所撒及、一度让盗贼混入，以及数次因整修宝库而移动之外，漆胡樽一直安睡在封印的宝库里面，唯有时光静静的流过它的四周。 一千两百年过去了。 突然宝库的门大开，漆胡樽敞露着黑漆表层，给搬到户外，时值西元一九四六年秋天。战败国白花花的秋阳从围绕着它的几个人之间，耀眼地倾注到漆胡樽上面。 户田龙英讲完了这段故事，便从眼镜背后投给我如刺的一瞥，然后无来由地低声笑将起来。接下去也许是讲累了的关系，他茫然的沉默好一阵，良久，这才再度望向我；“对了，我再附加一件事，作为结尾。”他说：“把所有的御物陈列到会场的的那天，也就是展览会开幕头一天，就是前天，御物陈列妥当，解说的字牌也附加上去了，那时候敢情是六点钟左右罢，好歹这么宝贵的东西，善后工作才叫头大呢。几名馆员加上我，从第一室逐间的巡视着，同时一一下锁。来到陈列着漆胡樽的第五室，大家照样分头检查窗户，再把沉重的百叶窗放下来。我负责其中一扇窗子，站到窗口，无意中望向馆外，月光底下，博物馆的部分建筑物同着宽广的草坪和几裸树木，带有几分苍茫而又非常鲜明的映入视野里来，满以为天刚才黑下来，馆外却已出了月亮。这时，我仍旧站在窗边，把投向窗外的视线转移到室内的陈列柜那边；紧接着我的目光停到了那对漆胡樽上面。现在回想起来，我还是拿不准当时是下意识的去看那对漆胡樽的，抑或纯属偶然看向它的。那当儿，屋子里的电灯刚才熄灭，苍茫的月光充满了室内。其他的人已经聚在门口等我一起转赴第六室，我请他们稍候一下，然后搁下拉下一半的百叶窗，犹如受到一股无形的力量所牵引那样的向漆胡樽走过去，隔着玻璃柜面对着漆胡樽。只从一个窗口泄进来的月光自然无法直射到这里，但月色使得屋子里一片微亮，漆胡樽的黑漆反而比白天更加鲜明的浮突出来，那对角状的庞大器物，就像是正在用它那黝黑的外壳呼吸一般，让我觉得它简直就是一个活生生的生物。我着了魔似的对着它盯上好半天，忽然发现右边那一只正中央的弯曲部分，微微的呈着不同的色泽，并且带状的扩展开去。我一次又一次的改变位置，从不同的角度去留意那个部位，只觉同样是乌黑的色泽，唯有那一块就是明显的不同于其他部分；正如海面的蓝，到了傍晚时分，往往会带状的间隔起来，呈现出不同的色彩那样。是不是有那么一种颜色，在月光下看上去，会微微的浮突出来？还是出于当时的错觉？难不成两千年前某一民族迁移前夕酒宴上的酒，成为一条带状的污斑，残留到现在？如果我肯定这一点，那么你呢？相不相信？” 户田龙英说到这里为止。 我辞别他所寄居的寺院，沿着大佛殿前面的路向街上走去。晚秋薄弱的阳光，斜照在幸免于战火的古老市镇。在权充公园的广场靠近街道的一边，五六个孩童正在把线丝缠绕而成的一只小球丢来丢去。 “要不要香烟？” 回过神来，只见从背后追赶上来的一名中年妇女，手掌上摊开八九根香烟递过来。我婉拒了她，看看手表，距离博物馆关门还有将近一个小时，遂决定再去参观一次御物展。 博物馆正面的入口处，从楼梯到广场上，一大群衣着有些脏污的参观者—这是战前所没有的现象—，形成了长长的行列。人们大都沉默而耐心的等候参观。 我走进博物馆办公室，却不见沼代的影子。两三名员工正在讨论，看这样子，即或把参观时间延长半小时再关门，势必仍不免要有部分人士向隅。 博物馆内部的人潮更多。小学生和中学生的团体一批接着一批，当中乱糟糟的夹杂着一般人士，重重相叠的人潮，摩肩擦踵的推挤着，慢慢的从千年往昔王室那些绚斓华贵的财宝面前移动过去。大多数的参观者都面无表情，他们的眼神乾枯而疲倦，似乎再也没什么足以打动他们，但隐约间，却又透着一丝贪婪与饥渴。尽管如此，这些珍贵的财宝那份华美，毕竟使那般青春玉女们的芳心爆裂出什么，只听年轻活泼的感叹和叫嚷，不时从身着灯笼裤装的女学生群中掀腾起来。 我穿过拥挤的人群直奔第五室。也许是陈列品比较朴素的关系，这儿不像其他展览室那么样的挤满了人。参观者大多在漆胡樽前面小停一下，上上下下的盯着那对形状怪异的器物，而后有些茫然若失的将视线转移到下一件御物上面去。我仔细的观察着参观者的表情，发现这对古代的器物，似乎同样的带给许多人不同于会场上其他御物的某种感动。 我走进漆胡樽，迎着黑漆表面细瞧了半天，看不出户田龙英所说的那种带状污斑似的阴翳，只看到他所谓一块陨石无情的外表上，泛白的，薄薄的蒙上了一层会场的灰尘。 我当然不相信户田龙英所说的。日子一久，我益发觉得他自己本身才真是一块陨石，而他所告诉我的那个故事，从某种意义上来说，或许正是他在中国大陆上所渡过的半生历程的记录呢。 我给刊登在画报创刊号卷首的漆胡樽取了个标题，叫做“坠入日本皇家掌中的陨石”，并且简单的加以说明：漆胡樽乃是古代西域人的一种生活器具。