The ten Heavenly Stems or Celestial Stems[1] (Chinese: 天干; pinyin: tiāngān) are a Chinese system of ordinals that first appear during the Shang dynasty, c. 1250 BCE, as the names of the ten days of the week. They were also used in Shang-period ritual as names for dead family members, who were offered sacrifices on the corresponding day of the Shang week. The Heavenly Stems were used in combination with the Earthly Branches, a similar cycle of twelve days, to produce a compound cycle of sixty days. Subsequently, the Heavenly Stems lost their original function as names for days of the week and dead kin, and acquired many other uses, the most prominent and long lasting of which was their use together with the Earthly Branches as a 60-year calendrical cycle.[2] The system is used throughout East Asia.
The Japanese names of the Heavenly Stems are based on their corresponding Wuxing elements (e.g. ki for "wood", mizu for "water"), followed by the possessive/attributive particle の (no) and the word え (e, "older sibling") or the word と (to, "younger sibling", originally おと oto). The Manchu names are based on their respective elements' colors.
OriginEdit
The Shang people believed that there were ten suns, each of which appeared in order in a ten-day cycle (旬; xún). The Heavenly Stems (tiāngān 天干) were the names of the ten suns, which may have designated world ages as did the Five Suns and the Six Ages of the World of Saint Augustine. They were found in the given names of the kings of the Shang in their Temple Names. These consisted of a relational term (Father, Mother, Grandfather, Grandmother) to which was added one of the ten gān names (e.g. Grandfather Jia). These names are often found on Shang bronzes designating whom the bronze was honoring (and on which day of the week their rites would have been performed, that day matching the day designated by their name). David Keightley, a leading scholar of ancient China and its bronzes, believes that the gān names were chosen posthumously through divination.[3] Some historians think the ruling class of the Shang had ten clans, but it is not clear whether their society reflected the myth or vice versa. The associations with Yin-Yang and the Five Elements developed later, after the collapse of the Shang Dynasty.
Jonathan Smith has proposed that the heavenly stems predate the Shang and originally referred to ten asterisms along the ecliptic, of which their oracle bone script characters were drawings; he identifies similarities between these and asterisms in the later Four Images and Twenty-Eight Mansions systems. These would have been used to track the moon's progression along its monthly circuit, in conjunction with the earthly branches referring to its phase.[4]
The literal meanings of the characters were, and are now, roughly as follows.[5] Among the modern meanings, those deriving from the characters' position in the sequence of Heavenly Stems are in italics.
The Stems are still commonly used nowadays in East Asian counting systems similar to the way the alphabet is used in English. For example:
Korea and Japan also use heavenly stems on legal documents in this way. In Korea, letters gap (甲) and eul (乙) are consistently used to denote the larger and the smaller contractor (respectively) in a legal contract, and are sometimes used as synonyms for such; this usage is also common in the Korean IT industry. The 11th to 22nd letters (K–V) are represented by the terrestrial branches, and the final four letters (W–Z) are represented by 物 ("matter"), 天 ("heaven"), 地 ("earth"), and 人 ("human"), respectively.[11] In case of upper-case letters, the radical of '口' (the 'mouth' radical) may be added to the corresponding celestial stem, terrestrial branch, or any of '物', '天', '地', and '人' to denote an upper-case letter.[12]
Vitamins (although currently, in this case, the Latin letters are usually used)
Characters conversing in a short text (甲 speaks first, 乙 answers)
Students' grades in Taiwan: with an additional Yōu (優 "Excellence") before the first Heavenly Stem Jiǎ. Hence, American grades A, B, C, D and F correspond to 優, 甲, 乙, 丙 and 丁 (yōu, jiǎ, yǐ, bǐng, dīng).
^David N. Keightley, "The Quest for Eternity in Ancient China: The Dead, Their Gifts, Their Names" in Ancient Mortuary Traditions of China ed. by George Kuwayama. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1987, pp. 12–24.
^Smith, Jonathan M. (2011). "The Di Zhi 地支 as Lunar Phases and Their Coordination with the Tian Gan 天干 as Ecliptic Asterisms in a China before Anyang". Early China. 33: 199–228. doi:10.1017/S0362502800000274. S2CID 132200641. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
^William McNaughton. Reading and Writing Chinese. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1979.
^Wenlin Dictionary: 己 may have depicted thread on a loom; an ancient meaning was 'unravel threads', which was later written 紀 jì. 己 was borrowed both for the word jǐ 'self', and for the name of the sixth Heavenly Stem (天干).
^Wenlin Dictionary: "The seal has 𢆉 'knock against, offend' below, and 亠 above; the scholastic commentators say: to offend (亠 = ) 上 the superiors"
^Wenlin Dictionary: 壬 rén depicts "a 丨 carrying pole supported 一 in the middle part and having one object attached at each end, as always done in China" —Karlgren (1923). (See 扁担 biǎndan). Now the character 任 rèn has the meaning of carrying a burden, and the original character 壬 is used only for the ninth of the ten heavenly stems (天干).
^Wenlin Dictionary: 癶 "stretch out the legs" + 天; The nicely disposed grass, on which the Ancients poured the libations offered to the Manes
Barnard, Noel (1986). "A new approach to the study of clan-sign inscriptions of Shang". In Kwang-chih Chang (ed.). Studies of Shang archaeology : selected papers from the International Conference on Shang Civilization. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 141–206. ISBN978-0-300-03578-0.
Chang Tai-Ping (1978). "The role of the t'ien-kan ti-chih terms in the naming system of the Yin". Early China. 4: 45–48. doi:10.1017/S0362502800005897. S2CID 161397647.
Keightley, David (2000). The ancestral landscape: time, space, and community in late Shang China, ca. 1200-1045 B.C. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, Center for Chinese Studies. ISBN978-1-55729-070-0.
Norman, Jerry (1985). "A note on the origins of the Chinese duodenary cycle". In Graham Thurgood (ed.). Linguistics of the Sino-Tibetan area : the state of the art : papers presented to Paul K. Benedict for his 7lst birthday. Canberra: Australian National University. pp. 85–89.
Pulleyblank, E. G. (1995). "The ganzhi as phonograms". Early China News. 8: 29–30.
Smith, Adam (2011). "The Chinese sexagenary cycle and the ritual origins of the calendar". In John Steele (ed.). (PDF). Oxford: Oxbow. pp. 1–37. ISBN978-1-84217-987-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-13. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
External linksEdit
"Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches". Hong Kong Observatory. from the original on 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2018-11-04.
October 14, 2023
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The ten Heavenly Stems or Celestial Stems 1 Chinese 天干 pinyin tiangan are a Chinese system of ordinals that first appear during the Shang dynasty c 1250 BCE as the names of the ten days of the week They were also used in Shang period ritual as names for dead family members who were offered sacrifices on the corresponding day of the Shang week The Heavenly Stems were used in combination with the Earthly Branches a similar cycle of twelve days to produce a compound cycle of sixty days Subsequently the Heavenly Stems lost their original function as names for days of the week and dead kin and acquired many other uses the most prominent and long lasting of which was their use together with the Earthly Branches as a 60 year calendrical cycle 2 The system is used throughout East Asia Heavenly StemsChinese nameChinese天干TranscriptionsStandard MandarinHanyu PinyintianganYue CantoneseYale Romanizationtin gōnJyutpingtin1 gon1Southern MinHokkien POJthian kanVietnamese nameVietnamese alphabetthien canChữ Han天干Korean nameHangul천간Hanja天干TranscriptionsRevised RomanizationcheonganJapanese nameKanji十干HiraganaじっかんTranscriptionsRomanizationjikkan10 StemsChinese十干TranscriptionsStandard MandarinHanyu Pinyinshi ganYue CantoneseYale Romanizationsahp gōnJyutpingsap6 gon1Southern MinHokkien POJsi p kan cha p kan Contents 1 Table 2 Origin 3 Current usage 4 See also 5 Notes 6 Bibliography 7 External linksTable Edit HeavenlyStem Sinitic Japanese Korean Manchu Vietnamese Yin and yang 陰陽 Wuxing 五行 WuxingcorrelationsStandard Mandarin Nanjingnese Sichuanese Cantonese Teochew Hokkien Fuzhounese Shanghainese Suzhounese Middle Chinese Old Chinese on yomi kun yomiZhuyin Pinyin Langjin Pinin Sichuanese Pinyin Jyutping Peng im POJ BUC Wugniu Zhengzhang Romaji Revised Mollendorff1 甲 ㄐㄧㄚˇ jiǎ ja jia gaap gah kap gak ciaq ciaeq kˠap kraːb こう kō きのえ kinoe 갑 gap ᠨᡳᠣᠸᠠᠩᡤᡳᠶᠠᠨ niowanggiyan green giap 陽 yang 木 wood 東 East2 乙 ㄧˇ yǐ i yi jyut ig it ek iq iq ʔˠiɪt qriɡ おつ otsu きのと kinoto 을 eul ᠨᡳᠣᡥᠣᠨ niohon ất 陰 yin 3 丙 ㄅㄧㄥˇ bǐng bin bin bing bian peng bing pin pin pˠiaeŋX pqraŋʔ へい hei ひのえ hinoe 병 byeong ᡶᡠᠯᡤᡳᠶᠠᠨ fulgiyan red binh 陽 yang 火 fire 南 South4 丁 ㄉㄧㄥ ding din din ding deng teng dĭng tin tin teŋ teːŋ てい tei ひのと hinoto 정 jeong ᡶᡠᠯᠠᡥᡡᠨ fulahun đinh 陰 yin 5 戊 ㄨˋ wu u wu mou bhou bō muo wu vu mewH mus ぼ bo つちのえ tsuchinoe 무 mu ᠰᡠᠸᠠᠶᠠᠨ suwayan yellow mậu 陽 yang 土 earth 中 Middle6 己 ㄐㄧˇ jǐ ji ji gei gi ki gi ci ci kɨX kɯʔ き ki つちのと tsuchinoto 기 gi ᠰᠣᡥᠣᠨ sohon kỷ 陰 yin 7 庚 ㄍㄥ geng gen gen gang gen keng gĕng kan ken kˠaeŋ kraːŋ こう kō かのえ kanoe 경 gyeong ᡧᠠᠨᠶᠠᠨ sanyan white canh 陽 yang 金 metal 西 West8 辛 ㄒㄧㄣ xin sin xin san sing sin sĭng shin sin siɪn siŋ しん shin かのと kanoto 신 sin ᡧᠠᡥᡡᠨ sahun tan 陰 yin 9 壬 ㄖㄣˊ ren ren ren jam rim lim ing gnin gnin ȵiɪm njɯm じん jin みずのえ mizunoe 임 im ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ sahaliyan black nham 陽 yang 水 water 北 North10 癸 ㄍㄨㄟˇ guǐ guei gui gwai gui kui gui gue kue kiuɪX kʷilʔ き ki みずのと mizunoto 계 gye ᠰᠠᡥᠠᡥᡡᠨ sahahun quy 陰 yin The Japanese names of the Heavenly Stems are based on their corresponding Wuxing elements e g ki for wood mizu for water followed by the possessive attributive particle の no and the word え e older sibling or the word と to younger sibling originally おと oto The Manchu names are based on their respective elements colors Origin EditThe Shang people believed that there were ten suns each of which appeared in order in a ten day cycle 旬 xun The Heavenly Stems tiangan 天干 were the names of the ten suns which may have designated world ages as did the Five Suns and the Six Ages of the World of Saint Augustine They were found in the given names of the kings of the Shang in their Temple Names These consisted of a relational term Father Mother Grandfather Grandmother to which was added one of the ten gan names e g Grandfather Jia These names are often found on Shang bronzes designating whom the bronze was honoring and on which day of the week their rites would have been performed that day matching the day designated by their name David Keightley a leading scholar of ancient China and its bronzes believes that the gan names were chosen posthumously through divination 3 Some historians think the ruling class of the Shang had ten clans but it is not clear whether their society reflected the myth or vice versa The associations with Yin Yang and the Five Elements developed later after the collapse of the Shang Dynasty Jonathan Smith has proposed that the heavenly stems predate the Shang and originally referred to ten asterisms along the ecliptic of which their oracle bone script characters were drawings he identifies similarities between these and asterisms in the later Four Images and Twenty Eight Mansions systems These would have been used to track the moon s progression along its monthly circuit in conjunction with the earthly branches referring to its phase 4 The literal meanings of the characters were and are now roughly as follows 5 Among the modern meanings those deriving from the characters position in the sequence of Heavenly Stems are in italics HeavenlyStem MeaningOriginal meaning Modern甲 turtle shell first book I person A etc methyl group helmet armor words related to beetles crustaceans fingernails toenails乙 fishguts second book II person B etc ethyl group twist丙 fishtail 6 third bright fire fishtail rare 丁 nail fourth male adult robust T shaped to strike a surname戊 halberd not used 己 threads on a loom 7 self庚 evening star age of person 辛 to offend superiors 8 bitter piquant toilsome壬 burden 9 to shoulder to trust with office癸 grass for libation 10 not used Current usage EditThe Stems are still commonly used nowadays in East Asian counting systems similar to the way the alphabet is used in English For example Korea and Japan also use heavenly stems on legal documents in this way In Korea letters gap 甲 and eul 乙 are consistently used to denote the larger and the smaller contractor respectively in a legal contract and are sometimes used as synonyms for such this usage is also common in the Korean IT industry The 11th to 22nd letters K V are represented by the terrestrial branches and the final four letters W Z are represented by 物 matter 天 heaven 地 earth and 人 human respectively 11 In case of upper case letters the radical of 口 the mouth radical may be added to the corresponding celestial stem terrestrial branch or any of 物 天 地 and 人 to denote an upper case letter 12 Choices on multiple choice exams surveys etc Organic chemicals e g methanol 甲醇 jiǎchun ethanol 乙醇 yǐchun See Organic nomenclature in Chinese Diseases Hepatitis A 甲型肝炎 jiǎxing ganyan Hepatitis B 乙型肝炎 yǐxing ganyan Sports leagues Serie A 意甲 yijiǎ Vitamins although currently in this case the Latin letters are usually used Characters conversing in a short text 甲 speaks first 乙 answers Students grades in Taiwan with an additional Yōu 優 Excellence before the first Heavenly Stem Jiǎ Hence American grades A B C D and F correspond to 優 甲 乙 丙 and 丁 yōu jiǎ yǐ bǐng ding In astrology and Feng Shui The Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches form the four pillars of Chinese metaphysics in Qi Men Dun Jia and Da Liu Ren See also EditEarthly Branches 地支 Sexagesimal cycle 干支 Chinese numerals Organic nomenclature in ChineseNotes Edit Heavenly Stems Smith 2011 David N Keightley The Quest for Eternity in Ancient China The Dead Their Gifts Their Names in Ancient Mortuary Traditions of China ed by George Kuwayama Los Angeles County Museum of Art 1987 pp 12 24 Smith Jonathan M 2011 The Di Zhi 地支 as Lunar Phases and Their Coordination with the Tian Gan 天干 as Ecliptic Asterisms in a China before Anyang Early China 33 199 228 doi 10 1017 S0362502800000274 S2CID 132200641 Retrieved January 29 2022 William McNaughton Reading and Writing Chinese Tokyo Charles E Tuttle 1979 Wenlin Dictionary Picture of a fish tail Wenlin Dictionary 己 may have depicted thread on a loom an ancient meaning was unravel threads which was later written 紀 ji 己 was borrowed both for the word jǐ self and for the name of the sixth Heavenly Stem 天干 Wenlin Dictionary The seal has 𢆉 knock against offend below and 亠 above the scholastic commentators say to offend 亠 上 the superiors Wenlin Dictionary 壬 ren depicts a 丨 carrying pole supported 一 in the middle part and having one object attached at each end as always done in China Karlgren 1923 See 扁担 biǎndan Now the character 任 ren has the meaning of carrying a burden and the original character 壬 is used only for the ninth of the ten heavenly stems 天干 Wenlin Dictionary 癶 stretch out the legs 天 The nicely disposed grass on which the Ancients poured the libations offered to the Manes 1 pages 147 and 148 2 pages 147 and 148 Bibliography EditAllan Sarah 1991 The shape of the turtle myth art and cosmos in early China Albany NY State University of New York Press ISBN 978 0 7914 0459 1 Barnard Noel 1986 A new approach to the study of clan sign inscriptions of Shang In Kwang chih Chang ed Studies of Shang archaeology selected papers from the International Conference on Shang Civilization New Haven Yale University Press pp 141 206 ISBN 978 0 300 03578 0 Tsien Tsuen hsuin Kwang chih Chang 1978 T ien kan a key to the history of the Shang In David Roy ed Ancient China studies in early civilization Hong Kong Chinese University Press pp 13 42 ISBN 978 962 201 144 1 Chang Tai Ping 1978 The role of the t ien kan ti chih terms in the naming system of the Yin Early China 4 45 48 doi 10 1017 S0362502800005897 S2CID 161397647 Keightley David 2000 The ancestral landscape time space and community in late Shang China ca 1200 1045 B C Berkeley University of California Berkeley Center for Chinese Studies ISBN 978 1 55729 070 0 Norman Jerry 1985 A note on the origins of the Chinese duodenary cycle In Graham Thurgood ed Linguistics of the Sino Tibetan area the state of the art papers presented to Paul K Benedict for his 7lst birthday Canberra Australian National University pp 85 89 Pulleyblank E G 1995 The ganzhi as phonograms Early China News 8 29 30 Smith Adam 2011 The Chinese sexagenary cycle and the ritual origins of the calendar In John Steele ed Calendars and years II astronomy and time in the ancient and medieval world PDF Oxford Oxbow pp 1 37 ISBN 978 1 84217 987 1 Archived from the original PDF on 2011 08 13 Retrieved 2011 06 10 External links Edit Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches Hong Kong Observatory Archived from the original on 2020 06 21 Retrieved 2018 11 04 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Heavenly Stems amp oldid 1179021868, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
