嵇康の飛翔

Abstract

In the poems of Hsi K'ang 嵇康 (221-262) we often find the images of birds flying aloft in the clouds. For instance, in the last one of the group of 19 poems entitled "To My Brother Who Entered the Army" two flying phoenixes are depicted. They are soaring happily and peacefully over a fairyland in the height, but suddenly one of them is caught in a net which symbolyzes the malice of men, and the other, crying for his friend, aspires higher to evade dangers. The former perhaps suggests Hsi Hsi, 嵇喜 Hsi K'ang's elder brother who entered into the official life Hsi K'ang detested, and the poet here expresses his sorrows for his brother through the images of parting birds. Since the Han dynasty, a bird parted from his companion has been used as a metaphor for the sorrow of separation or solitude. In the poems of Hsi K'ang the birds also retained such a conventional usage. But however, unlike his predecessors, Hsi K'ang gave his birds some fresh characteristics. They soar higher and higher with the desire of emancipation from this actual world, looking for a paradise where they might keep their minds free and tranquil. Such a place is the ideal world Hsi K'ang expressed several times in his works. The longing of the birds for the ideal world reflects the deep agony and frustration of a cultivated person living in turbulant days. At the time when Hsi K'ang was alive, the court of Wei, i. e., Ts'ao family, was declining day after day, while the power of the usurper, Ssu-ma family, gradually grew. These two grand families were involved in innumerable political intrigues. Many courtiers and generals, who participated in the struggle, died a violent death. Hsi K'ang himself was censured by the Ssu-ma's for his hostile criticism and was finally put to death.