The Nuosu Book of Origins: A Creation Epic from Southwest China

by Mark Bender (Translator), Aku Wuwu (Translator), Jjivot Zopqu (With), Stevan Harrell (Editor)

Overview

Open-access edition: DOI 10.6069/9780295745701

The Nuosu people, who were once overlords of vast tracts of farmland and forest in the uplands of southern Sichuan and neighboring provinces, are the largest division of the Yi ethnic group in southwest China. Their creation epic plots the origins of the cosmos, the sky and earth, and the living beings of land and water. This translation is a rare example in English of Indigenous ethnic literature from China.

Transmitted in oral and written forms for centuries among the Nuosu, The Book of Origins is performed by bimo priests and other tradition-bearers. Poetic in form, the narrative provides insights into how a clan- and caste-based society organizes itself, dictates ethics, relates to other ethnic groups, and adapts to a harsh environment. A comprehensive introduction to the translation describes the land and people, summarizes the work’s themes, and discusses the significance of The Book of Origins for the understanding of folk epics, ethnoecology, and ethnic relations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780295745695
Publisher:	University of Washington Press
Publication date:	06/06/2019
Series:	Studies on Ethnic Groups in China
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Mark Bender is professor of East Asian languages and literatures at Ohio State University. He is the author of Plum and Bamboo: China’s Suzhou Chantefable Tradition and translator of Butterfly Mother: Miao (Hmong) Creation Epics from Guizhou, China. Aku Wuwu is a well-known poet and professor and associate dean of the College of Yi Studies, Southwest Nationalities University, Chengdu. Jjivot Zopqu is a local tradition-bearer in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan.

Table of Contents

Foreword Stevan Harrell vii

Preface xi

Pronunciation Guide and Conventions xix

Map of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture xxi

Introduction xxiii

The Book of Origins

1 Genealogy of Sky Momu cy 3

2 Genealogy of Earth Mudde cy 4

3 Transformation of Sky and Earth Momu zzyqo cy 5

4 Genealogy of Lightning Murzyr cy 7

5 Separation of Sky and Earth Muvu mudie po 9

6 Great Bimo Awo Shubu 15

7 Genealogy of Spirit Monkey Anyu Ddussy cy 18

8 Zhyge Alu Zhyge Alu 21

9 Shooting Down Suns and Moons Gge nbie hle nbie 26

10 Calling Out Single Sun and Single Moon Gge di hle di gu 29

11 Twelve Branches of Snow Vonre sse cinyi 31

12 Genealogy of Shyly Wote Shyly Wote ssy 40

13 Ozzu (Tibetan) Lineages Ozzu cy 62

14 Ozzu (Tibetan) Migrations Ozzu muche 63

15 Hxiemga (Han) People's Lineage Hxiemga cy 64

16 Hxiemga (Han) People's Migrations Hxiemga muche 65

17 Foreigners' Lineage Yiery cy 67

18 Migrations of Foreigners Yiery muche 68

19 Nuosu Lineages Nuosu cy 69

20 Emperor Vomu and Ni and Vi Genealogies Vomu Ni Vi cy 71

21 Genealogy of Ahuo Ahuo cy 74

22 Migration of Ahuo Ahuo muche 75

23 Genealogy of Nzy Clan Nzyzzur pu 76

24 Highpoints of Migrations of Gguho Gguho cy bo 86

25 Migrations of Qonie Qonie cy bo 88

26 Changes in Hxuo Villages Hxuoqo hxeqo 90

27 Genealogy of Gguho Gguho cy 95

28 Migrations of Nine Sons of Gguho Durzhy Ddiwo Kurdie Gguho Durzhy Ddiwo sse ggu cy 98

29 Genealogy of Qoni Qoni cy 114

Appendix: The Book of Origins Contents with Tone Indicators 127

Glossary 129

Notes 131

References 151

Index 159

What People are Saying About This

Bamo Qubumo

“Hnewo” in the Nuosu language means “passed down through mouth and ears.” This long narrative poem from the Nuosu Yi people in the Cool Mountains of Southwestern Sichuan is an intimate part of their ritual life; combined with the kenre practice of verbal dueling it is a feature of the rites of passage of these mountain people—weddings, funerals, and the ceremony to send souls of the dead back to the ancestors. Recited in these ritual contexts, the epic embodies Yi people’s cognitive and emotional experience of the cycle of human life and of people’s place in the larger natural world and cosmos. Jjivot Zopqu has provided a precious resource for the world of folklore studies, while Mark Bender and Aku Wuwu have done a great service by translating this epic and introducing it to the English-reading public.

Robert Bringhurst

This translation is a treasure: a window into one of China’s richest indigenous traditions. After many centuries of momentous change and political upheaval in the vast empire that surrounds it, Nuosu culture remains alive and remarkably well in its rugged heartland of Liángshān. It also remains remarkably complex, maintaining a working script and written literature of its own side by side with a deep-rooted oral tradition. We are all now indebted to the Nuosu elder Jjivot Zopqu, the Nuosu poet Aku Wuwu, and the American scholar Mark Bender for sharing what they know of this beleaguered and beautiful world.

Katherine Swancutt

"An extremely important work that fills a major gap in the literature on a prominent Indigenous group in Southwest China and contributes to the scholarship on the folk, religious, and epic traditions of China."

From the Publisher

"An extremely important work that fills a major gap in the literature on a prominent Indigenous group in Southwest China and contributes to the scholarship on the folk, religious, and epic traditions of China."—Katherine Swancutt, author of Fortune and the Cursed: The Sliding Scale of Time in Mongolian Divination

Editorial Reviews

"[R]emarkable book...presents a world apart from “Western” worldviews but at the same time inspires the readers to reflect on and understand other worldviews and to scrutinize our own."

China Review International

"Poetic in form, the narrative provides insights into how a clan- and caste-based society organizesitself, dictates ethics, relates to other ethnic groups, and adapts to a harsh environment."

New Books Network (NBN)

"[A]n outstanding success...will undoubtedly be an essential primary source for scholars of Yi studies."

Bulletin of SOAS

"The two scholars are perfect collaborators. Between them, they found a rare version of the epic written in the Yi script, produced an accurate translation, and added to it a comprehensive and insightful introductory treatise to Yi culture."

Journal of Folklore Research