**2. Narratives of Willow Shooting Rituals**

Two Yuan *zaju* plays include scenes of willow shooting rituals, namely, Wang Shifu's 王 實 甫 *Lichun tang* (Wang 1990, 2.324–49) and an unknown author's *Ruiwan ji* (Wang 1990, 7.177–201). The play *Lichun tang* tells the story of Wanyan Leshan 完 顏 樂 善, the Assistant Director of the Right in the Department of State Affairs 尚 書 省 右 丞 相, and Li Gui 李 圭, the deputy officer who was responsible for reward and punishment in the army of the Jin dynasty. Wanyan won a willow shooting competition against Li held in the imperial garden. When Wanyan beat won again in a second competition against Li, Li humiliated him, so Wanyan beat Li. For this, the emperor demoted Wanyan to Jinan 濟 南, where he spent his days drinking and fishing. Later, Wanyan was recalled by the emperor and greeted by officials at his mansion in Zhongdu 中 都. Wanyan was ordered by the emperor to have a sumptuous banquet at Lichun tang, the beautiful place in his mansion house. Li apologized to Wanyan and asked for punishment for the fault. Wanyan reconciled with Li after the latter made a public apology. In this play, the willow shooting ritual is an entertaining competitive event held at the imperial garden where the shooter can receive rich rewards.

The *Ruiwan ji* play is a story about how Fan Zhongyan 范 仲 淹 identified a hero between Yan Shouma 延 壽 馬 and Ge Jianjun 葛 監 軍 (an army supervisor) by means of the willow shooting ritual. Yelü Wanhu 耶 律 萬 戶, the Khitan general, was shot dead by Yan with an arrow in a battle, but Ge claimed it was his credit. Therefore, Fan let them compete at the willow shooting ritual held in the imperial garden. As a result, Yan shot the target, while Ge failed. Fan concluded that Yan was the hero. The willow shooting ritual in the play *Ruiwan ji* is a special way through which Fan could tell who the hero who shot Yelü in the battlefield was. Furthermore, it is an entertaining competitive event.

Although not penned by the same author, the two plays, *Lichun tang* and *Ruiwan ji,* portray similar scenes of willow shooting rituals. Based on their descriptions, willow shooting rituals were held at the Ruibin 蕤 賓 Festival, and the location was the imperial garden. *Lichun tang* reads: "At the time of the Ruibin Festival, by order of the sage, all civil and military officials went to the Imperial Garden for the willow shooting" 時 遇 蕤 賓 節 屆,奉 聖 人 的 命,但 是 文 武 百 官 都 到 御 園 中 赴 射柳會 (Wang 1990, 2.325). *Ruiwan ji* reads: "Today was the Ruibin or Double-Fifth Festival. As a convention, officials all went to the imperial garden for ball playing and willow shooting. The purpose of this event was twofold: to entertain the troops, and to accompany the Peace Banquet in the imperial garden." 今 日 是 五 月 端 午 蕤 賓 節 令,御 園中一 來 犒 勞 三 軍,二 來 設 一 太 平 筵 會,眾 官 慶 賀 蕤 賓 節 令,都 要 打 球 射 柳 (Wang 1990, 7.194–95).

The Ruibin Festival no longer exists today, but it is possible to establish that it is another name for the long-existing Double-Fifth Festival (*Duanwu jie* 端 午 節), which is on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. *Ruiwan ji* directly identifies the festival as "Ruibin Festival on the fifth day of the fifth month"; *Lichun tang* refers to it as the Ruibin Festival. *Ruibin* 蕤 賓 is one of the twelve ancient Chinese musical rhythms, and the rhythms correspond to the twelve lunar months and the twelve earthly branches.<sup>3</sup> Sima Qian 司 馬 遷 (ca. 145 or 135 BC–86 BC) pointed out in *Shiji* 史 記 (Records of the Grand Historian) (Sima 1959, 25.1246), "The fifth month corresponds to *ruibin* in the musical rhythms. The origin of the term *ruibin* is as follows: *rui* 蕤 [down] hints the lower position of the *yin* 陰; *bin* 賓 [respect] indicates the respective attitude of a guest, who is the *yin* [as opposed to the host as the *yang*]." 五 月 也,律 中 蕤 賓。蕤 賓 者,言 陰 氣 幼 少,故 曰 蕤;痿 陽 不 用 事,故 曰 賓. According to this rule, the Ruibin Festival corresponds to the Double-Fifth Festival.

In addition, in Yuan *zaju* plays, the participants of the willow shooting party are the emperor and civil and military officials, and others are not eligible to partake. In *Lichun tang*, among the officials who participated in the willow shooting ritual, the Assistant Director of the Right in the Department of State Affairs aide 右 丞 相 Le Shan 樂 善 and the Assistant Director of the Left in the Department of State Affairs 左 丞 相 Tudan Kening 徒 單 克 寧 (d. 1191) were the highest-ranked. In *Ruiwan ji*, Fan Zhongyan 范 仲 淹 (989–1052), the Minister of War and the Grand Academician 大 士 of Hall of Heavenly Manifestations (Tianzhang ge 天 章 閣, one of the palace buildings to which Hanlin Academincians 翰 林 學 士 were assigned), was the highest-ranked official amongs<sup>t</sup> the participants.

The above two Yuan *zaju* plays were penned by two different authors, Wang Shifu and an anonymous author; both described scenes of the willow shooting ritual. This shows that Yuan dynasty playwrights were familiar with the ritual and that they did not make up the scenes out of pure imagination. The scenes in the two plays were quite realistic, closely corresponding to willow shooting scenes in written records. In his book *Yuan gongci* 元 宮 詞 (Songs on the Yuan Palace), Zhu Youdun 朱有 燉 (1379–1439), the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) playwright, offers a wonderful description of the willow shooting ritual in the Yuan dynasty: "At springtime, princes and nobility went out of the inner gates, followed by officials who carried bows and arrows in quivers (*huochi* 火 赤). [They] shot willow trees and hit balls in the Eastern Garden, [their] fine horses that ran like shooting stars stirring up red dust" 王 子 王 孫 值 三 春,火 赤 相 隨出內 闉,射 柳 擊 球 東 苑 裡,流 星駿馬 蹴 紅 塵 (Zhu 2014, p. 797). A similar description of the "willow-chopping ritual" (*zhuoliu hui* 斮 柳會) is found in Xiong Mengxiang's 熊 夢 祥 (1285–1376) *Xijin zhi* 析 津 志 (*Records of Xijin*):

Willow choppers at the Double-Fifth Festival ... The front rows are honor guards; The playground is filled with numerous flags. Upon hearing the order, all the military officers chopped off willow branches, removed the top one *chi*, inserted the truncated branches five *cun* into the soil, and then each marked his willow branch by fastening a handkerchief onto it. Then, led by someone on horseback, the Commander of Wanhu 萬 戶 (who managed 10,000 households) with his arrow drawn on the horseback, began to march and shoot willows. 斮 柳 者 於 端 午 日, ... 前列 三 軍,旗 幟 森 然。武職者 咸 令 斮 柳,以 柳 條 去 青 一 尺,插 入 土中五 寸。仍 各 以 手 帕 系 於 柳 上,自 記其儀。有 引 馬 者 先 走,萬 戶引弓 隨 之,乃 開 弓 斮 柳 (Xiong 1983, p. 204)

The willow shooting rituals depicted in the two Yuan *zaju* plays, *Lichun tang* and *Ruiwan ji*, took place in the Jin dynasty and Song dynasty respectively, and their specific procedures are quite similar to those described in literature from the Jin and Song dynasties. During the Song dynasty, willow shooting had become a popular national competitive event. From the royal palace to restaurants and theaters, willow shooting events were held everywhere. Cheng Dachang's 程 大 昌 (1123–1195) *Yanfanlu* 演 繁 露 (Illustrating the Luxuriant Dew) records the scenes of a willow shooting event held during a military parade in the Song dynasty:

On the third day of the third lunar month in the year of Renchen [1172], in Jinling [today's Nanjing], I observed as a participant and watched General Li Xianzhong 李 顯 忠 (1109–1177) parade his troops. At the end of the parade, he had his soldiers cut willow branches and insert them into the ground, forming a circle, and these soldiers on horsebacks tried to shoot the willows while charging forward. The arrows used for willow shooting, about an inch wide, were wider than the regular ones. When a willow branch was shot, it would break apart, hence the name of this event: willow treading. 壬 辰 三 月 三 日,在 金 陵,預 閱 李 顯 忠 司 兵,最 後 折 柳,環 插 球 場,軍 士馳馬 射 之。其 矢 鏃 闊 於 常 鏃,略 可 寸 餘,中 之 輒 斷,名 曰 躤 柳 (Cheng 2018, 13.909)

Zhou Hui's 周 煇 (1126–1198) *Qingbo zalu* 清 波 雜 錄 (Miscellaneous Records of Clear Wave Studio) records scenes of Song dynasty palace maids shooting willows:

In the fourth lunar month of the fifth year of the Zhenghe reign (1115), the emperor entertained ministers at the Xuanhe Hall. His majesty first stopped at the Chongzheng Hall. There he paraded more than five hundred soldiers shooting arrows on horsebacks, using heavy bows. When they finished, they were offered seats. Then palace maids were led out, lining up under the hall. Some palace maids began to beat drums and watchman's clappers, others shot arrows on horsebacks, hitting willow branches and embroidered balls, or beating the pill that was a special ball used in a competition. Those palace maids were able to pull the heaviest bows. The soldiers all looked ashamed. 政和五年四 月,燕輔臣於宣和殿。先御崇政殿,閱子弟五百餘人馳射,挽強精銳,畢事賜 坐,出宮人列於殿下,嗚鼓擊柝,躍馬飛射,剪柳枝,射繡球,擊丸,據鞍開神 臂弓,越絕無倫。衛士皆有愧色 (Zhou 1997, 8.364)

According to *Jinshi* 金史 (The History of Jin), the willow shooting ritual of the Song dynasty (960–1279) originated from the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). It says: "Inheriting the old customs of the Liao (907–1125), Jin performed the ritual of worshipping Heaven on the Double-Fifth Festival, the Mid-Primordial Festival, and the Double-Ninth Festival." 金因遼 舊俗,以重五、中元、重九日行拜天之禮 (Toqto'a 1975, 35.826).

Details of the willow shooting ritual of the Jin dynasty were similar to the descriptions in Yuan *zaju*. *Jinshi* has the following record:

On the Double-fifth Festival, when the Heaven worship rituals are finished, two lines of willow branches are then planted into the ground. Arrow shooters, in the order of their official positions, each fasten a handkerchief to a branch, identifying the one assigned to him. They also peel the parts of the branches that were several inches above the ground. One person then rides a horse ahead; another one rides to follow, and shoot the willow with a special horizontal-headed arrow that has no feather. If the arrow breaks the willow branch, and the first person catches the broken willow branch and rides away, it is considered perfect. If the arrow breaks the willow branch but the arrow is not caught, it is considered good. If the willow branch is shot in its unpeeled lower or caught but not broken, or not shot at all, it is considered a failure. Whenever someone is shooting, drums are beaten to cheer him on. 凡重五日拜天禮畢,插柳球場為兩行,當射者以尊卑序,各以 帕識其枝,去地約數寸,削其皮而白之。先以一人馳馬前導,後馳馬以無羽橫鏃 箭射之,既斷柳,又以手接而馳去者,為上。斷而不能接去者,次之。或斷其青 處,及中而不能中者,與不能中者,為負。每射,必伐鼓以助其氣 (Toqto'a 1975, 35.826–27)

Based on this record in *Jinshi*, the willow shooting ritual of the Jin imperial court was a competitive recreational event. In terms of time, venue, and participants, it was quite similar to that described in *Lichun tang*.

However, in the Liao dynasty, the willow shooting activity was called the *sese* 瑟瑟 ritual, and it was a prayer ritual for rain. There is a clear record in *Liaoshi* 遼史 (The History of Liao) on this point:

If there is a drought, [the court would select] an auspicious day to perform the *sese* ritual to pray for rain. Before the day comes, a huge tent with hundreds of columns is set up. On the day, the emperor offers tributes to the portraits of former emperors, and then the willow shooting begins. The emperor shoots twice, and then princes and the state councilor each shoots once in turn. [Each of the willow branches is identified by someone as "his."] A shooter who hits a willow branch is entitled to temporarily hold the hat and robe of the "owner" of that willow branch. If the shooter fails to ge<sup>t</sup> the target, he must have his hat and robe kept by the "owner" of the willow branch. Losers then toast to winners, and the latter return the held garments. On the next day, willows are planted to the southeast of the huge tent. A shaman offers wine and grains as sacrifices, praying. The emperor and empress then offer a sacrifice to the east. After this, young

members of the royal family shoot willows. Royal family members, brothers of the empress dowager and the empress, and ministers present at the ritual are all granted rewards. 若 旱,擇 吉 日 行瑟瑟 儀 以 祈 雨。前 期,置 百 柱 天 棚。及 期,皇 帝 致 奠 於 先 帝 御 容,乃 射 柳。皇 帝 再 射,親 王、宰 執 以 次 各 一 射。中 柳 者 質 誌 柳 者 冠 服,不中 者 以 冠 服 質 之。不 勝 者 進 飲 於 勝 者,然 後 各 歸其冠 服。又 翼 日,植 柳 天 棚 之 東 南,巫 以酒醴、黍 稗 薦 植 柳,祝 之。皇 帝、皇 后 祭 東 方 畢,子 弟 射 柳。皇 族、國 舅、群 臣 與 禮 者,賜 物 有 差。(Toqto'a 1974, 49.835)

The *sese* ritual of the Liao dynasty was a royal prayer ritual for rain with high specifications, and its details were similar to the descriptions of willow shooting rituals in Yuan *zaju*. For example, the participants of both were the ruling class including the emperor, and the winners were rewarded.

The willow shooting ritual was held at the Double-Fifth Festival and the third month of the lunar calendar in Yuan and in the third and fourth lunar months in the Song dynasty. In the Jin and Liao dynasties, the time of the willow shooting ritual was not fixed. According to *Liaoshi* and *Jinshi,* the willow shooting ritual was held by the emperor in the imperial garden from the fourth to the ninth lunar months. In *Liaoshi,* the willow shooting ritual was held by the emperor in the royal garden in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh lunar months. In *Jinshi*, the ritual was held in the fifth and ninth lunar months. The Jin emperors conducted the willow shooting rituals just for entertainment, while the Liao emperors conducted the rituals both for entertainment and for the special purpose of praying for rain. When the Liao emperors shot the willow in the imperial garden to pray for rain, it was not a game, but a solemn ritual from which, they believed, they could obtain mercy from Heaven. Therefore, it can be confirmed that in Jin and Liao, the willow shooting ritual was held in spring, summer, and autumn. That is, in Liao and Jin, the willow shooting ritual was held in various months. Based on the surroundings and time, the willow shooting ritual in Yuan *zaju* was very close to that recorded in *Liaoshi* and *Jinshi* (Wang 2013, pp. 109–13).

In summary, the works of Yuan *zaju* describe the grand occasion of the willow shooting ritual in the Song and Jin dynasties and that it originated in the *sese* ritual in the Liao dynasty. Certainly, the depictions (surroundings and participants) of willow shooting rituals in Yuan *zaju* were similar to *sese* rituals described in *Liaoshi*. That is to say, the source of the narratives of willow shooting in Yuan *zaju* can be traced back to the *sese* ritual of the Liao dynasty. It should be noted that in the willow shooting events, the willow branch was the key subject of the ritual and the sacred symbol. Hitting the willow tree meant good luck would be handed to the shooter. This raises the question of why the willow tree was sacred in the willow shooting. In other words, what made the rulers of the Liao dynasty treat the willow tree as a special sacred tree?

Fundamentally, the sacredness of the willow tree was directly related to the Khitans' shamanic belief in the willow god. The Khitans were the founders of Liao. Academic definitions of shamanism vary, but the working definition which most scholars are using covers several elements: the shaman's ecstasy, his/her patron gods and helpers, the illusion of receiving gods, the travel of the shaman's soul to another world, and some cosmic characteristics (Meng 2000, p. 14). In the shamanic beliefs of the Khitan people, the willow is a sacred tree with multiple identities and has a very important place. Fu Yuguang's field study shows that in the shamanism of the Oroqen people in northeastern China, when a new shaman learns about the ritual from an old shaman, he/she has to build a *xianrenzhu* 仙 人 柱 (immortal pillar, referring to an Oroqen-style cottage) with two willow poles standing in the middle. The willow is a sacred tree through which one communicates with the gods. The shaman then hangs sacrificial offerings on it. In the shamanic healing ritual, the willow tree also plays an important role: "When the shaman is about to heal a person, he would make an offering to the gods outside the *xianrenzhu*, and the person in charge of the offerings, 'Cha'erbalaiqin' 查 爾 巴 來 欽, kneels or stands next to the offerings, holding in his or her right hand a small willow tree branch with leaves. When the shaman is about to finish reading the spell, the Cha'erbalaiqin would take the leaves off the branch one by one and throw them forward." (Fu 1990, p. 112) The Oroqen people's and the Khitans' shamanic beliefs both belong to the category of northeastern Chinese shamanism, so the existing beliefs about the willow tree of the former can, to some extent, reflect the cognitive concept of the willow tree in the Khitans' shamanic beliefs.

The idea that the willow tree can communicate with the gods and cure diseases in the above-mentioned rituals is based on the shamanic belief that the willow is a sacred object. In the context of this belief, the willow tree is a sacred tree and a hierophany, as defined by Mircea Eliade: A hierophany is "something sacred that shows itself to us" (Eliade 1959, p. 11). It could be claimed that willows take on this function in the Khitans' folk beliefs, in which the willow tree is transformed from the holy tree to a secular one, and even its branches, leaves, and bark are regarded as the hierophany of the willow god. The resulting perception is that touching the willow tree and its parts is tantamount to encountering the willow god and will bring good luck. This perception is similar to what James G. Frazer ([1922] 1990) called the law of contact, which is based on association. In this way of thinking, shooting a willow branch is the same as touching the divine willow goddess.

In addition, willow trees mostly grow near water, so they are inseparable from water. Therefore, willow shooting symbolizes proximity to water, and thus a drought can be lifted. On this basis, performing the willow shooting ritual to pray for rain emerged in the Liao court. It is hard to tell whether the willow in the *sese* ritual was the Khitans' creation goddess or ancestor goddess. However, it can be claimed that the goddess's hierophany is the willow branch. In this process, people's perception of the willow extended from the sacred to the hierophany and then to the target of the willow shooting ritual. As for the willows in Yuan *zaju*, the Yuan playwrights, on the basis of memory, wrote about willow shooting rituals, and the perception of willows also was transformed from sacred trees in folk beliefs to secular targets of shooting. At this time, the willow in folk beliefs had become a cultural gene, giving birth to the willow narrative in Yuan *zaju.*

The explanation given above helps us understand the complex relationship between willow shooting in Yuan *zaju* and the folk beliefs of the Khitan people. That is, willow shooting in Yuan *zaju* with its conceptual origins is traceable to the ancient shamanic belief in the willow as a sacred creature, which was prevalent among the Khitans and Jurchens who lived in what is now northeastern China. In other words, in Yuan *zaju*, the willow shooting ritual was a secular activity, but the willow branch that was the target for shooting was regarded as sacred. Because of its supposed sacredness, the willow branch was regarded as a symbol of good luck in the willow shooting ritual. Moreover, the willow shooting narratives in Yuan *zaju* drew on willow shooting events of the Song and Jin dynasties, while Song dynasty willow shooting originated from the Jin dynasty; the willow shooting event of the Jin dynasty originated from the *sese* ritual of the Liao dynasty. The perception of willow shooting in the *sese* ritual was based on the shamanic beliefs of the Khitan people, who regarded the willow as a sacred object. Therefore, the willow shooting in Yuan *zaju* was an indirect narrative of Liao dynasty shamanic willow beliefs. It was related to the shamanic beliefs in northeastern China, not an invention of Yuan dynasty playwrights.
