Maoshi caomu niaoshou chongyu shu 毛もう詩し草木くさき鳥獸ちょうじゅう蟲むし魚ぎょ疏

Maoshi caomu niaoshou chongyu shu 毛もう詩し草木くさき鳥獸ちょうじゅう蟲むし魚ぎょ疏 "Commentary on botanical and zoological terms in the Book of Songs" is one of the oldest commentaries on the Confucian Classic Shijing 詩經しきょう (also called Maoshi 毛もう詩し), and specialized in the elucidation of the names of animals and plants mentioned in the songs of this book.

It was compiled by Lu Ji 陸りく璣, who lived in the state of Wu 吳ご (222-280) during the Three Empires period 三さん國こく (220~280). This time specification is to be found in the bibliographic chapter Jingjizhi 經籍けいせき志こころざし in the official dynastic history Suishu 隋ずい書しょ, and in the register of the collection Jingdian shiwen 經典きょうてん釋しゃく文あや, but in the book Shi zhengyi 詩し正義まさよし (Ming period 明あきら, 1368-1644), and in the series Jindai bishu 津つ逮祕書しょ (also Ming), it is said that Lu Ji lived during the Tang period 唐とう (618-907), which is purely and simply wrong. His personal name is sometimes erroneously written 機き.

The transmitted version of the book is 2-juan long, but some scholars like Jiao Xun 焦こげ循 (1763-1820) believe that part of this text has been added later, and Lü Zuqian 呂りょ祖そ謙けん (1137-1181) points at some quotations from the book that are not identical to the received text. The compilers of the imperial series Siku quanshu 四よん庫こ全書ぜんしょ also support the opinion of a later date of compilation based on fragments quoted in the commentaries Shi benyi 詩し本義ほんぎ and Shi zhengyi. Yet Ding Yan 丁ひのと晏 (1794-1875) stressed that the transmitted text is a perfect original which can be seen from the fact that all quotations are identical to the received text.

Irrespective of these discussions, Lu Ji's text is very helpful for the identification of the many plants and animals mentioned in the songs of the Shiji. Many terms were already outdated during the Three Empires period or used only in certain regions of China. That is why Lu Ji's book was used by later commentators, like Chen Qiyuan 陳ひね啟けい源げん (1834-1903) for his book Maoshi jigu bian 毛もう詩し稽古けいこ編へん. It describes 48 different herbaceous plants, 31 kinds of trees, 22 types of birds, 7 "beasts" (shou 獸しし, i.e. non-domestic mammals), 8 kinds of fish and 16 types of "worms" (chong 蟲むし, i.e. all small and swarming or creeping animals).

Lu Ji explains, for instance, the expression cenci xingcai 參差しんし荇菜 in the air Guanju 關せき雎 as follows:

The Maoshi caomu niaoshou chongyu shu is to be found in the series Xu baichuan xuehai 續ぞく百川ももかわ學海がっかい, Han-Wei congshu 漢かん魏ぎ叢書そうしょ, Tang-Song congshu 唐から宋そう叢書そうしょ, Gu jingjie huihan 古こ經けい解かい彙函, Baoyantang miji 寶たから顏かお堂どう秘ひ笈きゅう, Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書そうしょ集成しゅうせい初はつ編へん, and Shuofu 說せつ郛 (Wanwei shantang edition).