论汉画像石方位划分参照物

On the Reference of Directional Positioning in the Han-Dynasty Stone Carvings

汉画像石将位于方位中央者作为参照物,其方位模式为左东右西,这与现代制图学左西右东的方位结构截然相反。以实物或人作为参照物划分左右的做法并非画像石所独有,它是汉代仪礼普遍遵循的方位划分原则。汉代君王佩剑、军队行军布阵、官吏车马出行以及男女行路,均将位于中央者作为界定左右之参照物。在东西南北四个方向的界定上,汉画像石与现代制图学是一致的,但二者方位模式中的左右位置恰好相反。这是因为现代制图学划分方位的参照物是地图观看者,画像石的方位参照物为现实空间中的实物或人,地图观察者的位置与现实空间中实物或人的位置恰好相对。因此,研究者在表述汉画像石方位时,不应遵循现代制图学方位界定的原则,而应遵守汉代文化象征体系方位划分的规约。

In the Han-Dynasty stone carvings,the objects positioned at the centre of the planar graph are designated as the reference of directions,with the left on the surface standing for the east and the right for the west. This is the opposite to the direction positioning practice in modern graphics or cartography. This principle of direction positioning was not confined to the stone carvings alone,but was a general rule applied in almost all of the Han rituals such as the sword-wearing ritual of kings,the formation of marching armies,the ceremonial formation of vehicles and horses,and even the custom of walking males and females in groups. In all these practices,the objects or people at the center were designated as the reference. In terms of the direction positioning,Han-Dynasty stone carvings were in line with modern cartography in defining the two axis of the east-west and the south-north,but its position of the east-west was opposite to modern cartography. This is due to the fact that modern cartography regards the observer of map as the reference,while the Han carved stones took the objects or persons in the real space as the reference,with the observer positioned in face to the subject in the planar surface. The paper concludes that the right-left in the Han carved stones should be expressed within the Han cultural symbolic system,rather than in modern cartographical direction positioning principle.