Horse Coins: Pieces for Da ma, the Chinese Board Game ‘Driving the Horses ’

Abstract

The pieces traditionally used to play the Chinese board game da ma 打馬 were shaped like Chinese coins . According to the Ming period (late sixteenth-century) version of this game (Fig. 1.22 in Chap. 1 in this volume), the pieces looked like contemporary square-holed bronze coins . This characteristic has ensured that many examples have survived to the present day. It has led to their preservation in large numbers by coin collectors , who call them ma qian 馬錢 horse coins ; there are, for example, 125 specimens in the collection of the Department of Coins and Medals of the British Museum . This paper is intended to provide an introduction to horse coins and to examine the evidence they provide for the da ma game itself.

First published under the same title in Finkel (2007: 116–124) with minor editorial changes including the insertion of Chinese characters by the Editors.

Appendix

Transition of the entry concerning horse coins from Weng 1822, as quoted by Ding 1938:

Chen Zhen-sun ’s (陳振孫 ) Song-period Shu lu (直齋書錄解題 ; Record of Books ) explains: ‘There is an anonymous volume Da ma ge ju (打馬格局; Driving the Horses, Board and Rules) .’ There is another volume by Zheng Yin-zi , which presents Da ma tu shi (打馬圖示 ; Illustrated Guide to Driving the Horses ), a version using fifty horses. These is also the volume of Madame Li of Yi’an ’s poem Da ma fu (打馬賦; Ode to Driving the Horses ), a version using twenty horses. He also says that these versions are not like the modern game, but are mostly like the ancient game chu pu (樗蒲 ).

Madame Li Qing-zhao 李清照 was a retired scholar who lived in Yi’an 宜安 . She was married to Zhao Ming-cheng 趙明誠 and then to Zhang Ru-zhou 張汝舟 . Her anthology is called Shu yu ji (漱玉集 ; Gargling Jade ). In her poem Da ma there are the following sayings:

As da ma flourishes,

So chu pu vanishes.

A high class but very small way

An elegant game for indoor play.

The Yi wen 1u (History of Literature ) in Tong zhi (通志 ; The Encyclopaedia) lists Da ma ge (打馬格 ; The Game of Driving the Horses ) by Xie Jing-chu , Da ma (打馬 ; Driving the Horses ) by Song Di (宋迪 ), Da ma lu (打馬錄 ; A Record of Driving Horses ) by Li Yi’an (李宜安 ), and Da ma tu shi (打馬圖示 ; Illustrated Guide to Driving Horses ) by Zheng Yin . So the game did not begin with Li Yi’an. The book Yu zhi tang tan hui (玉芝堂談薈 ; Collected Sayings of the Jade Mushroom Mansion ) says the game of Driving the Horses no longer survives.

Li Yi’an ’s Da ma tu xu (打馬圖序 ; Illustrated Preface to Driving Horses ) says: There are two versions of Driving Horses. One type has 1 general and 10 horses. It is called Guan xi ma (關西馬 ; Horses West of the Pass ). The other version has no generals and twenty horses. It is called Yi jing ma (依經馬 ; Horses Following the Rules ). Also during the Xuanhe period (AD 1119–1126) someone took both versions and combined them, adding some features while taking away others. This version is called Xuan he ma (宣和馬 ; Horses of the Xuanhe Period ). Chen says this is not the version of the game known as zhen kui (Leader of the Guard ). Fei huang (飛黃 ; Flying Yellow ) and Qu huang (渠黃 ; Big Yellow ) are names of horses; Lian Po 廉頗 and Tian Chan 田單 are names of generals.

Shi wu gan zu (事物绀珠 ; Purple Pearls of all Things ) by Huang Yi-zheng (黃一正 ) in the Ming Dynasty says: Driving the Horses uses copper or ivory coin shaped pieces. Altogether there are 54 pieces, engraved on one face with the likeness of a horse. It uses a four-sided cloth board and the pieces are moved by the throw of dice .