Letter - Letter

A style of beautiful prose unique to Chinese literature, composed of couplets. It is called beiwen because it is a piece of writing with a beautiful symmetry, like two horses lined up side by side, and it is also called beiwen (beniwen) (beni means husband and wife) or beiwen style because it resembles a married couple. It is also called shirokubun (four-six-word style) or shiroku beiwen (four-six-word style) because it often uses four-character phrases and six-character phrases. It began to develop during the Wei dynasty, reached its peak at the end of the Six Dynasties, and flourished until the middle of the Tang dynasty. It finally began to decline when calls for the revival of classical Japanese began to be made around that time. At the end of the Six Dynasties, beiwen was also called kintai (modern style), kinbun (modern style), and hittsu (brush), and all writing was in the beiwen style, and even fu (fu) was close to beiwen. At the time, it had value as a form of practical writing, but after the Tang dynasty, it became obsessed with formal beauty and lost its vitality as a form of practical writing.

When we look at the prose written in tandem during the heyday of the Liang and Chen dynasties, we see that the couplet structure is complex, the melody is well-ordered, and phrases with historical background are frequently used. The preface to "New Poems on the Yutai" by Xu Ling (507-583) of the Chen dynasty is a typical example of prose written in tandem, and from the standpoint of rhythm,

In the above, the underlined and dotted parts correspond to each other, and each word is the same part of speech. Here, it is a style in which a pair of alternate verses is used, with a phrase between them. At the time, the style with four characters at the top and six characters at the bottom was common. In terms of the rhythm, the "篋" at the foot of the phrase is '篋', "花' is flat, "篇' is flat, and "樹' is '篋', with the rhythm alternating. There is no rhyme. Also, since historical events are often used, it cannot be written without education. This encouraged the development of similar books to serve as references. The preface to the Japanese "Kojiki" and Kukai's collection of Chinese poetry and prose "Shoryoshu" were influenced by the style of the "Beibun".

[Koichi Oobi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

対句によって構成された中国文学特有の美文の一形式。二頭立ての馬が並んでいるように均整美がある文章という意味で駢文とよぶし、一対の夫婦のようでもあるということから駢儷文(べんれいぶん)（儷は夫婦）、駢儷体ともよぶ。また四字句六字句を多く用いることから四六文(しろくぶん)、四六駢儷文ともよぶ。魏(ぎ)のころから発達しだし、六朝(りくちょう)末ごろ頂点に達し、唐の中ごろまで盛行した。そのころ古文復興が叫ばれだしたので、ようやく衰えだした。六朝末ごろは駢文を今体(きんたい)、今文(きんぶん)、筆(ひつ)ともよんで、あらゆる文章が駢文形式であって、賦(ふ)さえも駢文に近くなっていた。そのころは実用文としての価値をもっていたが、唐以後は形式美だけにとらわれて実用文としての生命は失われた。

　極盛期梁(りょう)、陳のころの駢文をみると、対句の仕組みは複雑のうえに、音律を整え、故事のある語句を頻用している。陳の徐陵(じょりょう)（507―583）の『玉台新詠(ぎょくだいしんえい)』の序は典型的駢文であり、リズムのうえからみると、

は下線・点の部分が相対し、その一語一語は同一品詞である。ここでは句を隔てて対する隔句対という型である。当時は上四字、下六字の型が多い。平仄(ひょうそく)からみると、句脚の「篋」は仄、「花」は平、「篇」は平、「樹」は仄で、平仄を互い違いにしている。韻(いん)は踏まない。また故事を用いることが多いため、教養がなければつくれない。したがって参考となる類書の発達を促した。日本の『古事記』序や、空海の漢詩文集『性霊集(しょうりょうしゅう)』などは駢文の影響を受けている。

［小尾郊一］

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