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0085 Sino-Iranica : vol.1
Sino-Iranica : vol.1 / Page 85 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000248
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THE WALNUT   259

beginning of the Tang dynasty. It is not impossible, however, that this text was actually written by Can Hwa himself, or at least that the tradition underlying it was formed during the fourth century; for, as will be seen, it is at that time that the walnut is first placed on record. Surely this legend is not older than that period, and this means that it sprang into existence five centuries after Can Ktien's lifetime. It should be called to mind that the Po wu ci entertains rather fantastic notions of this hero, and permits him to cross the Western Sea and even to reach Ta Tstin.' It is, moreover, the Po wu ci which also credits to Can Ktien the introduction of the pomegranate and of to or hu swan iC () 4 or hu f (Allium scorodoprasum).2 Neither is this tradition contained in the texts of the Han period. The notion that Can Ktien really introduced the walnut in the second century B.C. must be positively rejected as being merely based on a retrospective and unauthentic account.'

The question now arises, Is there any truth in Su Sun's allegation that the walnut was originally produced in the country of the K`ian? Or, in other words, are we entitled to assume the co-existence of two Chinese traditions,— first, that the walnut was introduced into China from the regions of the Hu (Iranians) ; and, second, that another introduction took place from the land of the K`ian, the forefathers of the Tibetans?4 There is indeed an ancient text of the Tsin period from the first part of the fourth century, one of the earliest datable references to the walnut, in which its origin from the K`ian is formally admitted. This text is preserved in the T'ai p`in yü Ian as follows:—

"The mother of Liu Tao J lki,5 in her reply to the letter of Yü , princess of the country of Wu 5 , said, `In the period Hien-ho (A.D. 326-335, of the Tsin dynasty) I escaped from the rebellion

1 Ch. I, p. 3 b.

2 See below, p. 302.

E The Cati-K'ien legend is also known in Korea (Korea Review, Vol. II, 1902, P. 393).

d The term k'iai t'ao 1   for the walnut is given, for instance, in the Hwa

kin t   , "Mirror of Flowers" (Ch. 3, p. 49), written by t'en Hao-tse ISAt #Z

-- in 1688. He gives as synonyme also wan swi tse   ÿ - ("fruits of ten thousand

years "). The term k'ian t'ao is cited also in the Pei wen tai kwas k'ün fan p'u (Ch. 58, Q. 24; regarding this work cf. BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. 1, p. 70), and in

the Pan San ci   lit 4 (Ch.15, p. 2 b; published in 1755 by order of K'ien-lurn).

5 The T'u Su tsi l'en and Kwai k'ün fan p`u (Ch. 58, p. 25) write this name Niu . The Ko ci kin yuan (Ch. 76, p. 5), which ascribes this text to the Tsin Su, gives

it as i. The T'ait Sun pai k'uia leu t'ie   *.n41Ili (Ch. 99, p. 12) has, "The
mother of Liu T'ao of the Tsin dynasty said, in reply to a state document, 'walnuts were originally grown in the country of the Western K'ien. "