Читать книгу The History of Chess - H. J. R. Murray - Страница 21

Table of Contents

The inter-relationships and ancestry of these games.—I. Chinese chess.—The name.—Early references.—The modern game.—The board.—Nomenclature.—Rules.—Openings.—End-games and problems.—Specimen games.—The games ta-ma and kyu-kung.—Derivative games.—II. Corean chess.—Board.—Nomenclature.—Rules.—Specimen game.—III. Japanese chess.—The name.—History.—Literature.—Board.—Nomenclature.—Rules.—Specimen game.—Derivative games.—Problems.

The development of chess in the far Orient—in China, Corea, and Japan—presents one of the most puzzling chapters in the history of the game. The existing forms of chess are farthest removed from the primeval Indian game, and it is difficult at first sight to believe that a common origin is possible. In Chinese and Corean chess we see the pieces moving, not on the squares, but on the lines of the chessboard. In Japanese chess, not only Pawns but also pieces obtain promotion, while a player is at liberty to place the men he has taken from his adversary again upon the board and to add them to his own army. And yet there is no uncertainty as to the immediate parentage of the Japanese chess. Japanese authorities are unanimous in ascribing their game to China, in complete accord with all that we know of the lines of development of Japanese religion, culture, and literature. The game also itself approximates somewhat to the earlier type of Chinese chess played under the T‘ang and Sung dynasties (A.D. 618–1279). We must regard Japanese chess as a modification of the older Chinese chess in one direction, the modern Chinese chess (and the Corean game, which closely resembles it) as a modification in another.

The Indian ancestry of the Chinese game is supported partly by internal evidence based upon the identity of certain essential features in the two games,¹ and partly upon what is known of the indebtedness of China to India in religion, culture, and, above all, in games.

In both Chinese and early Indian chess we find that the pieces from angle to middle of the back line are named

Chariot, Horse, Elephant,² Counsellor,

and that these pieces possess essentially similar moves.³ The Indian Raja has been replaced by a less exalted general, but there would appear to have been weighty reasons for the change.⁴ The identity of position and close resemblance of move are too remarkable to be explained as merely due to chance.

From very early times an important trade route has existed from Northwest India by Kashmīr, Leh, the Karakoram Pass, Yarkhand, to the basin of the Hoang Ho and the fertile plains of Northern China.⁵ By this route Buddhism penetrated to China, together with much else of Indian culture. It was for long the principal road from West to East. And by this route other Indian games reached China, of which tables or backgammon is one of the most interesting, because it long retained a name revealing its Indian origin. This name, t‘shu-p‘u, is a Chinese transliteration of the Indian chaupur (= Skr. chatush-padam). Chinese works mention its introduction as having taken place as early as A.D. 220–265, and the game had reached Japan before the end of the seventh century.⁶

At one time there was supposed to be actual historical evidence for the introduction of chess from India in the reign of Wu-Ti (A.D. 560–578).⁷ As will be seen below, this belief arose from a confusion between chess and another game.⁸