Spotted bamboo
Spotted bamboo refers to several taxa of bamboo, sometimes considered to be within the genus Phyllostachys and varieties of Phyllostachys bambusoides, also known as "teardrop" bamboo[1] and as mottled bamboo. These are types of bamboo with stems that are mottled by dark spots.
Uses
The stems of the spotted bamboos are esteemed and cost-effective for making the handles of Chinese brushes, used for calligraphy and painting.
Examples of brushes from the eighth century CE (corresponding to the Tang Dynasty, in China) are preserved in the Shōsōin, in Japan; in fact, the prestige value of this type of bamboo was evidently so high at the time that among the Shōsōin treasures are preserved objects made out of some sort of imitation spotted bamboo.[2]
Legendary origins
There is a myth or legend that the spots which appear on the stems first appeared on the bamboo growing by the Xiang River, because of the tears falling upon them shed by the Xiang River goddesses, who were mourning the disappearance and presumed death of their beloved husband the Emperor Shun.[3] Thus, the other Chinese forms for the names of this bamboo: Chinese: 湘妃竹; pinyin: Xiāngfēi zhú.
See also
- Cosmopterix phyllostachysea
- Bamboo
- Dongting Lake
- Four Treasures of the Study
- Mottled Bamboo
- Xiaoxiang
- Xiaoxiang poetry
- Xiang River
- Xiang River goddesses
Notes
References
- Cherrett, Pauline (2003). The Practical Art of Chinese Brush Painting. (Leicester: Silverdale Books). ISBN 1-85605-740-2
- Murck, Alfreda (2000). Poetry and Painting in Song China: The Subtle Art of Dissent. Cambridge (Massachusetts) and London: Harvard University Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute. ISBN 0-674-00782-4.
- Schafer, Edward H. The Golden Peaches of Samarkand. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. ISBN 978-0-520-05462-2.