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43-Two New Uighur Coins YANGFuxue 两枚回鹘文钱币
43-Two New Uighur Coins YANGFuxue 两枚回鹘文钱币
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by Yang Fu-hs?eh
0) See Yang Fu-hs?eh 1991: pl. II, nos. 1-2. But thisnumber of the Journal inwhich my paper
was published, ofwhich the circulationwas very limited,is ratherrare in librariesand private collections
in Europe and the lapse of nearly two years since I finished that studyhas enabled me to improveon
some points. Besides this,my studywas published in Chinese, for theWestern scholarswho do not
know Chinese, it is as difficult to understand as theUighur inscriptionon coins. This is the reason
why I am publishing it here, by the kind permission of the editor.
[1] 375
T. III.
1. qutluY ki ot qutluy qoin yil ? ikinti ai ??c yangi'-qa ?k?n ai t(?)ngrid?qut bulmis uluy
2. qut ornanmis alpin ?rd?minel tuymisalp arslanqutluy k?l bilg? t(?)ngrixan(i'miz?).xan
?
olurmi's ?ngt?n saciu
3. kidin nuc barsxan-qat?gi ilinu ?rksin? yrl'iqayur oyurda...xan...t(?)ngrik?n.el ?g?si alp
tutuy
4. ?g? qutluy qoco ulusu-fbaslayur ?rk?n..m?n uc ?rd(?)nik?.s?z?k kirtg?nc
376 [2]
according toAbe, during thewhole of the 10th century,the territory of theWestern Uighur
Kingdom extended to the SyrRiver Valley. However, in the same book he also said that in
early 11th century,at the latest in 1010 A.D. theWestern Uighur Kingdom and thePei-t'ing
Kingdom of east and Karakhanid of west were completely split. Hence it can be said that
the inscriptionon thewooden tablet can be dated to 959 A.D. (Moriyasu 1980: 337, fn. 55).
In reality, the 'qutluy ki ot qutluy qoin yiV is not 'the year of Suu-wei' but corresponds
to 'the year of Ting-wei' of the Chinese calender. So this year can only be dated as 947 or
1007 or 1067 A.D. A detailed study of their date has been made by me (1990: 73) and I
think that itmust be 947 A.D., and obviously my view coincides with that of J. Hamilton
(1955: 143) and is also near to 959 A.D. proposed by Moriyasu.
It is interesting to find new material which can help us to ascertain the date when the
Khan died, in another Uighur inscription on a wooden tablet published also by F.W.K. M?ller
(1915: 6):
1. ym? qutadmis qutluy toprayqutluy bicin y'il-qa?dr?lmis ?dg? ?dk? qutluy qoluqa
2. toquzunc ai t?rtotuz-qa purva pulguni yultuz-qa k?n ai t(?)ngrit?gk?s?ncig k?rtl? yaruq
3. t(?)ngrib?g(?) t(?)ngrik?nim(i)zk?lbilg? t(?)ngri ilig-ningorunqa olurmis ikintiyilinga
The wooden tablet was erected in the year of qutadmis qutluy topray qutluy bicin yil
'the year ofWu-shen', viz. 948 A.D. (detailed study, see Hamilton 1955: 143 and Moriyasu
1973: 38). The inscription on this tablet can be dated to the 2nd year of k?l bilg? t(?)ngri
xaqan, viz. the Khan of wooden tablet no. T.III and the k?l bilg? buyuy uighur t(?)ngriqaxan
in the coins, so, the Khan's death must have taken place in 947 A.D. Thus the Uighur coins
must have been cast in or before 947 A.D. when this k?l bilg? buyuy uighur t(?)ngriqaxan
was on the throne, i.e. approximately during the early half of the 10th century.
Interestingly when I was examining the coins, another Uighur coin, which is preserved
in Shanghai, was published. This bronze coin is also circular in form,with a square hole in
[3] 377
The content is completely different from the inscription on our coins. In order to take
1
into consideration its appearance, theword y?ris-?n9 is divided into two sections. According
to Kiang Ch'i-hsiang who has done the research on this coin, two inscriptions follow the title
'iduq1, but they are too blurred to be deciphered. The meaning of 'iduq1 is 'sacred' or 'bright',
which is written as I-tu-hu in Chinese records. As far as I know 'iduq1 was used as a title
obverse reverse
by the Uighur rulers from around the 9th century, however in the early period of the Qoco
Uighur Kingdom this titlewas seldom used. Only by the end of the 12th century and beginning
of the 13th century did it become a common title (Yang Fu-hs?eh & Niu Ju-ki 1990: 51).
Taking into consideration the script of the inscription, we can opine thatUighur copper coins
belonged to the end of the laterQoco Uighur Kingdom and are at least 200 years later than
our coins, from thiswe can conclude that our coins are the earliest existing coins in ancient
Uighur history.
(2) Kiang Ch'i-hsiang 1990: 66. Among them, the second word was misread as yorl?j.
378 [4]
REFERENCES
Arat, R.R. (1964) Der Herrshertitel Iduq-qut. Ural-Altaische Jahrb?cher, Bd. 35, pp. 150-57.
Bazin, L. (1974) Les calendriers turcs anciens et medievaux. These presentee devant PUniversite de Paris
III, le 2 dec. 1972, Service de Reproduction des Theses, Universite de Lille III.
Cheng Sho-luo (1983) Kao-ch'ang-hui-hu-i-tu-hu-p'u-hsi-k'ao (Note on Iduq-qut's Genealogy of the Qoco
Ch'eng Sho-luo (1984) Kao-ch'ang hui-hu-wang-kuo cheng-chih ching-chi wen-hua shu-lio (A Brief Account
of Politics, Economy and Culture of theQoco Uighur Kingdom). Hsi-pei-shih-tiyIV, pp. 1-8.
Gabain, A. von (1977) Das Leben imuigurischenK?nigreich vonQoco (850-1250). 2 vols. Wiesbaden.
Hamilton, J. (1955) Les Ouigours a Vepoque des Cinq Dynastiesd'apres lesdocumentschinois. Bibliotheque
de Tlnstitut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, 10. Paris (rev. ed. Paris 1988).
Kiang Ch'i-hsiang (1990) I-mei-hui-huch'ien-pi (AnUighur Coin). Hsin-kiangwen-wu, II, pp. 65-70.
Moriyasu, Takao (1973) Uiguru Bokyoshiryo to shitenobogen monjo (Wooden Tablet Documents as
theHistorical Sources of theUighur Buddhism). Shigakuzashi,LXXXIII 4, pp. 38-54.
Moriyasu, Takao (1980) Uiguru toTonk? (TheUighurs and Tun-huang). K?za Tonk?, II, pp. 297-338.
Tokyo.
Okudaira, Sh?kho (n.d.) Towasenshi (Account of the East Asian Numismatics), vol. 9.
Fu-hs?eh (1989) Ku-tai shih-wu huo-pi (B?z as Currency in Ancient Hsin
Yang Hsin-kiang ts'u-mien-pu
Kiang). Chung-kuo ch'ien-pi, III, pp. 14-17.
[5] 379
Yang Fu-hs?eh (1992) Ts'ung hui-hu-wen shu-k'an kao-ch'ang hui-hu-wang-kuo te chih-ch'ao y? chu-pi
(On the Paper Money and Coins of theQoco Uighur Kingdom from theUighur Manuscripts).
Chung-kuo she-hui king-ki-shih yen-chiu, I, pp. 8-14.
Yang Fu-hs?eh & Niu Ju-ki (1990) Ts'ung i-fen mo-ni-wen wen-shu- t'an kao-ch'ang hui-hu te-ki-ko wen-t'i
380 [6]