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Is there going to be some sort of level indicator? Can I ask about the overall structure of the collection?
It is not possible to answer these questions properly, as these questions should not have been asked!
It is important to realise that the ancient problem collections were not a set of graded drills such as we are used to. Instead, each problem was an objet d'art in its own right, and was meant to be discussed by a group of friends. A name attached to the problem (before or after the discussion) could chance the debate by making allusions to ancient stories or heroes that each guest would know - rather as if we were too say "Oh, just like William Tell shooting at the apple." We would all know (I hope!) that his son was involved, the apple was on the lad's head, and it was all due to a horrible bailiff called Gessler.
Try to imagine a go problem where this name might apply. A lone black stone on a clump of white stones that resemble a boy's head? Or imagine instead a problem where the solution resembles shooting an arrow but one that has to be very precise. Both scenarios might fit. The former would be a way of helping you remember the shape of the problem, the latter would be a clue to both finding and remembering the solution.
Ancient Chinese gentlemen lived at a time when paper was very expensive and books were relatively rare. They relied on memory. Indeed, much of their general education involved memorising the classics, such as the Analects. This was called 'backing the books' (turning your back to the books as you recited them to your teacher of father). Go Seigen had to go through this process. Mistakes were punished by a cane across the calves. My own education wasn't that much different, really, so I have a good memory?
What was I saying? Oh yes, we can't be 100% that this is how things worked, but we do know for certain that memorising whole games as a way of preserving them was estemed. We have written records of this. As to the objets d'art element, we have a text from the poet Tao Yuanming 陶渊明 (c. 365 ~ 427) in which he says, "Everyone loves gathering with their neighbours over wine to appreciate newly found documents together, analysing their nuances and meanings.” The same sort of thing is recorded by other writers, with someone showing off, say, a new painting, a rare vase, or even a prized stallion.
There are other go records which strongly hint at this kind of process, for example a guest going on a visit to an exile in the countryside may take along a copy of a new book (the Xuanxuan Qijing even!)
It also follows from this kind of activity that what the group of players would be looking at is not the dross of a simple ko, but a complex line that ends in a under-the-stones. The practice of modern writers saying an old problem is a cook or is flawed because it has a ko variant or multiple solutions quite miss the point. And shame on them!
Another consequence is that guests might take a problem home (in their heads) and recreate it slightly differently. He might even try to improve it (or perhaps simplify it). And so variants arise. I called the Xuanxuan Qijing "Gateway to All Marvels" for several reasons. The most important was probably that it is the most significant go book ever written, because of what it has spawned, and so it is truly a "gateway" to modern go. But another reason was there is no one XXQJ. There are several, and each can be very different. I collected all the variants and ended up with over 460 problems. The oldest original has around 360. So GTAM was meant to refer to this omnibus edition. I also collected all the pro opinions, which quite often contradict each other. Since quite a few of the problems are rated at 7-dan plus, or the like, that's not too surprising. The ancients had their own method of grading. For example, a title along the lines of "Entering the realms of the sublime" or "refining cinnabar" or any other Daoist practice always rells us it's very hard problem (and is also a clue in itself).
What I hoped to recreate for the modern reader was a book that would him to bask in the same joyful sort of environment as the wrinklies of old (but bring your own wine!). To do that, I needed to add a lot of text. So, where the ancient book presents the problem below (White to play) with the simple title "Hooked dagger is released" (鉤戈解) that is probably going to make the modern western reader feel as if he had guzzled the wine before looking at the problem! What I have done therefore, is to add an explanation of what was probably going through the minds of these players of old, and so I am obvioulsy also proving a memory aid and clues.
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The following is what I added to this problem (in the presentation part - there is often more to say in the solution part - omitted here).
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This one is obviously a graphic. But the dagger (gouyi) in turn is symbolic. It represents Lady Gouyi.
She is the main figure in a still popular tale. She lived in grim times. Her father was castrated for some an offence and then had to serve as a minor eunuch in Chang’an (now Xi’an), which was then the capital of the Han empire. His daughter had some affliction that caused her to keep her fists.
This was an era when belief in omens, witchcraft and necromancy prevailed. The ruling emperor then was Wu who reigned from 141 BC ~ 87 BC. That incredibly long reign was in in itself seen in some supernatural way.
When Emperor Wu was on a hunting expedition in the area where the lady of the clenched fists lived, she was summoned to him for a freak show. But when the emperor touched her hands, her fists miraculously opened up, revealing a jade hook in one of them.
The emperor took this as a good omen and took her as a consort, naming her Lady Gouyi The favour shown her excited jealousy among other families at Court.
Pregnancy soon followed but it stretched beyond the due term and tongues began wagging that the lady was a witch.
But the Emperor suspected it might be a good omen, and eventually it reached 14 months before baby was born. That was the same length as for the legendary Yao, the one who was supposed to have invented go. The Emperor was pleased and showed the dagger lady even more favour. Her new son, born in 94 BC, was named Liu Fuling.
The favour shown to Lady Gouyi and her son led to speculation that the Emperor might demote the Crown Prince (son of the official Empress) and make Fuling the heir apparent. The accusations of witchcraft made Salem look like a tea party. Hundreds of people were executed and both the Empress and the Prince Consort were forced to commit suicide in 91 BC.
The aged and ailing Emperor accordingly did make Fuling the heir apparent, but because Fuling was still far too young to rule, his mother would become his Regent. But the Emperor feared Lady Gouyi was also too young too rule. The memory of Empress Lü seizing power for herself in similar circumstances after the death of Emperor Gaozu (the one mentioned in several problems in this book) about a century earlier was still fresh.
Wu therefore appointed a trusted official, Huo Guang, as regent and ordered the imprisonment and death of Lady Gouyi. She died in 88 BC.
The Emperor explained her death to his attendants by saying that a child emperor with a young mother would lead to unrest, although he acknowledged that his action might be misunderstood by “children and fools.”
There’s a range of possible clues in that true tale to help solve the problem. Witchcraft might be one of them!