Caomuzi 草木子

Caomuzi 草木子 "The Master [who measures days with blades] of grass and [years] with wooden [chips]" is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the early Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Ye Ziqi 葉子奇 (1327-1390), courtesy name Shijie 世傑, from Longquan 龍泉, Zhejiang 浙江.

The background story of the book is as follows: In 1378, local officials held a ritual to offer sacrifices to the City God. During the ceremony, a group of clerks secretly drank wine infused with pig brain (zhunao jiu 豬腦酒). A district student reported the incident, and because Ye Ziqi happened to be present, he was implicated and imprisoned. While in prison, Ye ground ink using a tile and wrote down his thoughts whenever inspiration struck. After being released and returning home, he continued working on the book. The book's title is thus a metaphor for his own life.

The book of 4 juan length investigates the cosmic order above and below, the paths of the stars, the mathematical calculations of calendars and pitch-pipes, and the operations of Yin and Yang 陰陽 and the Five Agents (wuxing 五行). It also explores rare creatures of the seas, mountains, and distant lands, the logic behind the actions of spirits and ghosts, transformations of earth and stone, and the marvels of fish and dragons. Additionally, it references texts from Buddhism and Daoism, traces back to the Six Classics, and includes commentary on current events, political successes and failures, wars, famines, and other disasters. It contains detailed accounts of the activities of the Red Turban Army 紅巾 during the late Yuan period 元 (1279-1368). It also provides more comprehensive descriptions of the revolutionary actions of key uprising leaders such as Han Shantong 韓山童 (d. 1351), Xu Zhenyi 徐貞一, Tian Feng 田豐, the Daoist Ou 歐道人, and Lady Golden Flower 金花娘子.

The original manuscript consisted of twenty-eight chapters (some sources say twenty-two). When Ye Ziqi's descendant Ye Pu 葉溥 (b. 1471) published it in 1516, he consolidated it into eight chapters, namely "Glancing through" (Guankui pian 管窺篇), "Observing things" (Guanwu pian 觀物篇), "Tracing the Way" (Yuandao pian 原道篇), "Probing the mysterious" (Gouxuan pian 鉤玄篇), "Practicing prudence" (Kejin pian 克謹篇), "Miscellaneous systems" (Zazhi pian 雜制篇), "Talks and gleanings" (Tansou pian 談藪篇), and "Random notes" (Zazu pian 雜俎篇). The sections discussing historical facts from the Yuan period are particularly detailed and hold a certain degree of scholarly value.

There are several Ming-period prints of the text, for instance, in the series Kuaishu 快書. It is also found in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書 and Xu shuofu 續說郛. A modern edition was published in 1959 by the Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局.