The length of the ancient Luban ruler was 46.08 cm
The lengths of the two modern Luban rulers are 42.9 cm and 50.4 cm respectively
The ancients paid great attention to size when building houses, and architectural designers Pressed white rulers are commonly used to determine the overall spatial dimensions of a house, such as height, depth, width, etc. Carpenters use Luban rulers to measure and determine the size of doorways. Relatively speaking, modern people are much more casual in determining the overall scale of the house and the size of the doorway when doing architectural design and interior decoration. Few people build houses and make interior layouts based on the auspicious dimensions of pressed white rulers and Luban rulers. .
Luban ruler is also known as "menguang ruler"
Luban ruler is a widely popular construction tool among ancient Chinese people. Generally used to measure and size residential doorways and furniture. In "Luban Jing" and "Luban Construction Official", it is called "Luban Zhenchi" and "Luban Zhouchi". In ancient times, people believed that a door determined by the auspicious dimensions of the Luban ruler would shine brightly in the courtyard and bring good luck to the family, so the Luban ruler was also called the "Gate Light Ruler". Because each foot of the Luban ruler is divided into eight inches, and each inch is written with terms expressing various meanings, the people also call the Luban ruler "eight-character ruler", "men ruler", "door meter ruler", etc.
Ancient Kanyuology attached great importance to the use of Luban ruler. "Ten Books on Yangzhai", a work on Kanyuology, states: "There are several kinds of door rulers in the country, and they have been tested many times, but this ruler (Luban ruler) is the real one. The length and the short are in harmony, and there is no difference between good and bad. It was built by Gongshu Ziban in the past, and it is made of extremely wood. Zhi Shengyan, because of the insignificant nature of creation, created this ruler, and later generations called it Luban ruler. It can be used not only for the Zhiliang door, but also for all bed and room utensils." The ruler shall prevail
How long is the Luban ruler? What is the difference between the Luban ruler used by the ancients and the popular Luban ruler today? Ancient books record that "Luban ruler has a curved ruler with one foot four inches and four points, and there are eight inches between the rulers. One inch is accurate and one inch is eight points." The "curved ruler" is the woodworking ruler used by ancient carpenters. Its length is the same as that of the Ministry of Industry of the previous dynasties. The promulgated construction regulations are the same. Since the length of the built ruler during the Ming and Qing Dynasties was 32 centimeters, the length of the Luban ruler is 46.08 centimeters, and each inch of the Luban ruler is 5.76 centimeters. There are not many Luban rulers handed down from ancient times. There is a Luban ruler in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing. It is 46 centimeters long, which is very close to the length of the Luban ruler recorded in ancient books.
There are two main types of Luban rulers popular in China, one is 42.9 cm and the other is 50.4 cm. The lengths of these two Luban rulers are different from the ancient Luban rulers. It can be said that this Both Luban rulers are inaccurate.
The eight characters of Luban ruler are "wealth, disease, separation, righteousness, official, calamity, harm and good luck". In some rulers, the word "good luck" is written as the character "本". Generally speaking, the ancients believed that the dimensions of the eight characters containing wealth, righteousness, official, and auspiciousness were auspicious, while the dimensions of the other four characters were unlucky. However, in practical application, each of the eight characters of Luban ruler has its own suitability. For example, the gate with the word "yi" can be placed on the main door, but the ancients believed that it is not suitable to be placed on the corridor door; the gate with the word "guan" is suitable to be placed on the government office, but not on the The door with the word "disease" should not be placed on the door of ordinary people's homes, but if it is placed on the toilet door, it will "turn bad luck into good luck". "Lu Ban Jing" believes that it is best for ordinary people to have "wealth gates" and "lucky gates" in their homes.
A single door should be opened "two feet and eight inches"
In ancient times, Luban ruler was not only the standard for installing doors in folk buildings, but also the standard for installing doors in royal buildings. The "Regulations on Engineering Practice of the Ministry of Industry" of the Qing Dynasty listed 124 door dimensions determined by Luban rulers, including 31 Tim Cai Gates, 31 Yishun Gates, 33 Guanlu Gates and 29 Fu Fu Gates.
In ancient books such as "Lu Ban Jing" and "Shi Lin Guang Ji", the auspicious dimensions of some doors are listed. "Lu Ban Jing" believes that a small single door should be opened two feet and one inch, that is, 67.2 centimeters, which is the Yimen; a single door should be opened two feet and eight inches, that is, 89.6 centimeters, and it is the Jimen; a small double door should be opened four feet and three inches. An inch is one minute, that is, 137.92 centimeters, which is the Jimen; a double door should be four feet, three inches and eight minutes, that is, 140.16 centimeters, and it is a wealth gate; a large double door should be five feet, six inches, and six minutes, that is, 181.12 centimeters, and it is a Jimen. .
Auspicious sizes are widely used
"Shi Lin Guang Ji" believes that one inch (3.2 cm) is the "wealth" in Luban ruler; six inches (19.2 cm) is "righteousness"; Six inches (51.2 cm) is "wealth"; two inches (67.2 cm) is "righteousness"; two inches (89.6 cm) is "good luck"; three inches (115.2 cm) is "righteousness"; Five feet and six inches (179.2 cm) is "auspicious"; seven feet and one inch (227.2 cm) is "auspicious"; seven feet and eight inches (249.6 cm) is "righteousness"; eight feet and eight inches (281.6 cm) is "auspicious" ; One foot and one inch (323.2 cm) are "wealth". These are auspicious dimensions and can be used in all aspects of indoor layout.
Of course, the Luban ruler is only the standard for the size of door furniture in ancient houses. For modern houses, the size of the Luban ruler can only be used as a reference. The size of the door and furniture is ultimately determined by people's activity needs and the actual situation of the house. As long as the size is moderate, convenient and practical, there is no need to stick to rules.