Yan (State of): Rulers: before 865 BC

State of Yan: Rulers: before 865 BC

Ruling House: Jī (姬)
Hóu (侯)
second half of the 11th c. BC	Jī Kè (姬克) [1]
late 11th c. (or late 11th - early 10th c.) BC	Jī Zhǐ (姬旨) [2]
	unknown rulers [3]

According to the Historical Records, ch. 34, the ruling clan of Yan descended from Shào gōng Shì (召公奭) (fl. 1040s/990s BC), who, contrary to later writers, was not a direct relative of the early kings of Zhou, but shared the same surname (Jī|姬). The chronicle further relates that he was enfeoffed in (Northern) Yan by Wǔ wáng (武王) of Zhou in the wake of the conquest of Shang by Zhou in 1046 BC, and that he was appointed a government minister (tàibǎo|太保) of Zhou under the succeeding king, Chéng wáng (成王).
Two inscriptions on bronze wine jars (unearthed in the tomb M1193 in the Liulihe area of the Fangshan District, Beijing in 1986), commemorating the appointment, however, demonstrate that it was Kè (克), very likely Shì's son, who was, by royal order, made the first hóu of Yan after Shì had conquered the area for Zhou (Chen 1995, p. 144, No. 5-6; Du 1998; Tang 2020b).
The existence of this ruler who flourished in the late 11th c. (or late 11th - early 10th c.) BC is documented epigraphically (Chen 1995, p. 147, No. 29; Yin-Zhou Bronze Inscriptions, 4:223, No. 2269; 5:56, No. 2628).
The Historical Records, ch. 34, does not name any rulers before the mid-9th c. BC, merely saying that between Shào gōng Shì and Huì hóu (r. 865 - 827 BC), there were nine 'generations' (shì|世). Several potential successors can be ruled out however. A ' hóu Wǔ of Yan' (匽侯舞), found in several separate inscriptions, including those unearthed in the tomb M1193 does not actually constitute a personal name (Cao–Kang–Luo 2016, p. 73). Bó Xiàn (伯憲|伯宪) and bó Hé (伯龢|伯和), mentioned on two of the 'Seven Liángshān Artifacts' (梁山七器), dated to the 10th c., are now considered to rather belong to the Shào branch of the ruling family (Cao–Kang–Luo 2016, pp. 73ff), while Yǎn bó Shèng (匽伯聖), on the other hand, belongs to a different Yan altogether, located in modern Yuanqu County, Shaanxi (Huang 2023).