Cast & Chart

Omikuji lot 10 of 100

Broken Goods, Blooming Wood

大吉 Dai-kichi, Great good fortune

舊用多成破

新更始見財

政求雲外望

枯木遇春開

What was used of old has mostly broken.

Made new, wealth first comes into view.

Set things right and look beyond the clouds.

A dead tree meets spring and blooms.

What this lot says

Old equipment and old ways have fallen apart, and only renewal brings anything of value into sight. The third line looks past the clouds. Its first word usually means to govern or correct, and we keep that plain sense while noting it could be a slip for a word meaning change. A dead tree then flowers.

The grade the book prints is Dai-kichi, Great good fortune. Breakage in the first line becomes bloom in the last, and the high grade rides on that reversal.

As a modern reading, the verse pictures the moment after a familiar system stops working. Which of the things you keep repairing has already finished its use?

A lot is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.

The printed text

No differences from the 1684 printing are recorded for this lot.

Credits

The verse and grade were read from the two scanned printings named here. The title, translation and reading are our own and modern.

Our own English. The kana commentary printed under each verse in the old books was not read.