Cast & Chart

Omikuji lot 13 of 100

Holding the Sun's Light

大吉 Dai-kichi, Great good fortune

手把太陽輝

東君發舊枝

稼苗方欲秀

猶更上雲岐

The hand grasps the brightness of the sun.

The lord of the east sets old branches budding.

Young grain is just about to come into ear,

and climbs yet higher up the forked cloud road.

What this lot says

Someone holds the sun's light in one hand. The spirit of the east wakes old branches, and a field of seedlings is on the point of heading. The final line sends the growth upward along a branching way in the clouds, a phrase whose exact sense is unclear to us.

Great good fortune, Dai-kichi, is what the book prints. Light, spring and a crop about to ripen all press in one direction, and that direction is up.

From a modern vantage, the verse describes the point just before a long effort shows its result. What is nearly in ear for you, and what would it mean to let it keep rising?

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

Where the 1684 printing differs

  • Line 4, character 5: 1684 printing has 梯.

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.