Cast & Chart

Omikuji lot 15 of 100

Dragon Without Its Pearl

凶 Kyo, Bad fortune

年乖數亦孤

久病未能蘇

岸危舟未登

龍臥失明珠

The year is contrary, and the count of fortune is lonely too.

Long sick, not yet able to revive.

The bank is dangerous, the boat not yet boarded.

The dragon lies down, its bright pearl lost.

What this lot says

The year runs against the speaker and the reckoning of fortune stands alone. A long illness has not lifted. Someone stands on a crumbling bank without having reached the boat, and a dragon lies idle with its pearl gone.

No line here argues with the grade printed in the book, which is Kyo, Bad fortune. Each image is of strength or passage interrupted, and it stops there.

In a contemporary light, these are pictures of momentum gone missing. The dragon in the last line has lost one specific thing, and you might ask what your own lost pearl was. The old line about illness is an image and says nothing about anyone's health, which is a question for a doctor.

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.