Cast & Chart

Omikuji lot 40 of 100

Medicine in the Flask

末小吉 Sue-sho-kichi, Small good fortune later

中正方成道

姦邪恐惹愆

壺中盛妙藥

非久去煩煎

Only the centered and upright complete the Way.

Crookedness is apt to bring fault.

A flask holds a marvelous medicine.

Before long the burning vexation goes.

What this lot says

The verse begins with a statement about uprightness and a caution about crooked dealing. A small vessel then appears, filled with an excellent medicine. The last line has a scalding kind of distress leaving within a short time.

Sue-sho-kichi, Small good fortune later, is printed in the book for this lot. Printings differ: one drops the word small and gives Sue-kichi, Good fortune later, and another gives Han-kichi, Half good fortune. A modest vessel with a modest promise inside suits a grade of this size.

Today the flask reads best as a figure for whatever calms a mind that has been boiling over. The verse places honest conduct ahead of it, and that ordering is the interesting part. The medicine in the verse is an image, and any real treatment is a matter 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.

Marginal note as printed: 大本無小字 / 百籖作半吉

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.