Cast & Chart

Omikuji lot 46 of 100

Thunder and a Closed Gate

凶 Kyo, Bad fortune

雷發震天昏

佳人獨掩門

交加文書上

無事也遭廵

Thunder breaks and shakes the darkened sky.

A fair woman shuts the gate, alone.

Documents pile one on top of another,

and with nothing done, still there is an inquiry.

What this lot says

Thunder cracks across a dark sky and a woman, by herself, closes her door. Paperwork accumulates in confusion. The last line has an investigation or patrol arriving though nothing has happened, and the exact word for it is uncertain.

Kyo, Bad fortune, is what appears in print in the book. Noise outside and paper inside press on someone who has done nothing, and the verse leaves it at that.

Placed in our time, the verse pictures trouble that arrives without being earned. What is it like to be asked to account for something that never took place?

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.