Cast & Chart

Omikuji lot 48 of 100

Phoenixes Past the Ford

小吉 Sho-kichi, Small good fortune

見禄隔前溪

勞心休更迷

一朝逢好渡

鸞鳳入雲來

The stipend is seen across the stream ahead.

Tired heart, stop wandering further.

One morning a good ford is found,

and phoenixes come in through the clouds.

What this lot says

Pay is visible on the opposite bank of a stream, and a weary mind is told to stop going in circles. A good crossing point turns up one morning. A pair of mythical birds then enters through the clouds.

Sho-kichi, Small good fortune, is the book's printing for this verse. Printings differ: one gives Sue-kichi, Good fortune later, and another Han-kichi, Half good fortune. The prize is close and the stream is narrow, which gives a modest grade its measure.

From today's distance, the image that stays is of being able to see the thing you want from where you stand. What would change if the question were where to cross, in place of whether the far bank is real?

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 飛.

Marginal note as printed: 大本作末吉 / 百籖和觧作半吉

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.