Cast & Chart

Omikuji lot 58 of 100

Cart on the Steep Ridge

凶 Kyo, Bad fortune

有徑江海隔

車行峻嶺危

亦防多進退

猶恐小人虧

There is a path, but river and sea divide it;

a cart goes on along a dangerous steep ridge.

Beware, too, of much going forward and back;

there is still the fear of harm from petty people.

What this lot says

A road exists, and water lies across it. Up on a steep and perilous ridge, a cart keeps moving. The third line warns about repeated advance and retreat, and the last worries about damage done by small-minded people.

This lot carries Kyo, Bad fortune, as printed in the book. Both of the ways shown are hard ones, the water closing the path and the height threatening the cart, and the poem adds human spite to the terrain.

Today this might describe a plan with two routes, each with its own obstacle, among colleagues or rivals who are no help. Notice how much of the strain in such a case comes from the back and forth itself.

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

The 1684 copy is missing the leaf with this lot, so the text here comes from the 1813 printing only.

Credits

The verse and grade were read from the 1813 printing only, because the leaf with this lot is missing from the 1684 copy. 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.