Grain and Knife Riddle

The verse opens like a puzzle, with the head of something missing and only its middle and tail in view, and the sense of that line is uncertain. Fine writing is then asked to make sense. Grain and knife meet by chance, and on our own reading those two parts form the Chinese character for gain. The close looks toward unusual joy.

Dai-kichi, Great good fortune, heads this lot as the book prints it, though printings differ and another gives Kichi, Good fortune. A riddle that resolves into a word for gain, followed by joy, fits a high grade.

Looked at now, the images suggest a situation seen only in part, where the pieces might yet combine into something legible. Which parts of your question have you been reading separately?