Jia Ren to Tong Ren: starting a business with a friend

Date not recorded · Takashima himself, starting a venture with a friend · 中文版

The cast

Hexagram 37 Jiā Rén (The Family), line 4 moving, changing to Hexagram 13 Tóng Rén (Fellowship).

Original text

近來余與友人謀創一業。占問成敗吉凶如何。筮得家人之同人。爻辭曰。六四富家大吉。斷曰。我與友人謀事。則內卦離屬我。外卦巽屬友。離巽方位相同。可知我與友意氣相合。二四爲內外卦主。可知我與友。亦各主一職。合以成事。今占得六四。四居巽位。巽爲商。爲利。取象於巽。近利市三倍。利得三倍。即可致富。此商家中大吉象也。故爻辭曰富家大吉。得此占辭。決計立業。果得吉利。

In plain words

Takashima was planning a new venture with a friend and cast to ask whether it would succeed. The cast gave Jia Ren with its fourth line moving, changing into Tong Ren. The line reads: "Six in the fourth place: enriching the household; great good fortune."

Takashima's judgment: since my friend and I are planning this together, the inner trigram Li belongs to me and the outer trigram Xun to my friend. Li and Xun lie in the same direction, so my friend and I are of one mind. The second and fourth lines are the rulers of the inner and outer trigrams, so each of us will run one part, and together we will get it done.

I drew the fourth line, which sits in Xun. Xun stands for trade and for profit; its image is "close to profit, threefold in the market". Three times the return means one can grow rich. For a merchant house this is a sign of great good fortune, hence the line "enriching the household; great good fortune".

On the strength of this reading he decided to go ahead, and it did indeed turn out well.

How Takashima read it

Only one line text is read: with one moving line, the fourth line of Jia Ren is read.
The two trigrams are the two partners: inner Li is Takashima, outer Xun his friend. In the later-heaven arrangement Li is south and Xun south-east, neighbours, read as being of one mind.
The two ruling lines are the division of labour: the second rules the inner trigram, the fourth the outer, so each runs one part.
Xun's image from the Shuo Gua, "close to profit, threefold in the market", turns "enriching the household" into profit from trade.

About the outcome

"It did indeed turn out well" is one line Takashima wrote about his own venture, without saying what it was or how much it made. Casting on one's own plan and then committing because the reading was good can itself shape the result. This site does not treat it as evidence.

Applying it to your situation

In partnering with a friend, Takashima looked at two things: whether they were of one mind, and whether the division of work was clear. In the partnership you are planning, have both of those been settled?

Original: Takashima Kaemon, Takashima Ekidan (expanded edition), recorded by Yanagida Ikusaku, Chinese text by Wang Zhiben, 1901. Translation, notes and reflection by this site.

These are historical records kept by the diviner himself. The outcomes are his own account; this site uses them to study how the lines were read, not as evidence that divination predicts events.

Cast a hexagram · All of Takashima's cases · The 64 hexagrams