Zhong Fu to Yi: arranging a match for a widowed dignitary

Date not recorded · A widowed dignitary, whose friends hoped to arrange a remarriage · 中文版

The cast

Hexagram 61 Zhōng Fú (Inner Truth), line 2 moving, changing to Hexagram 42 Yì (Increase).

Original text

某貴顯傷偶。鰥居數年。友人屢勸續娶。不聽。一日聞岐阜縣士族。有一良婦。友人皆願爲執斧。恐某貴顯。固執不從。先爲一筮以決之。筮得中孚之益。爻辭曰。九二鳴鶴在陰。其子和之。我有好爵。吾與爾靡之。斷曰。此爻曰鳴曰和。有兩心相得。同聲同應之象。卦名中孚。孚謂鳥抱卵。有育子之象。占娶婦得此爻辭。知娶得此婦。必能夫唱婦隨。家室和平。鶴鳴子和。好爵爾靡。且他日其子又能繼承父業。共享榮貴。可謂既得佳婦。又有佳兒也。大吉之兆。

In plain words

A dignitary had lost his wife and lived alone for several years; his friends often urged him to marry again, but he would not. One day they heard of a fine young woman from a samurai family in Gifu prefecture. The friends were all eager to act as go-betweens, but feared he would stubbornly refuse, so they first cast to decide. The cast gave Zhong Fu with its second line moving, changing into Yi (Increase). The line reads: "Nine in the second place: a crane calls in the shade, and its young answer it. I have a fine cup of wine; I will share it with you."

Takashima's judgment: this line speaks of calling and answering, the image of two hearts in tune, one voice answering another. The hexagram is Inner Truth, and its character shows a bird brooding over its eggs, an image of raising young. Drawing this line when asking about a marriage shows that if he marries this woman, they will be in harmony and the household at peace, like the crane calling and its young answering, and a fine cup shared. Moreover, their son will one day carry on his father's work and share his honours. He would gain both a good wife and a good son: a sign of great good fortune.

How Takashima read it

Only one line text is read: with one moving line, the second line of Zhong Fu is read.
"Calling" and "answering" become two hearts in tune, a harmonious marriage.
The shape of the character is used: "fu" is read as a bird brooding over eggs, raising young, which leads to a future son carrying on his father's work.
"I have a fine cup; I will share it with you" becomes sharing honours together. The whole reading follows the good sense of the line.

About the outcome

The book goes on: the friends still dared not raise it with the stern dignitary, so Takashima cast again on whether the match could be made, then went to speak to him first himself and won his consent; there were later complications and a further cast. This site gives only the first cast. The book says nothing about the marriage itself.

Applying it to your situation

"A crane calls in the shade, and its young answer": a sincere call finds a response. Is there someone you have long wanted to say something to, but have held back for fear of being turned down?

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.

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