CHESS AND PLAYING-CARDS. 



889 



65. Yeki. Diviuation. Japan. 



Fifty splints of bamboo, 

 zeivhahu, and six wooden prisms, 

 sangi} 



The sticks may vary in length 

 from 2 to 14 inches, tlie set ex- 

 hibited being 14 inches in length. 

 The wooden prisms, which are 

 usually made of shitan, or red 

 sandalwood, have two contigu- 

 ous sides plain and two marked 

 with a transverse cut about 1 

 inch wide, which is painted red 

 (fig. 203). These blocks, called 

 sangi, or "calculating sticks," 

 are placed before the fortune- 

 teller, parallel to each other and 

 with their plain faces uppermost. 

 The fortune teller takes the 

 bundle of splints in his right 

 hand and raises them reveren- 

 tially to his forehead. He then 

 places the ends in the palm of 

 his left hand and shuffles them 

 with a rotary motion (fig. 204). 

 Taking the bundle in his right 

 hand, he places one so that it 

 projects between his little finger 

 and his third finger (fig. 205). 

 Dividing the remainder in two 

 parts, he places one of the bun- 

 dies between his middle finger 

 and forefinger and the other be- 

 tween his forefinger and thumb. 

 The latter bundle is then conn ted , 

 taking four splints at a time 

 around the Fat lied or "Eight 

 Diagrams" (fig. 20G), beginning 

 at the one consisting of un- 

 broken lines designated by the 

 Chinese character ¥in, and cor- 

 responding with the Northwest. 

 When the count has been made 

 around the diagrams as many 



Fis. 202. 



i'OLDiNQ FAN {hcik shin, "black fan"). 



Length, llj inches. 



Canton, China. 



Cat. No. 1")401, Museum of Arcliffiology, University of Peiinsylv 



' Cat. Nt>. 17565.5, U.S.N.M. Gift of Ste^ya^t Ciiliu. 



