890 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



times as possible there will remain less than eight sticks. This re- 

 mainder indicates the complement of the destined diagram according 

 to the arrangement shown in fig. 200. 



The trigram indicated is then recorded by means of the sangi, the 

 faces of the three nearest the fortune-teller being turned to correspond 

 with the broken or unbroken lines of the trigram. The zeicliaku are 

 then again manipulated and the three remaining sangi turned in tlie 

 same manner to agree with the trigram designated by the count. The 

 indication obtained from these two operations is then referred to the 

 corresponding diagram in the Yili King or "Divination Classic," and 

 the fortiine teller draws his conclusions from the text which explains 

 it, aided by traditional interpretations. 



In this system of divination we have an illustration of the use of 

 arrow-derived splints divided at random to determine the number, 

 place being ascertained by counting around a diagram, the Pat Icwdj 

 symbolic of the World Quarters. It is also practised at the iDresent 



Fig. 203. 



CALCULATING BLOCKS (sangi) FOB YEKI. 



Length, 4^ inches. 

 Japan. 



Cat. No. 175655, U.S.N. M. 



day in Korea and in China, having doubtless been derived both in 

 Japan and Korea from China. It is described minutely in one of the 

 appendices to the " Divination Classic." ^ According to the Chinese 

 record, the stalks of a plant, the Pfarmica Siherica were used, those 

 which grew on the grave of Confucius being most highly esteemed. 



The assumption that the zeichaku (Chinese, shai clmTc) - were originally 

 arrows is based upon analogy, the arrow derivation of many similar 

 objects employed in divination being clearly apparent. The sangi 

 (Chinese, siln muJc), or " calculating sticks " may be regarded as sur- 



' Appendix III, Chap. 9, p. 51. 



M. C. do Harlez (Les Figures Symboliques dii Yi-King, Jouiiial Asiatique, New 

 Ser. IX, p. 280) has given a translation of an explanation of the method of divination 

 by means of the splints affixed to the Manchu-Chinese edition of the Yik Kiruj of 

 the Emperor Kien Ijung. A translation of the rules for divination with the sticks 

 is given in Takashinia Elcidan, Tokio, 1893. 



'^ Shai, "to divine with slips of Milfoil; the most efficacious is from the grave of 

 Confucius;" C/t(tA;, "bamboo.'' Williams' Tonic Dictionary. 



