Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 5.djvu/254

 groups, the celestial and the terrestrial, the "positive" and the "negative." The right-hand group is laid on the table, and one rod, having been removed from it, is inserted lengthways between the third and little fingers of the left hand, the figure thus formed being a trigraph, "heaven, earth, and mankind." The left-hand group is then counted in cycles of eight — two by two — and the remainder, including the rod held between the third and little finger, is noted. Evidently there may be any remainder from cipher to seven, and these eight possibilities, commencing with unity and ending with cipher, correspond to eight trigraphs representing "heaven," "morass," "fire," "thunder," "wind," "water," "mountain," and "earth." The trigraph indicated by the remainder is called the "inner complement," and is placed at the bottom of the group which, when completed, will give the desired information. The above process is now repeated, and a second trigraph is obtained. It is called the "outer complement," and being placed at the top of the projected group, gives, with the "inner complement," a diagram of six lines, which has its corresponding ideograph. The rods are now once more divided, and again counted, this time in cycles of six, and from the remainder another trigraph is obtained. Thus gradually a diagram of six trigraphs is built up, and from the pages of the Yih-King, used after the manner of a dictionary, the corresponding interpretation is taken out.