Page:Sketches of Tokyo Life (1895).djvu/98

70 Each of the simple combinations has a special meaning; thus, the combination marked (A) represents Heaven; (B), marsh; (C), fire; (D), thunder; (E), wind; (F), water; (G), mountain; and (H), earth. The double combination also acquires a significance from the meaning of the component sets. If, for instance, all the blocks are plain, that is, either set represents Heaven, the formation means strength as nothing can be stronger than Heaven combined with itself. When earth is on top of Heaven, it means peace or tranquillity because the tendency of Heaven being upward while that of earth is downward, the two will harmoniously blend with each other; but (A) on top of (H) signifies separation or dissension as the two tend to recede in opposite directions. (H) on (G) represents humility as the high mountain allows itself to be lower than the earth. Thunder above earth indicates pleasure as the former experiences that feeling on being released from confinement under the earth; but thunder in the latter state, (H) on (G)(D) [sic], implies return as it is destined to return to its proper element and cannot be permanently kept under the earth. A similar train of reasoning runs through the rest of the sixty-four combinations. All nature, according to eki, is built on dualism and every element, action, or condition of life has its counterpart. All things are, by this principle, classified into yo and in, the former meaning light and the latter darkness. The former has an elevating tendency and the latter a depressing influence; they also represent the male and female respectively. In practice, the plain face of the block stands for yo and the marked one for in. It would be tedious to enter into the somewhat fanciful reasons for representing the elements by the combinations of the three blocks we have above described. Eki has been studied in Japan and China as a serious science, and numerous learned dissertations have been written on the subject. Though its premises are doubtful, the train of reasoning based thereon is certainly acute and ingenious.