Marco Caboara

Bu shu 卜書

A recently published Shanghai Museum bamboo manuscript on divination1

Part 1. Introduction

The manuscript here introduced and translated, with the title Bu shu 卜 書 (text on

divination) provided by the editor, Li Ling, can be dated between 350 to 300 BCE and ascribed to

the former state of Chu. It contains the earliest known methodological treatment of turtle shell

divination and crack interpretation and represents therefore a new fundamental piece of evidence

in the history of Chinese divinatory practices.

The manuscript consists of ten bamboo strips, four complete (1-2, 7-8) and six defective

(3-6, 9-10), for a total of 256 characters. The complete strips consist of 32 to 34 characters and

have an ordinal number at the end, and the last strip has a clear black mark signaling the end of

the text. The order of the remaining strips can be established quite confidently by means of their

physical features and on the basis of textual coherence.

While the corpus to which this manuscript belongs, the so-called Shanghai Museum

manuscripts from Chu, has not been excavated by archeologists, like the better known Guodian

manuscripts, but has been bought on the antiquarian market in Hong Kong after having been taken

1
I thank Joachim Gentz, Linda Leung, Axel Schuessler and Edward Shaughnessy for their comments.

1
out of China by unknown hands, its provenance being therefore uncertain, everything points to its

being entirely authentic material produced in a time and place very close to the Guodian findings

(Hubei, former state of Chu, between 350 to 300 BCE). 2

This article is divided into two parts.

In part one, I will briefly provide some background for the manuscript's significance (1.1),

then I will give an account of its reception (1.2), an analysis of its textual structure (1.3) and of its

system of crack interpretation (1.4).

In part two I will provide a transcription and an annotated translation of the piece (the first

translation of this text, to my knowledge). The translation presents my understanding of the text in

the clearest and simplest form possible, while the paleographical and phonological annotations are

meant to justify my transcription for the specialists as well as to give the general sinological public

an idea of the multiple options available in establishing and understanding the text.

1.1 Background: the Bushu's place in ancient Chinese divinatory literature

Turtle divination has been the prevalent form of divination in Shang China, to be gradually

substituted during the Zhou dynasty by yarrow stalk divination 3. Its concurrent usage with yarrow

stalk divination has been widely attested in the received literature 4 . Recent archeological

excavations have provided new textual materials for the early Zhou (Shaughnessy 1986) and

2
See Shaughnessy 2006: 3-4 for a brief discussion.
3
See Vernant 1974, Keightley 1978, Takashima 2010.
4
Shaughnessy 1983: 66-69.

2
Warring States (Kalinowski 2009) practice of plastromancy, while recent findings have shown its

continued usage until the Tang. 5

The new evidence on the continued relevance of plastromancy has stimulated a new interest

for the oldest handbook of plastromancy, the Gui ce liezhuan 龜策列傳, a compilation of materials

of different origin edited by Chu Shaosun (ca. 104- ca. 30 BCE) and combined with passages

authored by Sima Qian to reconstruct the by then lost chapter 129 of the Shiji 6. The Gui ce liezhuan

龜策列傳 was previously generally dismissed as a dry apocryphal text of dubious value, but its

extensive treatment on the divinatory interpretation of crack configurations has shown a strong

relevance for the interpretation of newly excavated bamboo manuscript and, as we will show, the

system used in the first part of our text has remarkable similarities with the one used in the Shiji

treatise

1.2 Literature review

Our text has been first mentioned by its editor, Li Ling, in 2004 7 and then by Bing Shangbai

in 2009 8. Due to the pace of publication of the Shanghai Museum Collection (around one volume

per year), it took eight years for Li Ling to actually publish the text, in December 2012.

On the basis of Li Ling's transcription and explanation and of the high quality photographic

reproduction of the manuscript, the scholarly debate went on within the framework of electronic

5
Between 1994 and 1998, three scorched and cracked plastrons—all pretreated with drilled hollows—were recovered
from the Mingyueba 明月垻 site on the inner eastern rim of the Sichuan basin (Kory 2012: 9).
6
See Shaughnessy 1980, Pu 2011 (an overview of pre-Qin turtle shell divination) and Kory 2012 (an overview of
turtle shell divination from the Han to the Tang).
7
Li 2004: 409.
8
Bing 2009: 244 (based on Li 2004).

3
philology, as it usually happens with Chu bamboo manuscripts, whereby a new, sometimes

radically different understanding of a given text takes rapidly shape by means of exchanges on the

web.

In early January 2013 there has been a long series of exchanges in the main web forum of

Ancient Chinese Paleographers hosted by the Center for research on Bamboo and Silk manuscripts

of Wuhan University 9. As a result Li Ling's transcription (published just a month before) has been

modified in around 30 cases (affecting directly more than 10% of the text), as will be shown in the

paleographical notes. Then in mid January a comprehensive (if preliminary) article by Cheng

Shaoxuan hosted by the website of the Center for Research on Excavated Texts and Paleography

of Fudan University has summed up the discussion and given a significant contribution to a better

understanding of some key divinatory terms used in the second portion of the text. Two more

articles followed, published by Luo Zhenyi and Lin Zhipeng on the website of the Center for

research on Bamboo and Silk manuscripts of Wuhan University, dedicated to more narrow textual

and paleographical issues.

On the basis of these researches and debates, it is now possible to present a preliminary

analysis and translation of the text for a Western public.

9
Jianbo lun tan-> Jianbo yandu 简帛论坛 -> 簡帛研讀 [Forum on bamboo and silk manuscripts Analysis and close
reading of bamboo and silk manuscripts]-> 'Bushu' chu du〈卜書〉初讀 [preliminary reading of the 'text on
divination'] http://www.bsm.org.cn/bbs/simple/?t3032.html. I will cite it in a short form as JBLT and provide day and
time of entry to indicate to which entry of the thread I am referring (such as JBYD 01-08 23:55, referring to an entry
created on January 8th 2013, at 23:55).

4
 1.3. Structure and coherence of the text

The text consists of the divinations of four (unknown) diviners, and is divided into two

parts: the first addresses private affairs concerning the abode of an unknown person commissioning

the divination and uses a terminology based on the analysis of the divinatory cracks on the shell's

turtle conceived as bodies, with head, feet and trunk rising and falling, very close to the one used

by the Gui ce liezhuan 龜策列傳; the second part addresses matters of state and uses a different,

previously unknown terminology, based on divinatory cracks conceived as a web of lines,

converging or diverging, and being fuzzy or curvy in their contours. Before addressing the detailed

analysis of the two parts and the two systems of crack interpretations they reflect (section 1.4), I

will examine the text from the point of view of its structure and textual cohesion. 10

The manuscript is textually complete, having a clear beginning and end, carefully written

as if meant for display, made cohesive by its nearly uniform line structure and authoritative by the

provenance of its statements, its abstract terminology and proverbial statements; finally, being

provided with a rhyming scheme, it is easier to memorize.

For the first two features (textual completeness by numbering and markings, as well as

writing features, I refer to the detailed description and to the photographical reproduction of the

manuscript in Li 2012. The other features will be discussed here below.

The divinatory statements we know from the oracle bones 11 and the Warring States

divinatory manuscripts 12 have a fixed structure with a preface stating the time of the divinatory

act, the name of the diviner and (for Warring States texts) the name of the person on whose behalf

10
See Appendix One (Structure of the piece) for a visual representation of the elements discussed in this section.
11
Keightley 1978: 28-44.
12
Kalinowski 2008: 379-383.

5
the divination is made 13, a charge, or statement to be submitted to the oracle for verification, a

prognostication stating the result of the divinatory process and (not always) a verification stating

the fulfillment of the prognostication. 14

preface (date, diviner's name, [beneficiary]) - charge- prognostication - [verification].

Our text has a different line structure: 15

diviner x says -crack configuration- (name of the configuration) - prognostication

In contrast with the known divinatory formulas, in the Bu shu text the topic of the divination

is not given in the charge but stated (when it is stated) at the beginning of the prognostication, as

in line 2.1 處宮無咎 "for staying in the (present) palace there will be no trouble" or line 4.3 貞邦

無咎 "in the divination about the state there will be no troubles". This is most likely a consequence

of the organization of the text: the topic remaining the same within part one (dwelling) and part

two (divination about the state) there is no need to state it explicitly.

Furthermore, this being much more a handbook than a collection of statements, the focus

is not on a specific divinatory event, but on the regular correlation between a given crack

configuration and a given prognostication.

The citation of the names of the diviners, their different status (the last two are named gong

公 'lord') and terminology points to an archival provenance 16. At the very least, the identification

13
This is unnecessary in the Oracle Bones, as it is by default done on behalf of the Shang sovereign.
14
See Li 1990.
15
Even though the text is clearly divided into two parts, they are both organized in a similar way, the main difference
being the absence of the name of the configuration in part two.
16
This is naturally just a hypothesis- we have no way to be sure about the source of the statements, whether they are
archival material or fictive examples.

6
of the diviners by name, and the attribution of prestigious titles like gong 公 'duke, Lord' to some

of them, gives authority to the text citing them.

As for the abstract terminology, each of the crack configurations in part one is designated

by means of one of five terms: pi 闢 'opening', xian 陷 'sinking', bi 蔽 'obscure', mie 滅

'extinguishing' and jian 肩(?) 'shouldering (?)'. All of them, beside the last, are in prominent,

rhyming position 17. These terms are not used in a technical sense in other divinatory texts, but they

are all stative verbs mostly used as action nouns with a broad range of applicability, suitable for

an abstract discourse on actions and events 18, and seem to belong to the same conceptual area as

the Yijing names for the hexagrams.

The descriptive sentences in the prognostications in lines 3.2 and 3.3, sounding like

proverbs or Yijing-like references, are also suitably general, referring to archetypical figures like

younger and older sons (line 3.2 小子吉，長子乃哭 "the young son prospers, while the older son

cries") and husband and wife (line 3.3 婦人肩(?)以飲食，丈夫深以伏匿。"The wife shoulders

(?) (the task of) carrying food and drinks while the husband stays deeply hidden"). Finally, the text

is rhymed, even though not consistently throughout the text. In almost every line, the rhyming

elements both immediately precede and end the prognostication segment, breaking each line into

two main parts 19.

17
See Appendix One, where rhymed words are in bold.
18
The Gui ce liezhuan 龜策列傳 has the following bisyllabic, less abstract names for crack configurations, that I give
here for comparison: yuren 漁人 'the fisherman', zai suo 載所 'carrying the place', gen ge 根格 'root obstruction', ting
zha 挺詐 'unyielding deceit', hu he 狐狢 'enraveled fox', hu che 狐徹 'fox penetrating' (see Shaughnessy 1980, from
which the translations for these terms are taken or adapted).
19
See Appendix One, as well as Appendix Two for the list of rhyming words with their Old Chinese reconstructions.
All the Old Chinese reconstructions in this paper are based on Schuessler’s 2009 revision of Baxter’s system, whereby
non-III (non-third division) words are indicated by a circumflex accent on the main vowel.

7
 All these features point to a text that systematizes a body of data with the attempt to build

a close, normative system, similar to the early commentarial tradition 20. We don't know for which

audience the manuscript was trying to establish its authoritative voice- probably diviners working

for high local officials like Shao Tuo, members of the elite close to the royal entourage of the

Warring States kingdoms 21, and perhaps also directly for some curious local officials like the ones

in whose tombs were buried hemerological treatises 22.

1.4 The system of crack interpretation

As I mentioned at the beginning of section 1.3, the text is divided into two parts that use

two different systems of crack interpretation. I will now proceed to their separate analysis (1.4.1-

1.4.2) and then compare them and draw some conclusions (1.4.3).

1.4.1 The first part

The first part consists of the statements of three diviners. The first two, Fei Shu 肥叔 (strip

1) and Ji Zeng 季曾 (strips 1-2), divine about whether or not dwelling in a certain place; the third,

Lord Cai 蔡公 (strips 2-4) 23, goes on divining and expounding upon the topics divined about by

the first two diviners.

20
See Gentz 2008: 817-818.
21
Cook 2006: 4-6.
22
Kalinowski 2008: 386.
23
Li Ling thinks that Lord Cai is responsible also for the divinations given in strips 5 and 6 (lines 4.1-4.4 in my text,
where I follow Cheng 2013 for the line numbering). Cheng Shaoxuan attributes the portion of text following strip 4
(and line 3.3) to Lord Yuan. I follow Cheng over Li, even though there is no ultimate way to decide the issue, the
important thing being to recognize the division of the text itself into two parts, a division emphasized by attributing

8
 The first three diviners use a terminology very similar to the one used by the Gui ce

liezhuan 龜策列傳, where the top of the crack is defined as 'head' (shou 首) and its bottom as 'feet'

(zu 足- here the synonym zhi 趾 is used). Furthermore, reference is made to the 'belly' qin 肣 24

and the 'neck' ying 嬰 (literally 'necklace') of the crack, its back (bei 背 'spine') and its front (ying

膺 'chest'); these references are not as clearly interpretable, as they do not occur (or not with same

meaning) in the Gui ce liezhuan 龜策列傳. In one occasion (line 3.2) the only item mentioned is,

generically, the crack itself (zhao 兆). The above mentioned elements, as in the Gui ce liezhuan

龜策列傳, can be rising (yang 仰, na 納, gao shang 高上) or falling (fu 俯, chu 出, xian 陷). Other

modifications have to do with their contours being clear (chun 純 'pure') or fuzzy (dun 沌, hun 混).

The outcomes of the divination acts of the first three diviner are all somehow negative: in

1.1 the initiator of the divination should leave his hamlet, in 2.1 (the least negative) his sickness

might get worse, in 3.1 and 3.2 his present dwelling is found out to be, to different degrees, unfit

for living, and the last line, 3.3, while not giving any clear direction for action, describes a situation

of danger.

The information is summarized in Table 1.

all of part two to the fourth diviner, Lord Yuan. Li 2012 and others have noted that the fourth diviner is the only one
using the negative existential wang 亡 instead of wu 無 in the last lines of part two. This is an argument used by Li
Ling to defend to attribution of only lines 4.5-4.8 to the fourth diviner. I take it just to reflect textual variation.
24
This character is defined as lian 斂 'collect, retract' in the Suoyin 索隱 commentary to the treatise on turtle and
milfoil divination in the Shiji 史記. I follow Li Ling in considering it a noun and translating it as 'belly', on the basis
of its definition in the Yupian 玉篇. See note to line 3.3.

9
 Table 1

Divination Crack configuration Prognostication

line outcome
首 趾 背 膺 肣 嬰 兆
1.1 仰 出 negative
2.1 俯 納 mildly negative
3.1 仰 出 沌 混 negative
3.2 陷 negative
3.3 高上 純深 mildly negative

1.4.2 The second part

The second part consists of the statements of one diviner, the fourth, Lord Yuan 淵公, and

is concerned with divination about the state (zhen bang 貞邦) 25.

Here two terms are used, which are not known from the received literature: san zu 三簇 26

('three clusters') and san mo 三末 ('three tips'). The outcome of divination is established on the

basis of the aspect (you ci 有疵 'having flaws', bai 敗 'being defective', meng 蒙 'being dim'),

contour (juzhi 句指 'being curvy', qi ju 起鉤 'rising like a hook'), color (bai 白 'white', huang 黃

'yellow', chi 赤 'red'), convergence (cui 萃 'converge') and divergence (ti 逖 or tuo 脫 'diverge') of

25
See note to line 4.2. As mentioned above, Lines 4.1-4.4 have been attributed by Li Ling to the third diviner, Lord
Cai. I follow Cheng Shaoxuan in attributing them to Lord Yuan.
26
I follow Cheng Shaoxuan in reading as 簇 zu 'cluster' the word that Li Ling read as zu 族 'clan', leaving open the
issue of what crack factor is associated with it. See section 1.4.3 and note 32.

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the cracks. An important element is also shimo 食墨 'eating up the ink', a term which is known

from the literature 27 and discussed here in the notes under its first textual appearance in line 4.4 28.

The outcomes of the divination acts of the fourth diviner are all negative, in different

degrees: two very negative (4.1, 4.5.2), two negative (4.7, 4.8), three mildly negative (4.3, 4.5.1,

4.6).

The information is summarized in Table 2.

Table 2

Divination Crack configuration Prognostication

line outcome
三簇 三末 兆
4.1 very negative
4.2 有疵 吉/白,黃
4.3 起鉤/白,赤/萃以逖 mildly negative
4.4 食墨
4.5.1 脫 mildly negative
4.5.2 食墨/蒙 very negative
4.6 句指/逖 敗 mildly negative
4.7 萃 吉 negative
4.8 ? ? 不利 negative

1.4.3 Features of the two systems

27
Compare with the following passage from the Zhou Li: 凡卜筮，君占體，大夫占色，史占墨，卜人占坼。(周
禮,春官宗伯, 十三經注疏, Zhonghua Shuju 1980 ed., p. 805) "Generally, in plastromantic and achilleomantic
divination, lords prognosticate on the basis of frame, daifu on the basis of color, scribes on the basis of 'ink', diviners
on the basis of (finer) cracks."
28
More generally, all the items above are discussed in the notes to the relevant parts of the annotated translation.

11
 By looking at tables 1 and 2, we can perceive a systematic approach both in part one (which

we know corresponds to a fairly complete system as developed in the Gui ce liezhuan 龜策列傳)

and in part two, where the same features (convergence and divergence, fuzziness and colors) are

associated with the three main factors (the cracks as such, the three clusters and the three tips) 29.

We know from the divinatory handbooks from the Han to the Tang 30 that certain features

(like rising and clarity of contour) are generally thought to be positive, while their opposites are

negative. Curviness (juzhi 句指), at least in our text, seems also to be positive (4.6), while shimo

食墨 'eating up the ink', which is generally positive, is negative in our text (line 4.5.2). 31

Convergence (cui 萃) seems to be negative while divergence (ti 逖, tuo 脫) seems to be

positive. Lacking an interpretation of the key elements 'three clusters' and 'three tips' 32 , these

29
Not always with all three of them, but at least two of them- as there are only 9 lines, some of which defective, this
allows the inference that these features apply to all three of them.
30
See the following passage from Li Quan’s 李筌 (ca. 742–743) mid-eighth-century Taibai yinjing 太白陰經 (Secret
classic of Grand White [i.e., Venus]) “Guibu pian” 龜卜篇 (Chapter on pyro-plastromancy) (from Kory 2012: 153-4,
relevant terms are underlined by me): 我往攻彼，則彼為主。兆欲頭伏足落。及格橫，身內摧折，暗霧，昏驚，
震動，猖狂，文不食墨，火天穿者，破軍殺將。彼來攻我，兆欲頭仰足舉。彼支援助，身內有力，食墨，
鮮明，肥濃，安穩 "If I proceed to attack others, then they represent the “host.” The desired crack omen is “head
bowing down and foot falling.” If [the crack] is “straight transversal,” if the body [of the crack] is shattered within,
[or] if [the crack is] dark and foggy, confused and startled, trembling as it moves, crazed and frenzied, [or if] the
pattern does not “eat the ink,” [or in cases of] the fiery and Heavenly penetrator, their army will be broken, and their
general killed. If others are coming to attack me, the desired crack omen is “head looking up and foot lifting up.” If
other branches are aided and assisted, if their inner bodies possess strength, if they eat the ink, are fresh and clear, or
are fat and potent, then safe and secure [for me]." See more in general Kory 2012 chapter 3, especially pages 143-144
and 150.
31
It is possible that features like curviness and eating the ink might be positive or negative depending on the factor
they associate with, so that 'eating the ink' might be positive if associated with the three clusters, while it is negative
associated with the three tips. While this is just speculation in this case, we know that in the Gui ce liezhuan 龜策列
傳 the same configuration (foot raised) could mean death while divining about sickness but means success in divining
about obtaining something (in the final paragraph of the book, the methodological statement called da lun 大論 'great
discussion' see Shaughnessy 1980: 50).
32
The reader can refer to Cheng 2013 and Lin 2013 for some discussion on the issue. Lin 2013 gives the following
image, that I provide here merely as a reference (the image gives a reasonable model for the three tips, but leaves open

12
correspondences remain purely formal, allowing us to describe the textual system but not to draw

inferences on its relationship with other systems 33.

The 'cracks as body' system, both in this manuscripts and in the Gui ce liezhuan 龜策列傳,

does not seem to be hierarchically organized; the different items (head, chest, foot, etc.) all playing

a seemingly equal role, as happens in the 'Hong Fan' passage from the Shangshu discussing the

roles of the King's heart, his dignitaries, the noblemen, the common people, as well the tortoise

and milfoil oracles in achieving the aim of divination, namely the resolution of doubts 34.

the issue of how there could be three clusters):

33
One could attempt to find textual reference to multiple crackings in the Gui ce liezhuan 龜策列傳. Consider the
following passage:卜先以造灼鑽。鑽中已，又灼龜首各三。 (page 3240 of the Zhonghua Shuju edition) "In
cracking, first apply the scorch to the drilled hollow. When [the scorching of] the drilled hollow’s center is done, go
on to scorch three turtle-head hollows” (Kory's translation, modified to reflect the different punctuation; see
Shaughnessy 1980: 29 note 61 and Kory 2012: 137 note 51). The text is problematic as it can be (and generally is)
read with a different punctuation, separating 各三 from the preceding passage. I will here leave the question open.
34
I here give the whole passage (in Karlgren's translation, modified): 汝則有大疑, 謀及乃心謀及乃心, 謀及卿士,
謀及庶人, 謀及卜筮. 汝則從, 龜從筮從, 卿士從。庶民從, 是之謂大同, 身其康彊. 子孫其逄, 吉. 汝則從, 龜從。
筮從, 卿士逆。庶民逆, 吉. 卿士從, 龜從。筮從, 汝則逆。庶民逆, 吉. 庶民從, 龜從。筮從, 汝則逆。卿士逆, 吉.
汝則從, 龜從。筮逆, 卿士逆。庶民逆, 作內吉, 作外凶, 龜筮共違于人, 用靜吉, 用作凶. (尚書, 洪範, 十三經注
疏, Zhonghua Shuju 1980 ed., p. 191.) "Now you have a great doubt; then consult with your heart, consult with the
dignitaries and noblemen, consult with the common people, consult with the tortoise and milfoil oracles. Now you
consent (sc. to a certain action), the tortoise consents, the milfoil consents, the dignitaries and noblemen consent, the
common people consent; that is called the great concord; your person will be prosperous and strong, your sons and
grandsons will be great; it is auspicious. Now you consent, the tortoise consents, the milfoil consents, but the
dignitaries and noblemen oppose, the common people oppose, it is still auspicious. The dignitaries and noblemen
consent, the tortoise consents, the milfoil consents, but you oppose and the common people oppose; it is (still)
auspicious. The common people consent, the tortoise consents, the milfoil consents, but you oppose and the dignitaries
and noblemen oppose; it is (still) auspicious. Now you consent, the tortoise consents, but the milfoil opposes, the
dignitaries and noblemen oppose, the common people oppose; in internal affairs it is auspicious, in external affairs

13
 On the contrary, the 'cracks as web' system is hierarchically structured, with the three

clusters dominating the three tips, as can be seen by comparing lines 4.6 and 4.7. In line 4.6 a

negative feature of the three tips (defectiveness) is not enough to overcome a fundamentally

positive configuration of the three clusters (curviness and divergence), while in line 4.7 a positive

feature of the three tips (auspiciousness 35) is overcome by a negative feature of the three clusters

(convergence).

While the above analysis points to a fairly complete system, this completeness needs to be

seen against a characteristic of our text that we have already noted while discussing, separately,

part one and part two: the negativity of all prognostications. If divination is an attempt not only to

resolve doubts but also to control events 36 , a divination treatise focusing entirely on negative

events makes sense only if it is a subset of a larger treatise, other parts of which might contain

symmetrical, positive events, or perhaps sections with methods to deal with such negative

outcomes, such as prayers and exorcisms (in the Baoshan texts, for example, divinatory statements

consist of two prognostications, the first of which is negative while the second, following proposals

for sacrifices and exorcisms, positive) 37.

Therefore, while the text is cohesive and conceptually relatively closed, it is also most

likely not self-sufficient, but merely a part of a whole that might or might not be later made known

to us.

(sc. outside the state ) it is baleful. When tortoise and milfoil both go counter to men, to remain still is auspicious, to
act is baleful."
35
This is the only feature that seems not to be descriptive, but directly pointing to an interpretation of the crack on the
basis of some unspecified features.
36
See Shaughnessy 1983: 56.
37
See Kalinowski 2009: 380-381.

14
 Part 2. Annotated Translation 38

1.1 肥叔曰：兆仰首出趾 39，是謂闢，卜人無咎，將去其里，而它方焉 40適。

Fei Shu said: when the crack is raising on the top and falling at the bottom, this is referred

to as "opening"; the initiator of the question will have no trouble, but he will leave his hamlet and

go to another place.

2.1 季曾曰：兆俯 41首納趾 42，是謂【一】陷 43，處宮無咎，有疾乃簪 44。

38
The numbering of the lines is mainly based on Cheng 2013.
39
Literally "raising the head and sending forth the feet"-see section 1.4.2. In the Gui ce liezhuan 龜策列傳, zu 足'foot'
is used instead of zhi 趾.
40
Yan 焉: used as yu zhi 於之 'from there', or just as post-topical particle, as often in the Guodian and Shanghai
Museum Manuscripts, as in the following example: 我何爲，歲焉熟？ “What should I do, so that the harvest be
ripe?”: (Jian da wang bo han 柬大王泊旱, strip 13, Shanghai Museum Collection vol. 4).
41
Li Ling transcribes the character as tiao 頫 'bend the head'. According to Gao Heng 1989: 366, tiao 頫 is the guwen
古文 form of fu 俯 (see also Grammata Serica Recensa 1145m), but this transcription is problematic, as the character
consists of the elements “頁” and “九”, and jiu 九 *kuʔ is not a good phonetic for tiao 頫 *lhiâuh. I accept the
emendation proposed by JBYD, so that the text here matches more closely the terminology used in the Gui ce liezhuan
龜策列傳. According to JBYD 01-06 02:10 九 is a graphic mistake for bao 勹/包 *bru. Fu 俯 is *poʔ in Old Chinese,
with the same initial (the presence of -r- does not affect the similarity of the initials) but a different main vowel.
Different main vowels do not generally allow phonetic loans, but He 1998: 236 and Wang Hui 2008: 151 show
examples of bao 勹 *bru standing for fu 符 *bo, supporting the argument for the likelihood of 'u'/'o' interchange in the
Chu manuscripts.
42
Literally "lowering the head and bringing in the feet"-see section 1.4.1. The phrase 俯首納趾 is the exact opposite
of the phrase 仰首出趾 in line 3.1 below.
43
I follow Li Ling in reading the character as xian 陷*grɘ̂ms; JBYD 01-05 10:54 proposed to change it into chen 沈
*drɘ̂m but there is no compelling reason to do it (see also JBYD 01-06 21:11).
44
Li Ling transcribes this character as shi 適 'to go'. The identification of the character under discussion here is a much
debated issue. Chen Jian argued at length that it should be transcribed as cong 琮 *dzûŋ 'a piece of jade' and read as
cong 從 *dzoŋ 'to go'. (Chen 2006). Bai 2008:248 shows that it can be read both as can 憯 *tshɘ̂mʔ 'grieved' and zhen
簪 *tsrɘ̂m 'quick' as well as cong 從, which would imply, in my understanding, that it can write two different words,

15
 Ji Zeng said: when the top of the crack goes down and the bottom is raised, this is referred

to as "sinking"; for staying in the (present) palace there will be no trouble, but if there is sickness,

it will quicken.

3.1 蔡 45
公曰：兆如仰首出趾，而沌背混膺 46
，是謂蔽 47
，卜火 48
龜其有吝；處，

【二】不占 49大汙，乃占大谷。

Lord Cai said: when the crack seems to be raised at the top and lowered at the bottom, and

the back and the front are unclear (in their contour?), this is referred to as "obscure"; to crack a

burned up turtle is a bad omen (?); if the location is not prognosticated as being too moisty, then it

is prognosticated as being in a great valley (=in both cases, unsuitable to live in);

a rare but verified phenomenon. I read as zhen 簪 'quick', on the basis of its occurrence in the Shanghai Museum
manuscript of the Zhou Yi. See Ji 2007 (vol. 3): 42-43 for an exhaustive discussion. As shown in Appendix Two, xian
陷 and zhen 簪 rhyme.
45
蔡 Li Ling transcribes this graph as ; characters with phonetic jian 戔 are often read as cai 蔡 in the Chu
manuscripts- see Bai 2008: 366-7 and Chen 2009: 231 n. 7.
46
Li Ling transcribes this sequence of graphs as 屯 [=純] 不困膺, and the meaning of the sequence is left by him
unclear. I follow JBYD 01-08: 09:50 in understanding bu 不*pɘʔ as bei 背*pɘ̂kh 'back' in opposition to ying 膺 'front'
(literally 'chest'). This prompts to understand kun 困 *khûns as hun 混 *kûn, in analogy with dun 沌, both meaning
"unclear". The word following bei 背*pɘ̂kh starts with a k-, which could explains why the scribe might have heard
the sequence *pɘ̂kh kûn as *pɘʔ kûn (supposing oral and not written transmission of the text).
47
Li Ling transcribes it as pei 犻 *pɘt and reads it as fu 拂 *pɘt 'to go against'. I follow Lin 2013 in reading it as bi 蔽
*pets 'cover' which often interchanges with words with main vowel 'e' in the Chu manuscripts (see Bai 2008: 201 and
the examples reported in Lin 2013 at notes 11 and 12); furthermore, in this way bi 蔽 *pets rhymes with mie 滅 *met,
and the rhyming scheme is an important structural feature of this text.
48
Li Ling transcribes this graph as “火+見”，and reads it as lian 覝 'to examine'. JBYD 01-06 00:55 transcribes it as
火+色, and understands it as huo 火. Huo gui 火龜 is, according to Er Ya (爾雅•釋魚), one kind of turtle. I take huo
火 here verbally (as in the following example from the Zuozhuan 夏，Duke Xuan, year 16: 成 周 宣 榭 火。人 火
之 也。"In summer, the pavilion of Duke Xuan at Chengzhou was set on fire. People set it on fire."- Yang Bojun
edition, p. 769). Lin 2013 understands the character as zhe 赭 'red', but without good paleographical reasons.
49
Li Ling transcribes this graph as zhan 沾 'wet'. The character consists of 水+占; whether it stands for zhan 沾 'wet'
or zhan 占 'to prognosticate' is open to interpretation (and is left open by Li Ling himself). I prefer to understand it as
zhan 占 'to prognosticate ' because the grammar of the clause seems therefore more natural.

16
 3.2 曰：兆小陷，是謂滅 50。小子吉，長子 51乃哭；用處宮[...謂]【三】 瀆 52。

He said: when the crack is slightly sinking (=going downward, a bad omen), this is referred

to as "extinguishing". The young son prospers, while the older son cries, therefore to inhabit the

palace [notwithstanding this omen… is referred to as being] rebellious (?).

3.3 肣 53高上，嬰 54純深，是謂幵 [=肩?] 55。婦人幵[=肩?]以飲食，丈夫深以伏匿。

50
See introduction. Li Ling transcribes the character as and, based on the mo 末 *mat phonetic, reads it as mie 滅
*met. Lin 2013, on the basis of the same phonetic, proposes mei 昧 *mɘ̂s 'obscure'. Both options are problematic on
phonetic grounds- I choose mie 滅 *met because, notwithstanding the different main vowel, it preserves the rhyming
with bi 蔽 *pets (note that the phonetic series containing mie 滅, GSR 311, has also elements with 'a' vowel, like 襪
*mat). BYL 202 gives examples of loans between mo 末 *mat and mie 滅 *met (but compare with the discussion by
Gao 2008: 260-266).
51
The character here is chang 倀, followed by a reduplication mark; Li Ling reads the character as a joined graph
(hewen 合文) for zhang ren 丈人 'husband' (with chang 倀 *thraŋ= zhang 丈 *draŋʔ); in strip 4 the same character is
read as zhangfu 丈夫 'husband'. I read zhang zi 長子 'older son' because it is an attested joined graph (see Tang
2001:1008), to preserve the parallelism with xiao zi 小子 (or shao zi 少子) 'younger son', and also because, other
things being equal, keeping the original graph is to be preferred to adopting a phonetic loan.
52
Du 瀆 'to treat without the proper respect', as in 禮記·17·1/21 毋瀆神: “do not treat spirits without proper respect.”
53
According to Li Ling, this character is used in the Gui ce liezhuan 龜策列傳 in two kinds of context: in some it is
parallel to shou 首 ‘head’ and zu 足 ‘foot’ as a term referring to the middle portion of the crack; in other contexts it is
used verbally, defined as lian 斂 'collect, retract' in the Suoyin 索隱 commentary to the Shiji 史記. I follow Li Ling’s
gloss as ‘chest’, based also on a gloss in the Yupian 玉篇 treating it as niu fu 牛腹 ‘ox belly’. Kory (2012: 138 n.56)
interprets it as verbal, antonym of kai 開 ‘open [up]’, throughout the Gui ce liezhuan 龜策列傳.
54
JBYD 01-08 23:55 modifies Li Ling's transcription from 𠧞𠧞 [兆+卜] into [妟+卜]= ying 嬰 'necklace'(see HLY:
780- strictly speaking, it should be [妟+卜], but 妟=嬰, see He 1998:969). In this way the sentence is made up of two
parallel clauses.
55
Li Ling transcribes the graph as kai 开 ‘open’, which is a technical term used in the Gui ce liezhuan 龜策列傳, but
paleographically it should be instead transcribed as the graphically similar but unrelated graph jian 幵 * ken (He
1998:998), whose meaning is given by the Shuowen as ‘even, level’ (but such meaning is not textually attested- see
Grammata Serica Recensa n. 239). JBYD 01-08 23:55 proposes qian 淺 *tshenʔ ‘shallow’, which matches shen 深
‘deep’ given above- but the initials are not compatible. I tentatively propose the homophone jian 肩 * ken ‘shoulder,
to carry’.

17
 The middle of the crack rises, its 'neck' is obscure and deep, this is referred to as

"shouldering(?)". The wife shoulders (the task of) carrying food and drinks while the husband stays

deeply hidden (?).

4.1 一占 […] 【四】[…] 吉，邦必有疾。

The first prognostication [...] auspicious. There must be sickness in the state.

4.2 凡三簇 56有疵 57，三末 58唯吉，如白如黃, 貞邦 59 [...] 【五】夫.

In all cases, when the "three clusters" have flaws, even if the "three tips" are auspicious,

and are both white and yellow, the divination about the state [...] (?).

56
The direct transcription of the graph is zu 族, which Li Ling interprets as standing for zu 'clan'. I follow Cheng 2013
in transcribing it as zu 簇 'cluster'. See section 1.4.2.
57
The direct transcription of the graph is ci 此'this'-. I follow Cheng 2013 in transcribing it as ci 疵 'flaw'.
58
The 'three tips' are a crack configuration factor opposed to the 'three clusters'. See section 1.4.2.
59
This is the only case in the bamboo manuscript where the affairs of the state are being divined about- divination is
generally about private affairs, like health, abode, career (see Yan 2010:209 ff). The phrase zhen bang 貞邦 'to divine
about the state' does not occur in the received or excavated literature, but the Zhou li 周禮 'Rites of Zhou' discusses in
the following passage eight charges (ming 命) to be addressed to the turtle about the affairs of the state (bang shi 邦
事):以邦事作龜之八命一曰征二曰象三曰與四曰謀五曰果六曰至七曰雨 八曰瘳 [...] 凡國大貞卜立君卜大封則
眡高作龜. (周禮,春官宗伯, 十三經注疏, Zhonghua Shuju 1980 ed., p. 803) "The eight charges for which one
prepares the turtle (to divine) about the affairs of the state are: 1) warfare; 2) heavenly omens; 3) tributes; 4) strategic
deliberations; 5) outcomes; 6) arrivals; 7) rain; 8) healing. [...]. In each case when making a great divination about
the state, such as divining about setting up a new sovereign or about a great enfeoffment, one should inspect the top
(of the plastron) in preparing the turtle." Besides establishing a new sovereign and enfeoffments, another object of
state divination was the number of generations a dynasty would last (see Kory 2012: 224), as in the following passage
from the Zuozhuan: 成王定鼎于郟鄏，卜世三十， 卜年七百, 天所命也。(Duke Xuan 宣公, year 3, Yang Bojun
edition p. 672) "When King Cheng (of Zhou) put the cauldrons in place at his capital in Jiaru, he divined by the
tortoiseshell the number of generations (of his dynasty) with the result ‘thirty’, and he divined to determine the number
of years with the result ‘seven hundred’. This was mandated by Heaven.” Lines 4.5.1-4.5.2 seem to be interpretable
in this sense.

18
 4.3 貞卜邦：兆唯起鉤，如 60白如赤，如萃 61以逖 62，貞邦無咎，繄 63將有役 64。

In divining with turtle shells about the state: if the crack rises like a hook, and it is white

and red, if the cracks (first) converge and then diverge, in the divination about the state there will

be no troubles, it’s only that there will be corvees.

4.4 如 [...] 【六】食墨 65，亦無它色。

60
Li Ling transcribes the character as wu 毋'do not'; I follow Lin 2013 in transcribing it as the graphically very similar
characters nü 女= ru 如 'to be like', which allows to construct the sentence as parallel to the preceding lines (see a list
of shapes of the two graphs in Teng 2008 : 1006ff., and 1018ff.)
61
Li Ling transcribes the character as zu 卒 'finally'; I follow Lin 2013 in reading it as cui 萃 'collect, assemble'.
62
Li Ling transcribes the character as yi 易*lek 'to change'. I follow Lin 2013 in reading it as ti 逖 *lhêk 'distant'
(intepreted inchoatively as 'to become distant, to diverge', in opposition to cui 萃, which here is interpreted as 'to
converge').
63
Chen Jian (as reported by Cheng 2013) gives this character as yi 抑, as has become common in the recent literature.
This choice seem to be mainly based on the assumption of a strong phonetic similarity between yi 繄 *ʔî and yi 抑
*ʔə̂k (see for example Qin Hualin 秦樺林, Shangbo jian 'Lu Bang da Han' xuci zhaji 上博簡《魯邦大旱》虚詞劄
記 'Notes on function words in the Shanghai Museum Bamboo Manuscript 'The great drought in the state of Lu', at
the following address: http://www.bamboosilk.org/Wssf/2003/qinhualin01.htm :“殹”屬影母脂部，“抑”屬影母質
部，爲阴入對轉，可以通假"). This similarity is not strong enough to warrant loanword relationships when using
modern systems of phonological reconstruction like Schuessler's, based on Baxter.
64
Public works could be a minor disaster, as shown by two omenological passages from the Shanhaijing (see Fracasso
1983):
a) 有獸焉，其狀如豚，有距〔五〕，其音如狗吠，其名曰貍力，見則其縣多土功.: "There is an animal on
Mount Teawillow which looks like a suckling pig and it has cock spurs. It makes a noise like a dog barking. Its name
is the wildcat-strength. Wherever it appears there will be major earthworks in that district." (Birrel's translation, Yuan
1980 edition p. 10).
b) 有獸焉，其狀如人而彘鬣 穴居而冬蟄，其名曰猾褢，其音如斲木，見則縣有大繇 (郭璞云: 謂作役也)。
"There is an animal on this mountain which looks like a human, but it has hog bristles. It lives in a cave and in winter
it hibernates. Its name is the tricky wrap. It makes a noise like wood being chopped. Wherever it appears there will be
an extensive military draft for that district (gloss by Guo Pu: 'it refers to instituting corvees')." (Birrel's translation,
Yuan 1980 edition p. 10)
65
In this context, mo 墨'ink' refers to the area of the crack (see Chen 1991 for a short definition and Liu 1992: 178-
181 for a thorough discussion of all alternative interpretations).
According to Kong Yingda's commentary to a Shangshu passage about diving the location of a new capital, the
expression 食 (此) 墨 (eating up the blackened area) implies the matching of the crack with its contour previously
drawn with ink. I first give the passage and then the comment: 予惟乙卯, 朝至于洛師, 我卜河朔黎水, 我乃卜澗水

19
 If [...] the crack eats the ink [therefore matching the pre-drawn contour], and there are no

other colors.

4.5.1 淵 66公占之曰：三簇之脫 67，周邦有吝, 亦不絕；

Lord Yuan prognosticated about it, saying: if the "three clusters" diverge, there will be

misery in the land of Zhou, and yet it will not be extinguished.

東, 瀍水西, 惟洛食(＝飭), 我又卜瀍水東, 亦惟洛食, 伻來以圖及獻卜 (尚書,洛誥, 十三經注疏, Zhonghua Shuju

1980 ed., p. 214) "On the day yimao, in the morning I came to (the intended) capital Luo, I prognosticated about (the
region of) the Li river north of the He; I then prognosticated about (the region) east of the Jian river, and the west of
the Chan river; but it was the region of Luo that was ordered (sc. by the oracle). Again I prognosticated about (the
region) east of the Chan river; but again, it was (the region of) Luo that was ordered. I have sent a messenger to come
(to the king) and to bring a map and to present the oracles." Kong Yingda's Comment: 凡卜之者, 必先以墨畫龜, 要
坼依此墨, 然後灼之, 求其兆, 順食此墨畫之處, 故云惟洛食 "Whenever one divines about something, one must use
ink to draw on the turtle, and the main cracks should follow this ink, and when then one applies heat there, trying to
obtain the proper cracks, they should accordingly eat up the area drawn with the ink, so the text says "it was the Luo
that was eaten up".
According to Zheng Xuan's commentary to a passage in the Zhouli, it denotes the width of the crack:
凡卜筮君占體大夫占色史占墨卜人占坼. [鄭玄云墨兆廣也] (周禮, 春官宗伯, 占人, 十三經注疏, Zhonghua
Shuju 1980 ed., p. 805) "Whenever one divines, the lord examines the body (of the crack), the official its color, the
scribe its blackness, the diviner its (minor) cracks [around the main crack]. [According to Zheng Xuan's commentary
'blackness stands for the crack's width']". I here tentatively follow the first interpretation.
66
Li Ling transcribes the character as , but Cheng 2013 shows that this is not an accurate transcription. I follow
Cheng 2013 in transcribing this character as 囦= yuan 淵.
67
The direct transcription of the graph is duo 敚 *lot 'to snatch', which Li Ling reads as duo 奪 *lôt 'to grasp, to obtain';
Cheng 2013 propends for rui 銳 *lots 'sharp', a word that would here refer to the shape of the crack. I follow Lin 2013
in reading it as tuo 脫 *lôt 'to take off, to escape', in analogy with ti 逖 'to diverge' used above.

20
 4.5.2 三末食墨且蒙 68，我周之子孫其【七】散 69于百邦，大貞邦亦兇。

If for the "three tips" the crack eats the ink [=matches the contour] and it is obscure

[unclear], the progeny of our state of Zhou will be scattered in the various states. The great

divination about the state will also be inauspicious.

68
Li Ling transcribes the graph as 𧙕𧙕 and reads it as mei 昧 'obscure'; I follow Cheng 2013 in transcribing it as [衣+
丰], with feng 丰 *phoŋ being the phonetic element, and reading it as meng 蒙 *moŋ 'cover, dark, blind'. Leung
(unpublished paper) reads it as biao 表 *pauʔ and understands it as a loan for fu 孚 *phu, a technical divination term
used in the Zhou Yi in the sense of 'matching' (with the traditional gloss xin 信 'trust'). The idea of interpreting biao
表 as fu 孚 in the Chu manuscripts has been first proposed by Chen Jian, then taken over by Qiu Xigui and finally
expanded by Shen Pei. Shen pointed also to another case (in the Shanghai Museum Bamboo Manuscript Jian da wang
bo han 柬大王泊旱 ‘The great king Jian (of Chu) exposes himself to dispel the drought’, strips 3-4) where a near
homophone (and guwen 古文 form) of biao 表, pao 麃 *brâuʔ, should be read as fu 孚 (see his article “Cong
Zhanguojian Kan Guren Zhanbu de Bizhi－Jianlun Yisui Shuo” 從戰國簡看古人占卜的「蔽志」─兼論「移祟」
說, embodied in Guwenzi yu Gudai Shi Volume 1 古文字與古代史第一輯(Taipei: Institute of History and Philology,
Academia Sinica), p. 391-434, available online at the following address:
=http://www.gwz.fudan.edu.cn/SrcShow.asp?Src_ID=212). I will not provide a full discussion of this analysis, as
Leung's article, which should be published soon, has a full paleographical and phonological discussion of the issue,
advocating the biao 表 = fu 孚 interpretation and elaborating on its implications for our understanding of the text in
the context of divinatory literature, especially in its relationships with the Zhouyi. I will simply point out that the main
vowels 'au' and 'u' rarely interchange, even though we do have cases of these vowels alternating in the same phonetic
series (including the fu 孚 phonetic series) and even though Wang 2008:176, item n.1281 has three examples of words
written with piao 票 *phiau phonetic that might be interpreted as fu 孚*phu (but all of them are problematic, two
being interpretable as synonyms rather than phonetic loans, and one writing a proper name, and proper names tend
routinely to present both graphic and phonetic variation, and are therefore not reliable). I will therefore here
provisionally stick to the reading meng 蒙 'obscure' (even though the initials of feng 丰 and meng 蒙 do not match
easily) based also on the fact that in this way the rhyming between the elements 蒙*môŋ/邦*prôŋ/兇*hoŋ is preserved,
and rhyming seems a strong feature of the text (but see infra note 73). I thank Axel Schuessler for his insights on this
issue.
69
Li Ling transcribes the character as [戔+止] and reads it as can 殘*dzân 'damage, fragment'. BYZD proposes qian
遷* tshan 'to remove, to be removed'. I follow Lin 2013 in reading it as san 散*sân 'to scatter'.

21
 4.6 淵公占之曰：若卜貞邦，三簇句指 70
而逖；三末唯敗 71
，亡大咎，有【八】吝

於外。

Lord Yuan prognosticated about it saying: in divining with turtle shells about the state,

when the three clusters are curvy and diverge, even though the "three tips" are defective, there will

not be a great trouble, and there will be misery (merely) outside.

4.7 如三末唯吉，三簇是萃 72，亦亡大咎，有吝於內。

But even if the "three tips" are auspicious, if the "three clusters" really converge, still, even

though there will be no great trouble, there will be misery inside.

70
Li Ling transcribes the two characters as ju zhi 句指 and understands them as ju li 苟慄 "uneasy and scared", with a
phonologically problematic equivalence 指 *kiʔ=慄 *rit. In fact ju zhi 句指 *kôʔkiʔ is a bysillabic alitterative adverb
or lianmianzi 連綿詞 meaning 'curved, bent down' (also written 句倨*kôʔka and 拮据*kôʔkeʔ, a graphic and phonetic
variation typical of these kind of words). Fu 1954 provides the following examples:
今取新聖人書，名之 孔 、 墨 ，則弟子句指而受者必眾矣。(淮南子, 修務訓, Zhuzi jicheng ed. p. 344)
"Now if we take the books of the recent sages and ascribe to them the names of Confucius and Mozi, there will
certainly be many among their disciples that will bend down [as a sign of respect] and receive them."
故身之倨佝，手之高下，颜色声气，各有宜称，所以明尊卑，别疏戚也。(新書, 容經, 兵車之容, from 賈誼
新書譯註, 黑龍江人民, 2003, p. 188).
"So, the curviness of the body, the height (of the position) of the hands, the countenance and the tone (of the voice),
each have their own matching, by means of which one can make clear the difference between noble and base and
distinguish between foreign and kin."
Cai Wei 蔡偉 has a recent paper discussing the usage of this bi-syllabic adverb on the basis of many examples in the
received literature and of its occurrence in another manuscript in volume 9 of the Shanghai Museum collection, Yu
wang Tianxia 禹王天下 (Yu reigned over all under Heaven):
手句指, 身命[min= lin 鱗?]粗, 禹使民以二和. (禹王天下 strip 31)
"(His) hands curved, (his) body scaly (?) and coarse, Yu made the people doubly harmonious."
71
I translate bai 敗 as 'defective' [= 'unclear' in their contour], interpreting the term as designating their shape, like in
most cases above; it could also be interpreted as a being a prognostication based on the shape of the three tips (just
like ji 吉 'auspicious' in line 4.7); and translated as 'defeat'.
72
The direct transcription of the graph is ; Li Ling reads it as zu 瘁'''distressed'; I follow LZP in reading it as cui
萃 'collect, assemble'.

22
 4.8 如三簇【...九】兇，兆不利邦貞。【十】

If the three clusters [...] are inauspicious, the cracks will not be favorable in divining about

the state.

23
 Bibliography

Bai Yulan 白 於 藍 . Jiandu boshu tongjiazi zidian 簡 牘 帛 書 通 假 字 字 典 [Dictionary of

interchangeable characters in tablets and silk documents]. Fuzhou: Fujian renmin
chubanshe, 2008.
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 Appendix One

Structure of the piece

Yellow=preface (diviner's name, verb of saying and divination topic)

Green= crack configuration

Blue= crack configuration's name

Purple= prognostication

Rhyming words are in bold

Part 1

1.1 肥叔曰：兆仰首出趾，是謂闢，卜人無咎，將去其里，而它方焉適。

2.1 季曾曰：兆俯首納趾，是謂【一】陷，處宮無咎，有疾乃簪。

3.1 蔡 公曰：兆如仰首出趾，而沌背混膺，是謂蔽，卜火龜其有吝；處，【二】不占大汙，乃占
大谷。

3.2 曰：兆小陷，是謂滅。小子吉，長子乃哭 ；用處宮[...謂]【三】 瀆 。

3.3 肣高上，嬰純深，是謂幵[=肩?]。婦人幵[=肩?]以飲食，丈夫深以伏匿。

Part 2

4.1 一占 […]【四】[…] 吉，邦必有疾。

4.2 凡三簇有疵，三末唯吉，如白如黃, 貞邦 [...]【五】夫.

4.3 貞卜邦：兆唯起鉤，如白如赤，如萃以逖. 貞邦無咎，繄 將有役。

4.4 如 [...]【六】食墨，亦無它色。

4.5.1 淵公占之曰：三簇之脫，周邦有吝, 亦不絕；

4.5.2 三末食墨且蒙，我周之子孫其【七】散于百邦，大貞邦亦兇。

4.6 淵公占之曰：若卜貞邦，三簇句指而逖；三末唯敗，亡大咎，有【八】吝於外。

4.7 如三末唯吉，三簇是萃，亦亡大咎，有吝於內。

4.8 如三簇【...九】兇，兆不利邦貞。【十】

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 Appendix Two
Rhyming words

lines
1.1 闢*bek 適*lhek
2.2 陷*grɘ̂ms 簪*tsrɘ̂m
3.1 蔽 *pets 滅 *met
3.2 谷*klok 瀆*khôk
3.3 食*m-lɘk 匿*nrɘk
4.1 吉*kit 疾*dzit
4.3 逖*lêk 役*wek
4.4 墨*mɘ̂k 色*srɘk
4.5.1 脫*lot 絕*dzot
4.5.2 蒙*môŋ 73 邦*prôŋ 兇*hoŋ
4.6 敗*prâts 外*ŋwâts
4.7 萃*dzuts 內*nûts

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Line 4.5.1 is the only one with three rhyming elements, and the rhyming character meng 蒙 'obscure' is object of
debate and possibly extrametrical (Schuessler). See discussion in the relevant note.

30