Home › I Ching · 64 hexagrams › Hexagram 44
James Legge, 1899 (public domain)
Kau shows a female who is bold and strong. It will not be good to marry (such) a female.
Kau is the hexagram of the unlooked-for meeting: one divided line slips in beneath five strong ones, a bold female unbidden. The oracle is blunt — it will not be good to marry such a female. A chance encounter is not a commission; check it early. Keep what is restless tied and fastened to a metal drag: firm correctness brings good fortune, but if it move in any direction, evil will appear — the lean pig keeps jumping about. Hold the wallet of fish; do not let the intruder reach the guests. Conceal your brilliance like a tree shading the gourd, and a good issue will descend from Heaven. Evil begins as one soft line; checked early, it never grows.
Line 1
The first line, divided, shows how its subject should be kept (like a carriage) tied and fastened to a metal drag, in which case with firm correctness there will be good fortune. (But) if he move in any direction, evil will appear. He will be (like) a lean pig, which is sure to keep jumping about.
Line 2
The second line, undivided, shows its subject with a wallet of fish. There will be no error. But it will not be well to let (the subject of the first line) go forward to the guests.
Line 3
The third line, undivided, shows one from whose buttocks the skin has been stripped so that he walks with difficulty. The position is perilous, but there will be no great error.
Line 4
The fourth line, undivided, shows its subject with his wallet, but no fish in it. This will give rise to evil.
Line 5
The fifth line, undivided, (shows its subject as) a medlar tree overspreading the gourd (beneath it). If he keep his brilliant qualities concealed, (a good issue) will descend (as) from Heaven.
Line 6
The sixth line, undivided, shows its subject receiving others on his horns. There will be occasion for regret, but there will be no error.