Sai

Fish enter the text as a compact political symbol. In two line commentaries, they mark how authority gathers or restrains other figures: a string of fish follows a ruler into the palace in Splitting Apart, while fish carried in a wallet in Coming to Meet stand for a dangerous force kept from advancing. Their meaning is supplied by the line structure and the hexagram’s situation, rather than by independent attention to the animal.

Fish in Splitting Apart

The fifth divided line of Splitting Apart depicts its subject leading the others like a string of fish and obtaining the favor that falls to those within the palace. The commentary explains the image through the hierarchy of the lines: the fifth-line figure is lord of the other weak lines, whose subjects are at his disposal. Because fish belong to the category of yin, they suit the yielding lines; strung together, they make visible their following of the fifth-line leader.

The image then turns from a procession to a question of political allegiance. The fifth-line subject, though representative and controller of the yin lines, is loyal to the strong figure in the sixth line, identified as the rightful sovereign in his palace. He leads the others there to enjoy the sovereign’s favor. Thus the fish are not merely a sign of subordination: their movement also depicts the restoration of the group’s relation to legitimate rule.

Fish in Coming to Meet

In Coming to Meet, the undivided second line has a wallet of fish and is told that it would not be well to let the first-line subject go forward to the guests. The commentary identifies the fish in the wallet with that first-line figure. The second line has gained possession of it through the meaning attributed to the hexagram’s name and, by virtue of its strength, can repress its advance.

This containment matters because the first line is presented as a bold, bad female force seeking to win or subdue the five strong lines. The second-line subject therefore becomes the lord of the hexagram, while the other strong lines are treated as guests; keeping the first line from approaching them is essential. The commentary admits that this explanation seems far-fetched, but says it can find or devise nothing better. The fish image consequently carries interpretive uncertainty as well as a definite function: it makes restraint concrete, while exposing how much the line reading depends on an explanatory reconstruction.

Symbolic Use and Limits

Across these passages, fish take their significance from their position in a system of human relations. In Splitting Apart, they are linked and led toward royal favor; in Coming to Meet, they are contained so that a disruptive figure cannot reach the others. The contrast is between guided following and checked advance, with the line positions determining which relation the animal image expresses.

The wider account of the Changes describes its figures and line texts as symbolic, and explains that a line’s significance varies with the hexagram’s name and subject. Fish therefore do not establish a fixed meaning that applies everywhere. Their role is local: an image through which the commentary interprets hierarchy, allegiance, and the control of political danger.