Hexagram 56 — Sojourning
King Wen #56 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
The wanderer. On strange ground, keep humble, careful and correct in small things.
What Hexagram 56 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 56 places mountain (艮) beneath fire (离) — stillness holding its ground below, light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Sojourning”: the wanderer. On strange ground, keep humble, careful and correct in small things. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
山上有火，旅；君子以明慎用刑，而不留獄。
(The trigram representing) a mountain and above it that for fire form Lü. The superior man, in accordance with this, exerts his wisdom and caution in the use of punishments and not allowing litigations to continue.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Fire on the mountain: the wanderer. The wise use penalties clearly and cautiously, and let no case linger.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 56 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Sojourning describes the wanderer. On strange ground, keep humble, careful and correct in small things — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: stillness holding its ground, held inside a larger setting of light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Sojourning about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: the wanderer. On strange ground, keep humble, careful and correct in small things. When lines move in your cast, read them against this base — the moving lines show which part of the figure is awake for you, and the changed hexagram shows where it is heading.
Questions About Hexagram 56
What does 旅 (lǚ) mean?
Hexagram 56 of the I Ching is named 旅 (lǚ), usually rendered "Sojourning" in English editions. Its figure is built from mountain (艮) below and fire (离) above — stillness holding its ground beneath light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates.
Is hexagram 56 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 56 is warm: it contains one occurrence of 吉 (good fortune), 1 of 凶 (misfortune). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached.
What does hexagram 56 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Sojourning points to the wanderer. On strange ground, keep humble, careful and correct in small things. The figure pairs mountain (艮) beneath fire (离) — stillness holding its ground meeting light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates — which is the traditional picture of how this energy behaves between two people. For how to phrase a love question before casting, see our guide to asking the I Ching about love.
What does hexagram 56 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Sojourning through the figure itself: mountain (艮) below, fire (离) above — stillness holding its ground held inside light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates. The plain reading: The wanderer. On strange ground, keep humble, careful and correct in small things. The text carries 1 mention of 吉 (good fortune) and 1 of 凶 (misfortune), so it is read as workable — provided the conduct the lines describe is kept.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 56 mean?
A cast of hexagram 56 can produce moving lines. Each of the six lines has its own statement (爻辭) in the classical text below, read from the bottom up, and a moving line is read as the part of the figure that is awake for your question. When a line moves it turns into its opposite, and the whole figure becomes a second hexagram: changing every line of 56 gives hexagram 60, 節 (Articulating). Every line also has a page of its own on this site — Line 1 through Line 6 under this hexagram — with the classical Chinese and Legge's translation side by side.
How is hexagram 56 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 56 gives hexagram 60 — 節 (Articulating). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 55 — 豐 (Abounding). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 28 — 大過 (Great Exceeding).
Cast it yourself
Shake the tube, watch your own coins fall.
- The hexagram's classical meaning — judgment and all six lines
- Moving lines marked — but not read for you
- No account, no email, nothing to pay
Get the reading, not just the text
Same cast, read all the way through:
- Every line read for you — what each moving line means inside your question
- The changed hexagram — where your situation is heading, and how to read the turn
- A closing that answers you directly — act, wait, or say it out loud
New to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
The Classical Text 經文
小亨，旅貞吉。
Lu intimates that (in the condition which it denotes) there may be some little attainment and progress. If the stranger or traveller be firm and correct as he ought to be, there will be good fortune.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
旅瑣瑣，斯其所取災。
The first SIX, divided, shows the stranger mean and meanly occupied. It is thus that he brings on himself (further) calamity.
旅即次，懷其資，得童僕，貞。
The second SIX, divided, shows the stranger, occupying his lodging-house, carrying with him his means of livelihood, and provided with good and trusty servants.
旅焚其次，喪其童僕，貞厲。
The third NINE, undivided, shows the stranger, burning his lodging-house, and having lost his servants. However firm and correct he (try to) be, he will be in peril.
旅于處，得其資斧，我心不快。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows the traveller in a resting-place, having (also) the means of livelihood and the axe, (but still saying), 'I am not at ease in my mind.'
射雉，一矢亡；終以譽命。
The fifth SIX, divided, shows its subject shooting a pheasant. He will lose his arrow, but in the end he will obtain praise and a (high) charge.
鳥焚其巢，旅人先笑後號啕；喪牛于易，凶。
The sixth NINE, undivided, suggests the idea of a bird burning its nest. The stranger, (thus represented), first laughs and then cries out. He has lost his ox(-like docility) too readily and easily. There will be evil.
Line by Line 逐爻细读
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text.2 The Image (象傳) is an ancient text in the public domain; its plain-English gloss here is original to The Hexagrams, not a quotation from any copyrighted edition. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.