一陽来復 ichiyō raifuku Favorable Turn Of Fortune

一陽来復 is the turn: a hard time ending and a better one beginning. The same words name the winter solstice, the shortest day, when the light starts back, and so the new year. It is one picture read at three distances, and the tradition keeps all three. Said to someone in a hard year, it does not claim that things are good. It says the turn has come, and it cannot be undone. Which of the three it means is yours to choose.

一陽来復 is composed of the kanji 一 (read ichi) meaning "one", 陽 (read yō) meaning "yang", 来 (read rai) meaning "comes", and 復 (read fuku) meaning "return".

From the I Ching's hexagram of Return, one yang line coming back beneath five yin at the winter solstice; the four characters are first found at the Song court around 1000, and came to Japan in the solstice sermons of the Zen masters of the thirteenth century.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 一陽来復.

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