---
title: Count Itō's Mission to China (1885) — Takashima Ekidan case study
lang: zh-Hant
canonical: https://ekidan.ai/zh/heritage/cases/count-ito-china-negotiation-1885
alternates:
  - ja: https://ekidan.ai/ja/heritage/cases/count-ito-china-negotiation-1885
  - en: https://ekidan.ai/heritage/cases/count-ito-china-negotiation-1885
source: 高島易斷 (Takashima Ekidan), public-domain 1893 English and 1901 Chinese editions
provider: ekidan.ai — AI-assisted I Ching reading grounded in 88 source-verified historical Takashima cases
license: Classical source text is public domain. This structured edition and its modern commentary are © ICHING LLC, ekidan.ai. Attribution requested when quoted.
---

# Count Itō's Mission to China

> As Count Itō sailed for China to negotiate over the Korean affair, Takashima cast the mission and sent his written divination on to Tientsin to be presented to the ambassador.

- Year: 1885
- Hexagram: Hexagram 1 → 14 · Ken (乾) changing to Tai-yū (大有), line 5
- Source: Takashima Ekidan, translated by Shigetake Sugiura (1893), public domain. Quotations are from that translation.
- Hexagram 1: [乾為天 · The Creative](https://ekidan.ai/zh/library/1)
- Hexagram 14: [火天大有 · Great Possession](https://ekidan.ai/zh/library/14)

## The Question

Count Itō left Yokohama for China as ambassador on 28 February of the 18th year of Meiji (1885), to negotiate with the Chinese government over the Korean affair of December the previous year. Takashima divined the result.

## The Cast

He obtained Ken (乾) changing to Tai-yū (大有), with the fifth line moving: "The dragon has flown up into the heaven. Advantageous to see great men."

He read that the two "great men" would set aside small matters and attend only to large ones, and that both would seek a peaceful result serving the people of both countries. He noted that he had earlier obtained Ko changing to Taikwa, and had been afraid of it.

He sent the written divination to Tientsin with a clerk, to be presented to the Count through his secretary Mr. M. Itō.

## The Outcome

In his account, the negotiation closed without disturbance and the ambassador returned home successfully.

## How to Read This Case Today

Ken changing to Tai-yū moves from pure creative force to "great possession" — abundance that has to be held with restraint rather than pressed. The fifth line's counsel to see great men is, in plain terms, an instruction to raise the level of the conversation.

Applied to a negotiation today, it argues for separating the large question from the accumulation of small grievances, and for dealing with whoever can actually decide. Useful as a discipline of attention, not as a prediction of the result.


Source: [高島易斷 AI — ekidan.ai](https://ekidan.ai/zh/heritage/cases/count-ito-china-negotiation-1885)