革
“Skinning” — King Wen #49
Revolution. The old is molting away; change is right when the day for it is believed in.
The Judgment 卦辞
巳日乃孚，元亨利貞，悔亡。
(What takes place as indicated by) Ge is believed in only after it has been accomplished. There will be great progress and success. Advantage will come from being firm and correct. (In that case) occasion for repentance will disappear.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
鞏用黃牛之革。
The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject (as if he were) bound with the skin of a yellow ox.
巳日乃革之，征吉，無咎。
The second SIX, divided, shows its subject making his changes after some time has passed. Action taken will be fortunate. There will be no error.
征凶，貞厲；革言三就，有孚。
The third NINE, undivided, shows that action taken by its subject will be evil. Though he be firm and correct, his position is perilous. If the change (he contemplates) have been three times fully discussed, he will be believed in.
悔亡，有孚改命，吉。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows occasion for repentance disappearing (from its subject). Let him be believed in; and though he change (existing) ordinances, there will be good fortune.
大人虎變，未佔有孚。
The fifth NINE, undivided, shows the great man (producing his changes) as the tiger (does when he) changes (his stripes). Before he divines (and proceeds to action), faith has been reposed in him.
君子豹變，小人革面；征凶，居貞吉。
The sixth SIX, divided, shows the superior man producing his changes as the leopard (does when he) changes (his spots), while small men change their faces (and show their obedience). To go forward (now) would lead to evil, but there will be good fortune in abiding firm and correct.
Reading the Picture
Hexagram 49 places fire (离) beneath lake (兑) —light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates below, joy lifting what it touches above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Skinning”:revolution. The old is molting away; change is right when the day for it is believed in Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
Questions About Hexagram 49
What does 革 (gé) mean?
Hexagram 49 of the I Ching is named 革 (gé), usually rendered "Skinning" in English editions. Its figure pairs fire (离) below with lake (兑) above.
Which trigrams form hexagram 49?
兑 (Lake) sits above and 离 (Fire) sits below — the classical picture is light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates beneath joy lifting what it touches.
How is hexagram 49 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 49 gives hexagram 4 — 蒙 (Enveloping). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 50 — 鼎 (Holding). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 44 — 姤 (Coupling).
Ask your own question
Reading about hexagram 49 is looking it up. Casting it — shaking the tube, watching your own coins fall — is how an answer becomes yours.
Cast this question yourselfNew to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.