Road

A road is read as a course already laid down — a direction with precedent, as opposed to open ground. Roads are Earth: prepared, walked, shared. Traditional reading asks about the surface and the traffic, since a road implies other people have taken it.

It points to a function rather than an event. A road is read as a course already laid down — a direction with precedent, as opposed to open ground. Traditional readings ask what the object is for and whether it is working, rather than treating it as a sign. Walking a familiar road that leads somewhere unfamiliar is widely reported and read as a known method applied to a changed destination.

A fork and a straight run are the two standard cases. The fork is not read as a dilemma but as a point where the course stops being single. It is grouped under Earth (土) in the five-element system.