# Hexagram 56: The Wanderer

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/56
Last updated: 2026-10-07

```
━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
```

- **Upper trigram:** [Li 離](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/li), Fire, the clinging, clarity
- **Lower trigram:** [Gen 艮](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/gen), Mountain, keeping still
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 001101 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

The wanderer. You are moving through territory that is not your home. Travel lightly, treat others with respect, take nothing you cannot carry. Strangers are watching how you conduct yourself; your behavior here establishes who you are in a place where your reputation does not precede you.

## Image

Fire on the mountain, not lingering. The superior person is clear-minded and cautious in imposing penalties and does not prolong lawsuits.

## Counsel

Stay modest in your claims. Be courteous to those whose support is not guaranteed. Do not try to establish deep roots here; this is a transit, not a destination. What you carry out of it, the refinements of character made under unfamiliar conditions, is what matters.

## The six lines

*Numbered from the bottom upward. These line texts are read when that line is changing in a cast.*

### Line 1

> A six at the beginning means:
> If the wanderer busies themself with petty things,
> they draw misfortune upon themself by this.

### Line 2

> A six in the second place means:
> The wanderer comes to the inn.
> They have their possessions with them.
> They gain the perseverance of a young servant.

### Line 3

> A nine in the third place means:
> The wanderer's inn burns down.
> They lose the perseverance of their young servant.
> Danger.

### Line 4

> A nine in the fourth place means:
> The wanderer rests at a place of shelter.
> They gain their possessions and an axe.
> My heart is not glad.

### Line 5

> A six in the fifth place means:
> They shoot a pheasant; with the first arrow it falls.
> In the end, praise and office come through this.

### Line 6

> A nine at the top means:
> The bird's nest burns.
> The wanderer first laughs,
> then must they lament and weep.
> They lose the cow through frivolity. Misfortune!

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [28 Great Preponderance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/28)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [55 Abundance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/55)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [60 Limitation](https://thefreeiching.com/library/60)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [30 The Clinging](https://thefreeiching.com/library/30) |
| Line 2 | [50 The Cauldron](https://thefreeiching.com/library/50) |
| Line 3 | [35 Progress](https://thefreeiching.com/library/35) |
| Line 4 | [52 Keeping Still](https://thefreeiching.com/library/52) |
| Line 5 | [33 Retreat](https://thefreeiching.com/library/33) |
| Line 6 | [62 Small Preponderance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/62) |

Previous: [55 Abundance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/55). Next: [57 The Gentle](https://thefreeiching.com/library/57). [All sixty-four hexagrams](https://thefreeiching.com/library).

*The judgment, image and counsel are original contemporary paraphrases written for The Free I Ching. The line text is the CC0 translation from [jesshewitt/i-ching](https://github.com/jesshewitt/i-ching), derived from Richard Wilhelm's 1924 German edition.*

## Cite this page

The Free I Ching. "Hexagram 56: The Wanderer." https://thefreeiching.com/library/56 (updated 2026-10-07).

*The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice. Short quotations with a link back are welcome. Please do not republish a page in full. The open data files at [/data](https://thefreeiching.com/data) are licensed CC BY 4.0.*

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Source: The Free I Ching (https://thefreeiching.com/library/56). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.