# Hexagram 9: Small Taming

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/9
Last updated: 2026-10-07

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

- **Upper trigram:** [Xun 巽](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/xun), Wind, the gentle, penetrating
- **Lower trigram:** [Qian 乾](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/qian), Heaven, the creative, strong
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 111011 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

Small taming: a moment of restraint by a gentle but real force. Large ambitions are held in check by small obstacles. Nothing catastrophic is happening; you are simply not yet free to move. Refine yourself in the space this pause creates.

## Image

Wind moving across the sky. Dense clouds but no rain. The superior person refines the outer form of their character.

## Counsel

Do not force what the moment will not yield. Use this time to attend to small things: courtesies, habits, the quality of your work on ordinary days. The restraint is temporary; the refinement you do now will support the larger movement when it comes.

## The six lines

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

### Line 1

> A nine at the beginning means:
> Return to the way. How could this be a blame! Good fortune!

### Line 2

> A nine in the second place means:
> Being drawn along to return. Good fortune!

### Line 3

> A nine in the third place means:
> The spokes break from the wagon.
> Man and wife roll their eyes.

### Line 4

> A six in the fourth place means:
> If you are truthful, blood vanishes and anxiety gives way.
> No blame.

### Line 5

> A nine in the fifth place means:
> If you are truthful and faithfully bound,
> you are rich in your neighbor.

### Line 6

> A nine at the top means:
> The rain comes, the rest comes.
> This is owed to the lasting effect of character.
> The woman comes into danger through perseverance.
> The moon is nearly full. If the noble one persists,
> misfortune comes.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [38 Opposition](https://thefreeiching.com/library/38)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [10 Treading](https://thefreeiching.com/library/10)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [16 Enthusiasm](https://thefreeiching.com/library/16)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [57 The Gentle](https://thefreeiching.com/library/57) |
| Line 2 | [37 The Family](https://thefreeiching.com/library/37) |
| Line 3 | [61 Inner Truth](https://thefreeiching.com/library/61) |
| Line 4 | [1 The Creative](https://thefreeiching.com/library/1) |
| Line 5 | [26 Great Taming](https://thefreeiching.com/library/26) |
| Line 6 | [5 Waiting](https://thefreeiching.com/library/5) |

Previous: [8 Holding Together](https://thefreeiching.com/library/8). Next: [10 Treading](https://thefreeiching.com/library/10). [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 9: Small Taming." https://thefreeiching.com/library/9 (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/9). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.