j6 INTERVIEWING JAPAN
cycles just as nature has seasons. They repeat
and repeat. A man's cycle in Japan lasts twelve
years, so if Takashima can figure out a fortune
covering a twelve year period he has charted the
man's whole life. The cycle for people in very
cold countries lasts only nine years, while in
tropical countries the cycle is fifteen years in length
thinks this diviner. Moreover, just as seed sown
at the wrong time does not grow well, so a man
who does something in the wrong way will have
poor luck. That is where a fortune teller can be
of assistance. Evidently a lot of people think so,
for Takashima has an average of ten clients a day
and from fifteen to twenty during the busy days
of spring when people flock to discuss the starting
of new enterprises. Most of his clients are intelli-
gent and many are well educated. He also plots
from thr£e' to five lifetime fortunes a month. For
regular fortunes he will use almost any method
the client may request. His repertoire is limitless.
However, his main method, which he obli-
gingly explained to me5 is still the divining rod.
"There are sixty-four ways of placing the
divining blocks," he said as he held up a set of sk,
smooth, mahogany sticks about six inches by two
inches by a half inch in measurement, "These
sixty-four ways may be used in three hundred and