Editing Liubo (section)

===Divination boards===

In 1993, a wooden board with turtle divination diagrams and prognostications on one side and a Liubo diagram and forty-five prognostications on five topics on the other side was excavated from a late Western Han tomb at Yinwan in [[Donghai County]], [[Jiangsu]].<ref>{{cite journal | script-title=zh:尹湾汉墓简牍初探 |trans-title=Preliminary investigation about the wooden slips from the Han tomb at Yinwan | journal=文物 (Cultural Relics) | volume=1996 | issue=10 | pages=68–71 | language=zh}}</ref> The Liubo diagram is too small to have been used for playing Liubo, and is covered with the sixty terms of the [[sexagenary cycle]] which are written all along the lines of the Liubo diagram, in a similar way that the turtle diagram on the other side of the board is filled with the sixty terms. The prognostications under the Liubo diagram are headed with one of nine terms that correspond to the words of an enigmatic, mnemonic rhyme about Liubo written by Xu Bochang (許博昌) during the reign of [[Emperor Wu of Han]] (141–87 BCE); Lillian Tseng (Zeng Lanying) argues that these are the names for particular points on the board (the two lines of the "V" mark, the two lines of the "L" mark, the two lines of the "T" mark, the circle or line between the corner and the central square, the outside edge of the central square, and the inside of the central square).<ref>{{cite journal | author=曾蓝莹 (Lillian Tseng) | script-title=zh:尹湾汉墓"博局占"木牍试解 |trans-title=Attempt to explain the "Liubo divination" wooden slip from the Han tomb at Yinwan | journal=文物 (Cultural Relics) | volume=1994 | issue=8 | pages=62–65 | language=zh}}</ref>

[[File:LiuboDivinationDiagram.png|frame|center|Schematic diagram of the Yinwan Han dynasty Liubo divination diagram, showing the positions of the sixty terms of the [[sexagenary cycle]] (following the corrections of Zeng Lanying) and examples of the nine board positions: '''A'''=''fāng'' 方 "square"; '''B'''=''lián'' 廉 (''pàn'' 畔) "edge"; '''C'''=''jié'' 楬 (''jiē'' 揭) "lift"; '''D'''=''dào'' 道 "path"; '''E'''=''zhāng'' 張 "stretch"; '''F'''=''qū'' 曲 (''jiǔ'' 究) "bend"; '''G'''=''qū'' 詘 (''qū'' 屈) "curve"; '''H'''=''cháng'' 長 (''xuán'' 玄) "long"; '''I'''=''gāo'' 高 "tall" (terms used in Xu Bochang's rhyme given in brackets if different).]]

[[Li Xueqin]] has suggested that the board was used for divination by matching the day to be divined to the corresponding sexagenary term on the Liubo diagram, and then reading off the corresponding prognostication according to the position of the sexagenary term on the Liubo diagram.<ref>{{cite journal | author=Li Xueqin | author-link=Li Xueqin | script-title=zh:"博局占"与规矩纹 |trans-title="Liubo board divination" and geometric patterns | journal=文物 (Cultural Relics) | volume=1997 | issue=1 | pages=49–51 | language=zh}}</ref> However, Lillian Tseng points out that the divination could also be done the other way round, by looking for the desired prognostication (for example an auspicious marriage day), and then all the days on the Liubo board that were written on the position corresponding to the term heading the prognostication would match the desired prognostication.

It has been theorized that the placement of the sixty sexagenary terms on the points of the Liubo divination diagram indicate the possible positions for placing pieces when playing Liubo, and that the sequence of the terms across the divination diagram reflects the path to be followed around the board when playing the game (starting at the north-east corner and ending at the north side of the central square).<ref>{{cite web | last=Cazaux | first=Jean-Louis | title=Liubo | url=http://history.chess.free.fr/liubo.htm | access-date=2009-06-26}}</ref>