Unified Pattern — Bases — YANG, hexagram 20 (Jian, Obstruction — King Wen no. 39)
One of 256 distinct Unified Patterns — a 12×12 Jacquard construction where every cell's colour is read off a single hexagram of the Yi King, hexagram Jian, Obstruction. Binary numbering 0–63; in brackets, the traditional King Wen number.
Family Bases — YANG, one of the 8 admissible families (out of 15) in the system's classification — see the lexicon for how families are built and admitted.
The pattern's three colour classes, set independently — change one, the other two stay put.
One tint, read in light and dark — a luminance reading, not three colours with two greyed out.
Reading the cell, line by line
The 144 cells of the 12×12 cell fall into six levels of 24 cells, one per line of the hexagram. Where the line is solid (yang), the level takes its colours from the family's YANG grid; where it is broken (yin), from its YANG mutant grid. Count of each colour, level by level:
| Level | Line | Grid read | Colour 1 (violet) | Colour 2 (magenta) | Colour 3 (orange) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | broken | YANG mutant | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| 2 | broken | YANG mutant | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| 3 | solid | YANG | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| 4 | broken | YANG mutant | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| 5 | solid | YANG | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| 6 | broken | YANG mutant | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Whole cell | 48 | 48 | 48 | ||
The three colours are exactly balanced: 48 cells each. The cell is unchanged by reflection in the vertical axis, reflection in the horizontal axis, a half turn.
Hexagram 20 (King Wen no. 39) — Obstruction
Upper trigram ☵ Kan (The Abysmal, Water); lower trigram ☶ Gen (Keeping Still, the Mountain).
Image
On the mountain, Water: the image of obstruction. Water meets the slope and cannot advance directly — it must go around, seek another path, slow its natural course. This is the figure of difficulty that imposes a detour. Thus the noble one turns back upon himself and shapes his own virtue: when the outer obstacle cannot be forced, it becomes the occasion to work on what, within, can still grow.
Judgement — Restraint
Patience itself becomes a shield against the terrain. Facing what cannot be crossed head-on, patience is not resignation but an active protection — it preserves energy for the moment when the passage will open. This line says every obstacle holds, in outline, the indication of the right detour.
The full hexagram page: the six lines, its magic square and the other patterns built on it.
Same shape, other colourings
Two involutions leave this motif's shape unchanged and only permute its three tints — verified across every family and every hexagram in the corpus, not just this one: swapping the pairing used to read the hexagram (YANG/YANG-mutant ↔ YIN/YIN-mutant), and taking the hexagram's binary complement (63 − 20 = 43). Toggle them below; the tiling never changes, only the colours do.
The grid itself
The 12×12 layer map and the three colour grids above, in the raw data — human-readable, and machine-readable as JSON.
Show the data
{
"famille": "bases:yang",
"hexagramme": 20,
"complement_binaire": 43,
"layer_of": [
[
1,
1,
3,
4,
6,
6,
6,
6,
4,
3,
1,
1
],
[
1,
2,
2,
5,
5,
6,
6,
5,
5,
2,
2,
1
],
[
3,
2,
3,
4,
5,
4,
4,
5,
4,
3,
2,
3
],
[
4,
5,
4,
3,
2,
3,
3,
2,
3,
4,
5,
4
],
[
6,
5,
5,
2,
2,
1,
1,
2,
2,
5,
5,
6
],
[
6,
6,
4,
3,
1,
1,
1,
1,
3,
4,
6,
6
],
[
6,
6,
4,
3,
1,
1,
1,
1,
3,
4,
6,
6
],
[
6,
5,
5,
2,
2,
1,
1,
2,
2,
5,
5,
6
],
[
4,
5,
4,
3,
2,
3,
3,
2,
3,
4,
5,
4
],
[
3,
2,
3,
4,
5,
4,
4,
5,
4,
3,
2,
3
],
[
1,
2,
2,
5,
5,
6,
6,
5,
5,
2,
2,
1
],
[
1,
1,
3,
4,
6,
6,
6,
6,
4,
3,
1,
1
]
],
"grille_polarite_yang": [
[
"O",
"V",
"M",
"V",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"V",
"M",
"V",
"O"
],
[
"M",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"V",
"V",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"M"
],
[
"V",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"V"
],
[
"M",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"M"
],
[
"M",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"V",
"V",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"M"
],
[
"O",
"M",
"M",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"M",
"M",
"O"
],
[
"O",
"M",
"M",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"M",
"M",
"O"
],
[
"M",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"V",
"V",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"M"
],
[
"M",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"M"
],
[
"V",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"V"
],
[
"M",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"V",
"V",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"M"
],
[
"O",
"V",
"M",
"V",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"V",
"M",
"V",
"O"
]
],
"grille_polarite_yin": [
[
"M",
"O",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"O",
"M"
],
[
"V",
"M",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"M",
"V"
],
[
"O",
"V",
"M",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"M",
"V",
"O"
],
[
"V",
"O",
"M",
"M",
"O",
"V",
"V",
"O",
"M",
"M",
"O",
"V"
],
[
"V",
"M",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"M",
"V"
],
[
"M",
"V",
"V",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"V",
"V",
"M"
],
[
"M",
"V",
"V",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"V",
"V",
"M"
],
[
"V",
"M",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"M",
"V"
],
[
"V",
"O",
"M",
"M",
"O",
"V",
"V",
"O",
"M",
"M",
"O",
"V"
],
[
"O",
"V",
"M",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"M",
"V",
"O"
],
[
"V",
"M",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"M",
"V"
],
[
"M",
"O",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"O",
"M"
]
],
"grille_complement": [
[
"O",
"M",
"V",
"M",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"M",
"V",
"M",
"O"
],
[
"V",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"M",
"M",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"V"
],
[
"M",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"M"
],
[
"V",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"V"
],
[
"V",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"M",
"M",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"V"
],
[
"O",
"V",
"V",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"V",
"V",
"O"
],
[
"O",
"V",
"V",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"V",
"V",
"O"
],
[
"V",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"M",
"M",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"V"
],
[
"V",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"V"
],
[
"M",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"O",
"V",
"M"
],
[
"V",
"O",
"M",
"V",
"O",
"M",
"M",
"O",
"V",
"M",
"O",
"V"
],
[
"O",
"M",
"V",
"M",
"M",
"O",
"O",
"M",
"M",
"V",
"M",
"O"
]
]
}
Neighbouring motifs
The previous and next hexagram within the same family, Bases — YANG.
