Bag

A bag is read as what you are carrying along — obligations or resources you take with you whether or not you are using them. A container, therefore Earth. Traditional reading turns on weight and on whether you know the contents.

It points to a function rather than an event. A bag is read as what you are carrying along — obligations or resources you take with you whether or not you are using them. Traditional readings ask what the object is for and whether it is working, rather than treating it as a sign. A bag packed by someone else is a recorded variant, read as carrying a load whose contents were decided for you.

A bag you cannot open and one you cannot put down are the two standard cases, and they are read differently: the first is unknown contents, the second known ones you cannot release. It is grouped under Earth (土) in the five-element system.