Shagai — wumen ghua

Shagai butterfly tank — April 2026

    Statistically there is always freedom

Statistically, there is always freedom;

From Shagai (ankle bones) I have brought from Inner Mongolia, I have created the 3D model, and ask AI to sketch the Shagai from AI 3D Model. Form the sketch, I have noticed the shape of butterfly and started to simulated a Shagai shaped butterfly motion in a cubic container. Since Shagai been used as dice and also the combination of four sides gives varies combination as fortune teller, it can be the first statistic simulator for chance predication. And statistically, one thing will always happen for an organic being in this planet, is death. And maybe, the bone of the past life has the power to calculate other chances of happiness beyond something we all know. Since Im creating, I want statistical works once 100%, not for death, but for freedom, for release, so I programed that once the shagai butterfly hit the cube wall more than 500 times, the cube will break. And the butterfly will be free. The black and white esthetic in this work is inspired by the conversation with an artist about Tatto, leaving wound mark which heals and give beauty, so the butterfly’s moving is tracked like tattoo lining, leave ink effect and bloomed with flower; the sequence changed here, there is butterfly first, then there is flower, flower comes from being searched. Finally, the shagai butterfly been released with bloom explosion and leave the flower frack space once prison it, the trace of not giving up remains. Even, is calculated, even artificial, statistically, there is always freedom.

Background of Shagai

Shagai refers to the astragalus bones, or ankle bones, of sheep or goats, which are traditionally collected, cleaned, and used as natural dice in games and divination practices across Central Asia, particularly among Mongolian and Kalmyk communities.

The earliest evidence of shagai-like objects, used as proto-dice in games or divination, appears in archaeological finds from ancient Central Asian nomadic cultures. In the Bronze Age (circa 3200–1000 BCE), a young girl's burial in the Ainabulak-Temirsu Necropolis near Ainabulak village, eastern Kazakhstan, contained over 180 sheep or goat ankle bones (astragali), interpreted as ritual items possibly for fortune-telling or ensuring well-being in the afterlife.

By the 13th century, shagai had become integrated into the practices of Mongol Empire nomadic herding communities, where ankle bones were abundant byproducts of livestock rearing central to daily life and entertainment.[1] The empire's expansion facilitated the spread of such traditions along Silk Road trade routes, as Mongol control enhanced cultural exchanges across Eurasia, embedding shagai in broader steppe herding societies from Mongolia to Central Asia.

In Mongolian nomadic culture, shagai anklebones embody profound symbolic associations tied to the core elements of pastoral life, representing the four traditional livestock animals—horse, camel, sheep, and goat—that form the foundation of prosperity and survival on the steppes. The four primary sides of each shagai correspond to these animals, with the horse side evoking speed and mobility essential for herding and travel, the sheep side linked to abundance and fertility in flocks, and the camel and goat sides signifying endurance amid hardship and scarcity. The divination method uses four sheep astagalus (ankle) bones. Each bone can fall in one of four ways since each bone has four different faces. The four pieces can fall one of 35 configurations that are assigned meanings.