사주팔자 Korean Four Pillars
Your birth moment, written as eight Korean characters.
Saju reads the year, month, day and hour you were born as four pillars. Each pillar is two characters, and each character is one of five elements. The top character of your day pillar is you, and every day gets a Saju score for how it meets you.
- 4pillars: year, month, day, hour
- 8characters, in Hanja and Hangul
- 5elements, wood to water
- 1score a day, out of 100, for fun
How Saju works, in three steps
The calendar becomes characters
East Asia has counted years, months, days and hours in one sixty step cycle for more than two thousand years. Your birth moment lands on one step of each: four pairs of characters, the four pillars.
Every character is an element
Ten heavenly stems sit on top and twelve earthly branches (the animals) below. Each is wood, fire, earth, metal or water, shown here in the five traditional Korean colors, 오방색 obangsaek.
The day stem is you
The top character of your day pillar is your day master. The other seven are read by how they relate to it: what feeds you, what you feed, what checks you. Read the full guide.
Your daily Saju score
An example. Yours changes every day and comes round again every sixty days.
Every day has its own pillar in the sixty day cycle. Once you have worked out your chart, the site reads today's pillar against it and gives the day a score out of 100: a quick, playful read of how the day's elements meet yours.
- Elements. Up when today brings the element your chart leans on least, a little down when it piles onto the one you already have most of.
- Branches. Up for a harmony between today's branch and your day branch, down for a clash, harm or wonjin (원진).
- Stems. Up when today's stem combines with your day master, down when it clashes.
Each score comes with the day's ten god, a line to think about, and the traditional color, numbers and direction for the element you lean on least. You can open any score to see exactly how it adds up. It is for fun: the score predicts nothing.
The ten day masters
Your day master is one of ten heavenly stems. Each has its own nature, from the tall tree of Gap to the rain of Gye.
The twelve animals
Your animal is the branch of your year pillar, one character out of eight. In Saju the animal year begins at Ipchun, around 4 February.
Questions
What is Saju?
Saju (사주, four pillars) is the Korean reading of a birth moment as eight characters: a heavenly stem and an earthly branch for the year, month, day and hour. Each belongs to one of five elements, and the stem of the day, your day master, stands for you.
Is this the same as my Chinese zodiac animal?
Your animal is only one of the eight characters: the branch of your year pillar. Saju also reads the month, day and hour, and the Saju year starts at Ipchun, around 4 February.
Do I need my birth time?
No. Without it you get three pillars, six characters and your day master. The time adds the hour pillar.
What is the daily Saju score?
A number out of 100 for how today's pillar meets your chart. It starts at 62, goes up when today brings the element your chart leans on least or a harmony with your day branch, and down for a clash. It runs from 35 to 96 and repeats every sixty days. It is for fun and predicts nothing.
Is my birth data stored?
No. The chart is worked out in your browser. Your last chart is remembered on this device only, so you can come back to it.
Is it a prediction?
Not here. We present Saju as a traditional way of describing temperament and timing, for entertainment and reflection only.
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