What Is Saju?
A way of writing the moment of birth as eight characters, then reading innate tendencies and the flow of life from how those characters relate to each other.
Four pillars, eight characters
Saju (四柱) means "four pillars." The year, month, day and hour of birth each become one pillar, and every pillar holds a pair of characters, one on top and one below. The upper character is called the heavenly stem (천간) and the lower one the earthly branch (지지). Four pillars with two characters each make eight characters in all, which is why saju is also called Saju Palja (四柱八字).
For example, the saju of someone born in Seoul at 00:50 on 25 August 2001 is as follows. Traditionally it is written from right to left, starting with the year pillar and ending with the hour pillar.
| Hour pillar (시주) | Day pillar (일주) | Month pillar (월주) | Year pillar (연주) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stem (top) | 丙 병 | 庚 경 | 丙 병 | 辛 신 |
| Branch (bottom) | 子 자 | 申 신 | 申 신 | 巳 사 |
The manseryeok: a calendar that turns dates into characters
The 60 combinations (60 gapja) made by pairing ten stems with twelve branches come round in turn for years, months, days and hours. The calendar that records which character belongs to which day is called the manseryeok (만세력). The year and the month change at the solar terms, not on 1 January in the solar calendar or on Seollal (Lunar New Year), so they are tricky to work out by hand. Halmeoni takes your birth date, time and city and does this calculation for you.
What is read in a saju
- Day Master (일간): the upper character of the day you were born, which stands for "you" in the saju.
- Five Elements (오행): how much wood, fire, earth, metal and water there is among the eight characters, and how balanced they are.
- Ten Gods (십신): what role each of the other characters plays for "you" (friends, wealth, work, study and so on).
- Structure (격국): what kind of frame the whole chart forms, centred on the season of birth.
- Luck Cycles (대운) and Yearly Luck (세운): how the energy arriving every ten years and every year meets the chart you were born with.
How to take it
Saju is closer to a mirror that reflects innate tendencies and the flow of time than to a prophecy that tells you a fixed fate. People with the same saju live completely different lives depending on their surroundings and choices. Use a reading as material for looking back at yourself, and for decisions involving health, legal matters or large sums of money, be sure to consult an expert in that field.