Korea's birth chart, explained plainly

Saju (사주) means "four pillars" — Korea's traditional birth chart drawn from the year, month, day, and hour you were born. What the word means, how the chart is read, and how it differs from a horoscope.

Four Pillars of Destiny — saju in Korean, bazi in Chinese. How the year, month, day, and hour pillars are written in the 60-cycle calendar, what part of life each one covers, and why the day pillar is the one that means you.

The single character that stands for you — the ten Day Masters, their nature images from the Great Tree to the Rain, and how the rest of a chart is read around yours.

Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water — what each element means as a temperament, how the generating and controlling cycles work, and how to read a chart that leans or lacks.

One reads the sky, the other reads the calendar. A plain comparison of how saju and Western astrology differ — signs vs Day Masters, transits vs annual stems, and what they share.

Saju (사주) and bazi (八字) are the Korean and Chinese names for the same four pillars birth chart. What is identical, where the vocabulary and customs differ, and which to use — a neutral comparison.

Your zodiac animal is real saju — but it's exactly one of your chart's eight characters. What the animal covers, what the other seven add, and how Korea uses each.

The saju year doesn't start on January 1 — it turns at ipchun (立春), the start of spring in early February. Why January birthdays carry the previous year's animal.

Saju is a birth chart calculated from your birth date; a Korean shaman reads through a spirit connection. How the two work, what a session looks like, and which one Sajoo is.

The charm star of the saju tradition — how the peach blossom is found through the three-branch alliances, what it historically meant, and how it reads today.

The saju tradition's marker for movement — how the travel star is found, why it was once a warning and is now almost a badge, and what it means if you carry it.

Gunghap — Korea's tradition of reading two birth charts together. The layers a real compatibility reading checks: element relations, stem bonds, and the day branches.

The rules behind every chart on this site: the perpetual calendar, the astronomical ipchun boundary, the continuous day count, and what we deliberately don't do.