Beyond the eight characters
A saju chart (四柱, "four pillars", the Korean birth chart) carries four finer layers under its eight visible characters: hidden stems stored inside each branch, a growth stage for the day stem, a poetic nayin name and a pair of void branches. They add colour to the main reading, which stays with the day master (日干, the stem of your birth day) and the five elements. They are not a second chart.
The pillar pages on this site print all four for each of the 60 day pillars, and this guide uses them as its source. New to the pillars? Start with the saju basics guide.
Hidden stems: why a branch is not just an animal
Hidden stems (支藏干, jijanggan) are heavenly stems stored inside an earthly branch. The zodiac animal is only the label on the door. Inside, each branch holds one to three stems: leftovers of the previous season, sometimes a bridge, and last the main qi (本氣), the stem that speaks loudest. Three branches (Ja, Myo and Yu) store two stems; the other nine store three.
| Branch | Animal | Hidden stems (main qi in bold, last) |
|---|---|---|
| 子 (Ja) | Rat | 壬 yang water → 癸 yin water |
| 丑 (Chuk) | Ox | 癸 yin water → 辛 yin metal → 己 yin earth |
| 寅 (In) | Tiger | 戊 yang earth → 丙 yang fire → 甲 yang wood |
| 卯 (Myo) | Rabbit | 甲 yang wood → 乙 yin wood |
| 辰 (Jin) | Dragon | 乙 yin wood → 癸 yin water → 戊 yang earth |
| 巳 (Sa) | Snake | 戊 yang earth → 庚 yang metal → 丙 yang fire |
| 午 (O) | Horse | 丙 yang fire → 己 yin earth → 丁 yin fire |
| 未 (Mi) | Goat | 丁 yin fire → 乙 yin wood → 己 yin earth |
| 申 (Sin) | Monkey | 戊 yang earth → 壬 yang water → 庚 yang metal |
| 酉 (Yu) | Rooster | 庚 yang metal → 辛 yin metal |
| 戌 (Sul) | Dog | 辛 yin metal → 丁 yin fire → 戊 yang earth |
| 亥 (Hae) | Pig | 戊 yang earth → 甲 yang wood → 壬 yang water |
Read the table as a small season. Tiger (寅) opens spring, so it holds a trace of earth (戊, left from the Ox month before it), a seed of fire (丙) and then wood (甲) as main qi. A Tiger is more than "a wood animal": three elements are present.
The pillar pages also show each hidden stem's ten god (十神, relationships such as peer, wealth and resource; see the ten gods guide) measured from your day stem. On Byeong-o (丙午) the branch hides 丙, 己 and 丁: Companion, Hurting Officer and, as main qi, Rob Wealth. A pillar can look single-minded outside and be mixed inside, and that is where teachers look for a quieter side of a person.
The twelve growth stages
The twelve growth stages (十二運星, sibi-unseong) describe a stem's energy as a life cycle from birth to rest and rebirth. A stem is not strong or weak in itself; its stage depends on the branch it sits on, and one stem passes through all twelve stages across the twelve branches.
| # | Stage | Image |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birth (長生) | A newborn: hopeful, well supported |
| 2 | Bathing (沐浴) | Washed and dressed: charming, restless |
| 3 | Capping (冠帶) | Coming of age: ambitious |
| 4 | Prime post (建祿) | A post of one's own: steady, independent |
| 5 | Peak (帝旺) | Height of strength: confident, may overreach |
| 6 | Decline (衰) | Past the peak: calm, sparing with energy |
| 7 | Illness (病) | Tired but sensitive: rich inner life |
| 8 | Stillness (死) | Still and inward: thought before action |
| 9 | Storehouse (墓) | The storehouse: thrifty, patient |
| 10 | Severance (絕) | A break and fresh start: independent |
| 11 | Conception (胎) | A seed: ideas forming |
| 12 | Nurture (養) | Being raised: gentle, receptive |
How a stage is found
Each stem has a branch where it is "born". Yang stems move forward from there, one stage per branch, and yin stems move backward. Yang wood 甲 is born at 亥, so 子 is Bathing, 丑 Capping, 寅 Prime post and 卯 Peak. Yin wood 乙 is born at 午 and runs the other way: 巳 Bathing, 辰 Capping, 卯 Prime post, 寅 Peak. In the common Korean table 戊 and 己 follow fire (丙 and 丁); some schools place earth with water, so a book may differ.
- Gap-ja (甲子): 甲 is born at 亥, so on 子 it is one step along, Bathing.
- Byeong-o (丙午): 丙 is born at 寅 and runs 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, so on 午 it is Peak, the full height of fire.
- Eul-hae (乙亥): 乙 is born at 午 and runs backward 巳, 辰, 卯, 寅, 丑, 子, 亥, so on 亥 it is Stillness. The traditional name 死 means "death", but it marks a quiet, inward phase, not an ending.
Names such as Illness and Stillness sound grim and are not; they are phases, and each has an upside. Here the stage is that of the day stem on its own branch; a fuller reading also checks it on the year, month and hour branches.
Nayin: the "sound element" names
Nayin (納音, napeum in Korean) gives a poetic name to every pair of consecutive pillars in the 60-pillar cycle: 30 names, each an element and an image. The name refers to sound, and its traditional derivation lies in the pitch pipes of old Chinese music theory. Examples:
- Gap-ja (甲子) and Eul-chuk (乙丑): Gold in the Sea (海中金)
- Byeong-o (丙午) and Jeong-mi (丁未): Water of the Heavenly River (天河水)
- Gap-sul (甲戌) and Eul-hae (乙亥): Fire on the Mountaintop (山頭火)
- Im-sul (壬戌) and Gye-hae (癸亥), the last pair: Water of the Great Ocean (大海水)
The nayin element rarely matches the pillar's own. Byeong-o is fire over fire, yet its nayin is water; Gap-ja is wood over water, yet its nayin is gold. That is why nayin is a decorative second label, not the main reading. It appears mostly in almanacs, naming traditions and some traditional compatibility charts.
Void branches (空亡, gongmang)
Ten stems against twelve branches means every ten-day group leaves two branches without a partner. Those are the void branches (the pillar pages print it as kongwang). The group starting at Gap-ja runs 甲子 to 癸酉 and uses branches 子 through 酉, so 戌 and 亥 are left empty.
| Group starts at | Runs through | Void branches | Animals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 甲子 (Gap-ja) | 甲子 to 癸酉 | 戌 亥 | Dog and Pig |
| 甲戌 (Gap-sul) | 甲戌 to 癸未 | 申 酉 | Monkey and Rooster |
| 甲申 (Gap-sin) | 甲申 to 癸巳 | 午 未 | Horse and Goat |
| 甲午 (Gap-o) | 甲午 to 癸卯 | 辰 巳 | Dragon and Snake |
| 甲辰 (Gap-jin) | 甲辰 to 癸丑 | 寅 卯 | Tiger and Rabbit |
| 甲寅 (Gap-in) | 甲寅 to 癸亥 | 子 丑 | Rat and Ox |
To find yours, locate your day pillar's group. Eul-hae (乙亥) falls in the Gap-sul group, so its void branches are 申 and 酉, Monkey and Rooster. Byeong-o (丙午) falls in the Gap-jin group, so its void branches are 寅 and 卯.
Use varies. Many Korean teachers count the void from the day pillar, then see whether those branches appear in the year, month or hour pillar; some also count from the year pillar. A void is read as an "empty seat": that pillar's life area (family roots for the year, work and parents for the month, home and partner for the day, later life and children for the hour) is said to feel less anchored or to need conscious effort. Others read it as lightness and freedom from attachment. Treat it as one coloured thread, not a verdict.
Using the four layers without over-reading
- Start with the day master and the elements. Nothing here outweighs them.
- Use hidden stems to explain surprises when a chart looks like one element and the person does not.
- Treat the stage as tone, not strength. Peak is not "better" than Stillness; it is different weather.
- Treat nayin as a name and void as a question: a place worth looking at twice.
As one pillar read through all four layers: Eul-hae hides 戊, 甲 and 壬 (Direct Wealth, Rob Wealth and, as main qi, Direct Resource), has its day stem at Stillness, carries the nayin Fire on the Mountaintop and has 申 and 酉 void. The facts are fixed; what a person does with them is not. Keep money, health and legal decisions on real numbers and professional advice, never on a chart.
FAQ
Q. Is the Death stage a bad sign?
A. No. 死 names one phase of a cycle that goes on through Storehouse, Severance, Conception and Nurture until Birth comes round again. It describes a still, inward energy.
Q. Does a void branch mean I lack something?
A. Not in any firm sense. Teachers read it as a place where grip is looser or attention is needed, and they disagree about whether that is a weakness or a freedom.
Browse all four details for every pillar in the 60 day pillars guide, or calculate your own chart with the free saju analysis.