The 60 Day Pillars of Saju (Ilju)
In Korean saju, the day pillar is the heart of a chart: its stem is you and its branch is your inner circle. There are exactly sixty of them, one for every day in the sexagenary cycle. Find yours below and read what the combination of stem and branch says about character, love, work and money.
Find your day pillar by birth date
Enter your birth date to see which of the 60 pillars it is. Use the solar (Gregorian) date.
What is a day pillar?
Saju names a person by four pairs of characters: the year, the month, the day and the hour of birth. Each pair is a heavenly stem (one of ten, tied to the five elements and to yin and yang) and an earthly branch (one of twelve, matching the zodiac animals). The day pillar is the pair for your birth date. Its stem is called the day master and stands for you; its branch sits closest to you in the chart and speaks of home, partner and instinct.
How do I find my day pillar?
The day pillar cannot be worked out from the birth year, because it runs on a continuous 60-day cycle that ignores years and months. It needs the exact calendar date, converted from lunar if necessary, and whether the birth fell in the late-night hour matters. Use the Four Pillars calculator on this site, or the date picker on this page, to get it in a few seconds.
Why sixty and not 120?
Ten stems and twelve branches would give 120 pairs, but stems and branches are only combined when both are yang or both are yin. That leaves sixty pillars. It is the same cycle that names every year, month, day and hour in East Asian calendars, which is why a 60th birthday (hwangap) is a milestone in Korea.
How to read a pillar page
Each page opens with a table of facts that can be calculated: element and polarity, hidden stems, the twelve-stage growth phase, the nayin "sound" element and the void branches. Below it come the readings: personality, strengths and challenges, love, work, money, wellbeing, who suits you, and how the pillar tends to unfold through the ten-year luck cycles. Treat them as tendencies, not verdicts.
The sixty pillars, grouped by day stem
Day stem Gap (甲): a tall straight pine
Day stem Eul (乙): climbing vines and wild orchids
Day stem Byeong (丙): the blazing midday sun
Day stem Jeong (丁): a single flame in a paper lantern
Day stem Mu (戊): a great solid mountain
Day stem Gi (己): a tended field of rich soil
Day stem Gyeong (庚): iron cliffs and a sheathed sword
Day stem Sin (辛): polished jewels and a fine silver pin
Day stem Im (壬): vast rolling ocean
Day stem Gye (癸): soft rain and morning mist
Frequently asked questions
Is the day pillar the same as my Chinese zodiac animal?
No. Your zodiac animal comes from the birth year; the animal in your day pillar comes from the birth day and has its own meaning. The two can be different animals and both are part of your chart.
Can two people born on different days share a day pillar?
Yes. The pillars repeat every 60 days, so people born 60, 120 or 180 days apart share one. People who share a day pillar still differ because of their other three pillars and their luck cycles.
Do Korean, Chinese and Japanese readings differ?
The sixty pillars are the same everywhere. The names are read in each language (gap-ja in Korean, jia-zi in Mandarin, kinoe-ne in Japanese) and each school stresses slightly different points, but the stems, branches and elements behind them do not change.
Which births need extra care?
Births close to midnight and close to a month boundary. The hour from 23:00 to 01:00 belongs to the Rat branch, and some practitioners start the new day at 23:00 while others start it at midnight. The Four Pillars calculator on this site lets you choose.
Learn the terms on this page
Is this your day pillar?
Your day pillar comes from your exact birth date, not your birth year. Enter it in our Four Pillars calculator and it shows all four of your pillars.
For reflection and entertainment. Saju describes tendencies; it does not predict fixed fates or replace professional advice.
This service is for entertainment and reference only.