What Is Saju?
Saju (사주) is the Korean tradition of reading a person's birth year, month, day and hour as four pillars. Each pillar has two characters, so a full chart has eight characters. In Korea, people often look at their Saju before a new year, a job change or a wedding.
The four pillars
| Pillar | Comes from | Changes at |
|---|---|---|
| Year | Birth year | Ipchun, the start of spring (around Feb 4) |
| Month | Birth month | Each of the 12 solar terms |
| Day | Birth day | 23:00, the hour of the Rat |
| Hour | Birth time | Every two hours |
Two characters per pillar
The top character is a heavenly stem (10 kinds) and the bottom one is an earthly branch (12 kinds, each linked to a zodiac animal). Every character belongs to one of five elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal or Water, and is either yin or yang.
The Day Master
The top character of the day pillar is called the Day Master. It stands for the person, and the other seven characters are read in relation to it.
Saju and BaZi
Saju and Chinese BaZi use the same system. The Korean tradition reads the characters with Korean sounds and usually subtracts 30 minutes from Korean clock time to match the sun.
Reading your own chart
Sajulume builds the chart from your birth date and time and explains each of the eight characters in plain words.
FAQ
Is Saju the same as BaZi?
They use the same system of four pillars and eight characters. Saju is the Korean name and reading; BaZi is the Chinese name.
Why does Saju use Chinese characters?
The ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches are written in Chinese characters across East Asia. Koreans read them with Korean sounds, such as Gap, Eul and Byeong.
Is the Saju year the same as the lunar year?
No. The Saju year starts at Ipchun, the start of spring around February 4, which is a solar date.