What Element Is Your Korean Zodiac Year? A 60-Year Table

Your Korean zodiac year has an element (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal or Water) as well as an animal, and you can read it from the last digit of your saju year (your birth year as saju counts it, which starts at Ipchun, not January 1): 0 or 1 is Metal, 2 or 3 is Water, 4 or 5 is Wood, 6 or 7 is Fire, and 8 or 9 is Earth. Even digits are yang, odd digits yin. So 1990 is a Yang Metal Horse year, and 2027 is a Yin Fire Goat (also called the Sheep) year. Saju is the four-pillar birth chart system widely used in Korea. Its year pillar is a pair of characters: the top one (the stem) carries the element and the yin or yang, and the bottom one (the branch) is the animal. Ipchun is the "start of spring" solar term, around February 4. The table below lists all 60 pairs for 1924 to 2043.

The last-digit shortcut

ElementYear ends inColor name
Wood4 (yang), 5 (yin)Blue
Fire6 (yang), 7 (yin)Red
Earth8 (yang), 9 (yin)Yellow
Metal0 (yang), 1 (yin)White
Water2 (yang), 3 (yin)Black

See Ten Stems, Twelve Branches, Sixty Pairs for the cycle.

The 60-year table

Find your saju year in the Years column. Each row lists a year and the year 60 years later, because the pairs repeat. Add or subtract 60 for years outside the table.

YearsPairElementColor, animal
1924, 1984Gap-JaYang WoodBlue Rat
1925, 1985Eul-ChukYin WoodBlue Ox
1926, 1986Byeong-InYang FireRed Tiger
1927, 1987Jeong-MyoYin FireRed Rabbit
1928, 1988Mu-JinYang EarthYellow Dragon
1929, 1989Gi-SaYin EarthYellow Snake
1930, 1990Gyeong-OYang MetalWhite Horse
1931, 1991Shin-MiYin MetalWhite Goat
1932, 1992Im-ShinYang WaterBlack Monkey
1933, 1993Gye-YuYin WaterBlack Rooster
1934, 1994Gap-SulYang WoodBlue Dog
1935, 1995Eul-HaeYin WoodBlue Pig
1936, 1996Byeong-JaYang FireRed Rat
1937, 1997Jeong-ChukYin FireRed Ox
1938, 1998Mu-InYang EarthYellow Tiger
1939, 1999Gi-MyoYin EarthYellow Rabbit
1940, 2000Gyeong-JinYang MetalWhite Dragon
1941, 2001Shin-SaYin MetalWhite Snake
1942, 2002Im-OYang WaterBlack Horse
1943, 2003Gye-MiYin WaterBlack Goat
1944, 2004Gap-ShinYang WoodBlue Monkey
1945, 2005Eul-YuYin WoodBlue Rooster
1946, 2006Byeong-SulYang FireRed Dog
1947, 2007Jeong-HaeYin FireRed Pig
1948, 2008Mu-JaYang EarthYellow Rat
1949, 2009Gi-ChukYin EarthYellow Ox
1950, 2010Gyeong-InYang MetalWhite Tiger
1951, 2011Shin-MyoYin MetalWhite Rabbit
1952, 2012Im-JinYang WaterBlack Dragon
1953, 2013Gye-SaYin WaterBlack Snake
1954, 2014Gap-OYang WoodBlue Horse
1955, 2015Eul-MiYin WoodBlue Goat
1956, 2016Byeong-ShinYang FireRed Monkey
1957, 2017Jeong-YuYin FireRed Rooster
1958, 2018Mu-SulYang EarthYellow Dog
1959, 2019Gi-HaeYin EarthYellow Pig
1960, 2020Gyeong-JaYang MetalWhite Rat
1961, 2021Shin-ChukYin MetalWhite Ox
1962, 2022Im-InYang WaterBlack Tiger
1963, 2023Gye-MyoYin WaterBlack Rabbit
1964, 2024Gap-JinYang WoodBlue Dragon
1965, 2025Eul-SaYin WoodBlue Snake
1966, 2026Byeong-OYang FireRed Horse
1967, 2027Jeong-MiYin FireRed Goat
1968, 2028Mu-ShinYang EarthYellow Monkey
1969, 2029Gi-YuYin EarthYellow Rooster
1970, 2030Gyeong-SulYang MetalWhite Dog
1971, 2031Shin-HaeYin MetalWhite Pig
1972, 2032Im-JaYang WaterBlack Rat
1973, 2033Gye-ChukYin WaterBlack Ox
1974, 2034Gap-InYang WoodBlue Tiger
1975, 2035Eul-MyoYin WoodBlue Rabbit
1976, 2036Byeong-JinYang FireRed Dragon
1977, 2037Jeong-SaYin FireRed Snake
1978, 2038Mu-OYang EarthYellow Horse
1979, 2039Gi-MiYin EarthYellow Goat
1980, 2040Gyeong-ShinYang MetalWhite Monkey
1981, 2041Shin-YuYin MetalWhite Rooster
1982, 2042Im-SulYang WaterBlack Dog
1983, 2043Gye-HaeYin WaterBlack Pig

If you were born in January or early February

Use the row for the year before, so a January 1990 birth counts as 1989. Ipchun, not January 1, starts the saju year, and some popular charts start it at Lunar New Year instead. KASI (the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) lists Lunar New Year 1990 on January 27 and Ipchun on February 4. A person born on January 30, 1990 is a Horse in a Lunar New Year chart, but our calculator and our zodiac animal finder both gave the 1989 year, the Yin Earth Snake. Ipchun times are on the finder page and in The 24 Solar Terms and Your Saju Chart.

Why a Metal Horse and not a Fire Horse

Each branch has an element too: the Horse is Fire. But a year is named by its stem, so Gyeong-O is a Metal Horse year, not a Fire Horse year. English Wikipedia's table of the sexagenary cycle (the sixty pairs) names the same year the Yang Metal Horse. Byeong-O (1966 and 2026) is the one Horse pair whose stem and branch are both Fire, which is why English-language sources call it the Fire Horse year. Any beliefs attached to a particular year are folk custom, not part of how the pairs are calculated. The year element is a label for the year, not for you: your own comes from your Day Master, the top character of your day pillar (see What Is a Day Master?).

Where the color names come from

The Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture (National Folk Museum of Korea) says Korea's five traditional colors, called obangsaek, stand for the five directions and the five elements: blue for east and Wood, red for south and Fire, yellow for the center and Earth, white for west and Metal, and black for north and Water. Joining the color to the animal gives names like Blue Rat, a naming habit rather than part of the pair.

Sources differ in practice. English Wikipedia notes that the Chinese color word qing is used for both green and blue, which may be why Wood years appear as blue in some places and green in others. In Korea the color can come first: the Korea Times called 2024, a Yang Wood Dragon year, the Year of the Blue Dragon. By the same pattern, Gap-O is a blue horse (cheongma), Byeong-O a red one (jeokma) and Gyeong-O a white one (baengma); we cite only the Blue Dragon example. English sources often give just the element, as English Wikipedia's year table does ("Yang Metal Horse"). A different color name does not mean a different year.

Common questions

What element is the 1990 Horse?
Metal. 1990 is Gyeong-O, a Yang Metal Horse year, for births from Ipchun (February 4, 1990) to Ipchun 1991.

Is my year element my Day Master?
No. The year element comes from your birth year and the Day Master comes from your birth date. They often differ.

Why does another chart start 1990 on January 27?
It probably starts the year at Lunar New Year, which fell on January 27, 1990. The saju year starts at Ipchun.

What about 2044 and later?
The cycle repeats every 60 years. 2044 is Gap-Ja, the same pair as 1984, a Yang Wood Rat.

Limits of this guide

We generated the table from the sixty-pair arithmetic and checked it against KASI's calendar (all 120 years), our calculator (1924 to 2026, its supported range), English Wikipedia (all 60 pairs) and our animal finder (13 years). Color names are a convention and vary by source. A year's element is a label for the year.

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Sources

For entertainment purposes only. Not medical, legal, financial or psychological advice. Read the full Disclaimer. Questions? Visit our Contact page.

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