Korean Astrology 101: Saju Basics

Saju Basics: Korea's Four Pillars

often called Korean astrology

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Saju, sometimes called the Four Pillars, is a way of reading personality and timing from your birth date and hour. It began in China and has been carried on in Korea for centuries, with its own words and customs. Zodiac animals and saju share the same East Asian sexagenary calendar, the one behind the animals many people know as the Chinese zodiac; your animal is just the branch of your birth year.

The basics in four steps

  1. Four pillars. Your year, month, day and hour of birth each become a pillar.
  2. Eight characters. Each pillar has two characters: a heavenly stem on top (there are ten) and an earthly branch below (there are twelve).
  3. Five elements. Every character belongs to Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal or Water, and is either yang (outgoing) or yin (inward). The elements feed one another in a fixed circle: Wood feeds Fire, Fire makes Earth, Earth bears Metal, Metal gathers Water, and Water feeds Wood.
  4. Your Day Master. The top character of your day pillar stands for you. There are ten, and we give each one an image: Oak, Ivy, Sunshine, Firefly, Rock, Meadow, Blade, Gem, Ocean and Rain.

Two dates to remember

In saju, the zodiac year starts at Ipchun (around Feb 3–5; the exact time varies by year). Born between Jan 1 and Ipchun? You may belong to the previous year's animal. In everyday Korean life, many people count the zodiac year from Seollal (Lunar New Year) instead, so if you were born between the two, your two animals can differ. Months follow a similar logic: each saju month opens on a solar term, one of the 24 points that divide the sun's yearly path, and runs to the next month-opening term rather than from the 1st.

What's traditional and what's ours: the four pillars, the five elements and the ten Day Masters come from traditional saju. Names like Oak and Rain are our own English images for the ten Day Masters, and Bond Circle's six stars are our own system inspired by Five Elements relationships, not traditional saju terms.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to read Chinese characters to understand saju?

No. We explain everything in English and use images like Oak and Rain for the ten types, so you can follow a reading without learning a single character.

Is Korean saju different from Chinese Four Pillars?

They share the same roots and the same calendar math. Korean saju has its own words and customs around it, such as gunghap, which grew from Chinese marriage-matching into a Korean wedding custom, and taemong, a Korean folk tradition of conception dreams that is separate from saju.

How accurate is saju?

Saju can't be measured like a science, so accuracy isn't the right test — read it as a set of questions to think about. We calculate your chart carefully, and How We Calculate lists every rule we use, but what a chart means is always a matter of interpretation.

Read the guides

Start here

The building blocks

Using the calculator

Zodiac and compatibility

Looking ahead to 2027

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

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