Korean Saju glossary
The core Saju (Four Pillars) terms in plain English, with the original Korean and Hanja. Gwiraedang computes all of these for you from your birth date, time and city.
- Saju 사주 · 四柱
- “Four Pillars.” A chart of four pillars — year, month, day and hour of birth — each written as one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch (eight characters total). The Korean tradition closest to Chinese BaZi.
- Day Master 일간 · 日干
- The Heavenly Stem of your birth-day pillar — the single character that represents you. It's the anchor the whole chart is read against: every other character is interpreted by how it relates to your Day Master.
- Heavenly Stems 천간 · 天干
- The ten celestial signs (甲乙丙丁戊己庚辛壬癸), each tied to one of the Five Elements in its yin or yang form. The top character of each pillar.
- Earthly Branches 지지 · 地支
- The twelve terrestrial signs (子丑寅卯辰巳午未申酉戌亥), the same set as the twelve zodiac animals. The bottom character of each pillar; each branch also hides one to three stems.
- Five Elements 오행 · 五行
- Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water — the five phases that generate and control one another. Balance and flow among them across your chart is the core of a reading.
- Ten Gods 십성 · 十星
- Ten relationships (e.g., Friend, Output, Wealth, Authority, Resource) between your Day Master and every other character. They translate the raw elements into themes like career, relationships and self-expression.
- Hidden Stems 지장간 · 支藏干
- The Heavenly Stems concealed inside each Earthly Branch. They reveal sub-influences that aren’t visible from the surface characters and refine how strong each element really is.
- Luck Pillars 대운 · 大運
- Ten-year “major luck” cycles that move your chart through time, plus the yearly cycle (세운, Annual Luck). They show how the fixed birth chart interacts with changing periods of life.
- True Solar Time 진태양시 · 眞太陽時
- The sun’s actual position over your birthplace, which can differ from clock time by tens of minutes. The hour pillar must use true solar time — not the clock — to be correct.
- Solar Terms 절기 · 節氣
- Twenty-four seasonal markers based on the sun’s position. The Saju year and month change on solar terms (the year at 입춘/Lichun, ~Feb 4) — not on Jan 1 or the lunar new year.
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