Day Master Directory — the ten that say who you are
Your Day Master (日干) is the one character among the eight in your Saju chart that stands for you — the Heavenly Stem of the day you were born. A reading starts here, then asks how the other seven characters support you or draw you down. There are ten Heavenly Stems in all: each of the five elements splits into Yang and Yin, and the old texts drew each one as a thing in nature.
The ten Heavenly Stems
In canonical order the ten stems run 甲 Gap (Yang Wood), 乙 Eul (Yin Wood), 丙 Byeong (Yang Fire), 丁 Jeong (Yin Fire), 戊 Mu (Yang Earth), 己 Gi (Yin Earth), 庚 Gyeong (Yang Metal), 辛 Sin (Yin Metal), 壬 Im (Yang Water), and 癸 Gye (Yin Water). Open any card for the full profile.
Gap Wood · Tall tree
Yang Wood · Growth & drive
A tall tree growing straight toward the light. it bends for no one.
Eul Wood · Vine
Yin Wood · Growth & drive
A vine. it climbs by leaning, wraps around what's solid, and outlasts the storm that snaps the tree.
Byeong Fire · The sun
Yang Fire · Expression & warmth
The midday sun. it shines on everyone at once and hides nothing.
Jeong Fire · Candle
Yin Fire · Expression & warmth
A candle in a dark room. small and steady, warming the one in front of it.
Mu Earth · Mountain
Yang Earth · Steadiness & care
A mountain. unhurried, immovable, the thing others come to lean on.
Gi Earth · Garden soil
Yin Earth · Steadiness & care
Tilled garden soil. quiet and giving, where things take root and grow.
Gyeong Metal · Raw ore
Yang Metal · Decisiveness & clarity
Raw ore, an unforged blade. direct, decisive, cutting to the point.
Sin Metal · Cut jewel
Yin Metal · Decisiveness & clarity
A cut jewel. refined and exact, and quietly stung by a single scratch.
Im Water · The open sea
Yang Water · Wisdom & flow
The open sea. wide and deep, moving where it pleases.
Gye Water · Rain & dew
Yin Water · Wisdom & flow
Rain and dew. soft and quiet, seeping in until it reaches everywhere.
Strong vs weak isn’t good vs bad
When a lot of the same energy backs your Day Master up, the chart is called ‘strong’ (身强); when it’s surrounded by forces that spend and press on it, ‘weak’ (身弱). Neither is better — they just balance in different ways. A strong Day Master settles when it has an outlet to pour into (work, expression); a weak one settles when it has people and surroundings to lean on. A chart isn’t a scorecard — it’s a mirror for reading the flow.
What is a Day Master (日干)?
Your Day Master is the Heavenly Stem of the day you were born — the single character among the eight in your Saju chart that stands for you. Every other character is read against it: which elements support you, which spend you, and how the ten-year luck cycles land. There are ten Day Masters in all, because each of the five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) comes in a Yang and a Yin form: 甲 Gap, 乙 Eul, 丙 Byeong, 丁 Jeong, 戊 Mu, 己 Gi, 庚 Gyeong, 辛 Sin, 壬 Im, and 癸 Gye. The classical texts drew each one as a thing in nature — a tall tree, a candle in a dark room, the open sea — and those images are traditionally read as a temperament lens for self-reflection, not a verdict on your life.
How do I find my Day Master?
Your Saju chart has four pillars — year, month, day, and hour — and the Day Master is the top character of the day pillar: its Heavenly Stem. You don't choose it and it doesn't change; it's fixed by your birth date, so you can find it even if you never learned your birth time. What matters is that the chart is computed correctly in the first place. Saju runs on the 24 solar terms — astronomical points along the sun's path, not calendar months — and on your local time, which is exactly where generic chatbots routinely get charts wrong. Our free calculator derives solar-term timing from VSOP87 solar longitude with ΔT correction, verified against the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) published times to within ±1–2 minutes, and corrects true solar time from your birth longitude. Enter your birth date and it returns your Day Master instantly.
Are Day Masters like MBTI types?
They rhyme, but they're built differently. MBTI sorts you into one of 16 types from a self-report questionnaire — your own answers, on the day you take it. A Day Master is one of ten types derived from your birth date by a fixed calendrical rule, so it never varies with mood or retakes. And it isn't the whole reading: the same Gap Wood Day Master sits inside a different chart for every person, and the other seven characters change what it means. In practice the two often get used for similar things — a shared vocabulary for talking about temperament — and comparing them can be genuinely fun. Just hold both lightly: a Day Master is traditionally read as a lens for asking better questions about yourself, not a verdict on who you are or what will happen.
Do I need my birth time to find my Day Master?
No. Your Day Master comes from your birth date, so you can find it whether or not you know the time you were born. The hour only adds the hour pillar and refines your element balance — it doesn't change the Day Master itself.
Why read the Day Master instead of my zodiac animal?
Your zodiac animal comes from your birth year, so everyone born that year shares it. The Day Master is tied to your birth day and is far more personal — the whole chart is read by reflecting it back onto this one character. If the zodiac animal is a broad generational marker, the Day Master is the axis your chart turns on.
Which Day Master is yours?
Your birth date is enough — no birth time needed for this part. Free.
Find my Day MasterThe chart is computed by our own deterministic 만세력 engine — solar terms from VSOP87 solar longitude with ΔT correction, true solar time from your birth longitude, and historical DST — verified against the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) to within ±1–2 minutes and locked by regression tests. Things general chatbots routinely get wrong.