Basics How-To Interpretation

Reading Your Saju Chart: A Beginner's Guide

Step-by-step instructions for interpreting your Four Pillars chart. Learn what to look for and how to understand the patterns in your Saju.

By Saju Guide Team • • 12 min read

Your First Look at a Saju Chart

You’ve generated your Four Pillars chart—now what? For beginners, the columns of Chinese characters can seem overwhelming. This guide will walk you through reading your chart step by step.

Step 1: Identify Your Four Pillars

Your chart displays four vertical columns (pillars), each containing two characters:

Hour    Day     Month   Year
時柱    日柱    月柱    年柱
──────  ──────  ──────  ──────
[Stem]  [Stem]  [Stem]  [Stem]
[Branch][Branch][Branch][Branch]
  • Year Pillar (rightmost): Your relationship to society, ancestry
  • Month Pillar: Career, parents, middle life
  • Day Pillar: Your core self, marriage, partnerships
  • Hour Pillar (leftmost): Inner self, children, later life

Step 2: Find Your Day Master

The top character of your Day Pillar is your Day Master—the single most important element in your chart.

For example, if your Day Pillar shows 甲寅:

  • 甲 (Gap) is your Day Master
  • You are a Yang Wood person
Day MasterElementPolarityArchetype
甲 GapWoodYangPioneer
乙 EulWoodYinDiplomat
丙 ByeongFireYangRadiant
丁 JeongFireYinRefiner
戊 MuEarthYangMountain
己 GiEarthYinNurturer
庚 GyeongMetalYangWarrior
辛 SinMetalYinArtisan
壬 ImWaterYangExplorer
癸 GyeWaterYinSage

Step 3: Map Your Elements

List out all eight characters and their elements:

  1. Year Stem → Element
  2. Year Branch → Element
  3. Month Stem → Element
  4. Month Branch → Element
  5. Day Stem (Day Master) → Element
  6. Day Branch → Element
  7. Hour Stem → Element (if known)
  8. Hour Branch → Element (if known)

Now count how many of each element you have:

  • Wood: __
  • Fire: __
  • Earth: __
  • Metal: __
  • Water: __

Step 4: Analyze Element Balance

Dominant Elements

If one element appears 3+ times, it strongly colors your personality:

  • Strong Wood: Naturally creative, growth-oriented, leadership
  • Strong Fire: Passionate, inspiring, expressive
  • Strong Earth: Stable, reliable, grounding presence
  • Strong Metal: Principled, organized, structured
  • Strong Water: Wise, adaptable, deep thinking

Missing Elements

If an element doesn’t appear in your visible chart:

  • Missing Wood: May benefit from developing creativity, initiative
  • Missing Fire: May benefit from developing passion, expressiveness
  • Missing Earth: May benefit from developing stability, patience
  • Missing Metal: May benefit from developing structure, precision
  • Missing Water: May benefit from developing wisdom, adaptability

Balanced Charts

If elements are relatively balanced (1-2 each), you may:

  • Be versatile and well-rounded
  • Adapt to different situations easily
  • Not have extreme tendencies in any direction

Step 5: Examine Pillar Relationships

Day Pillar (Most Personal)

Your Day Stem + Day Branch together reveal your core nature:

  • How does the branch element relate to the stem?
  • Does it support (generate) or challenge (control) your Day Master?

Month Pillar (Career/Growth)

Related to profession and early-middle adulthood:

  • Does it generate your Day Master? (Supportive career environment)
  • Does it control? (Career involves discipline/pressure)

Year Pillar (Social/Ancestral)

How you present to the world and family patterns:

  • This is less “personal” and more about social expression
  • Consider how it interacts with your Day Pillar

Hour Pillar (Inner/Later Life)

If you have this pillar:

  • Reflects private thoughts and later life direction
  • Relationship with children and legacy

Step 6: Look for Special Patterns

Branch Relationships

Check if your branches form any special patterns:

Harmonies (Positive):

  • Rat-Ox, Tiger-Pig, Rabbit-Dog, Dragon-Rooster, Snake-Monkey, Horse-Goat

Clashes (Tension):

  • Rat-Horse, Ox-Goat, Tiger-Monkey, Rabbit-Rooster, Dragon-Dog, Snake-Pig

Self-Punishment and Combo

Advanced analysis includes checking for:

  • Same branches appearing multiple times
  • Three-harmony groups
  • Special combinations

These are beyond beginner level but worth knowing exist.

Step 7: Synthesize Your Reading

Now bring it together:

The Basic Narrative

  1. Core Identity: “I am a [Day Master type]—fundamentally [key trait]”
  2. Elemental Flavor: “My chart emphasizes [dominant element], which gives me [qualities]”
  3. Balance Needs: “I might benefit from developing more [missing/weak element] qualities”
  4. Pillar Story: “My career pillar suggests [X], while my social expression shows [Y]“

Example Reading

“I am a Yang Fire (Byeong) Day Master—naturally warm, optimistic, and inspiring. My chart shows lots of Fire and Wood, making me enthusiastic and creative, but little Metal suggests I might benefit from developing more structure and discipline. My Month Pillar has strong Earth, indicating a career that involves supporting or building foundations for others.”

Common Beginner Mistakes

Over-Focusing on One Element

Don’t fixate on just your Day Master or zodiac animal. The whole chart matters.

Ignoring Context

Elements don’t exist in isolation—relationships between them matter as much as individual counts.

Taking It Too Literally

“Missing Fire means I’ll never be passionate”—No! It means passion might not be your default mode, but you can absolutely develop it.

Seeking Certainty

Saju describes tendencies, not destinies. Stay curious rather than seeking definitive answers.

Practice Exercise

Try this with your own chart:

  1. Generate your chart using our Saju Calculator
  2. Write down your Day Master and its meaning
  3. Count your elements
  4. Note any obvious harmonies or clashes
  5. Write a 2-3 sentence “This is my basic Saju nature” summary

Share with friends and compare—this is meant to be engaging and fun!

Next Steps

Ready to go deeper?