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Glossary
Every word this system uses, in plain English.
Saju has a vocabulary problem. It is six centuries old, it is written in hanja, and most of it has never been translated into English by anyone trying to be understood. 42 terms, each with one sentence for the hurry and a fuller answer underneath.
Foundations
- Saju사주 · 四柱The Korean system that reads your life from the year, month, day and hour you were born.
- Four Pillars사주 · 四柱The four column-pairs of your chart — one each for your birth year, month, day and hour.
- Bazi八字The Chinese name for the same system Korea calls Saju — literally "eight characters".
- Heavenly Stem천간 · 天干The upper character of a pillar — one of ten, showing what is visible and expressed.
- Earthly Branch지지 · 地支The lower character of a pillar — one of twelve, showing what is underneath and slower to move.
- Day Master일간 · 日干The upper character of your day pillar — the single character that represents you.
- Sixty Cycle육십갑자 · 六十甲子The repeating sequence of sixty stem-and-branch pairs that the whole calendar runs on.
The five elements
- Five Elements오행 · 五行Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water — the five forces every character in your chart belongs to.
- Generating Cycle상생 · 相生The loop where each element feeds the next: Wood feeds Fire, Fire feeds Earth, Earth feeds Metal, Metal feeds Water, Water feeds Wood.
- Controlling Cycle상극 · 相剋The loop where each element restrains another: Wood parts Earth, Earth blocks Water, Water quenches Fire, Fire melts Metal, Metal cuts Wood.
- Missing ElementAn element that appears nowhere in your chart — usually the thing you spend your life reaching for.
- Element BalanceThe census of which elements your chart holds and in what proportion.
- Yin and Yang음양 · 陰陽The two tempers each element comes in — yang is outward and forceful, yin is inward and persistent.
The ten gods
- Ten Gods십신 · 十神The ten possible relationships between your day master and any other character in the chart.
- The Peer비견 · 比肩A character with your element and your polarity — someone standing exactly where you stand.
- The Rival겁재 · 劫財A character with your element but opposite polarity — what takes from you while looking like an equal.
- The Craft식신 · 食神What your element produces, in matching polarity — what you make when nobody is asking you to.
- The Performer상관 · 傷官What your element produces, in opposite polarity — brilliance that refuses to be managed.
- Loose Money편재 · 偏財What your element controls, in matching polarity — opportunity, windfall, money that arrives sideways.
- Earned Money정재 · 正財What your element controls, in opposite polarity — the steady wage, the thing you built on purpose.
- The Pressure편관 · 偏官What controls your element, in matching polarity — what forces you to grow before you are ready.
- The Duty정관 · 正官What controls your element, in opposite polarity — structure, rank, the rules you accepted.
- The Odd Mind편인 · 偏印What feeds your element, in matching polarity — unconventional insight, the knowledge nobody taught you.
- The Support정인 · 正印What feeds your element, in opposite polarity — mothers, mentors, study, protection.
Timing and cycles
- Daeun대운 · 大運Your luck pillars — ten-year blocks, each of which changes what your fixed chart does.
- Seyun세운 · 歲運The annual pillar — the pair of characters governing a single calendar year.
- Child Limit대운수 · 大運數The age at which your ten-year luck pillars start running.
- Solar Term절기 · 節氣One of twenty-four fixed points in the solar year — these, not calendar months, decide your month pillar.
- Ipchun입춘 · 立春The start of spring, around 4 February — the real beginning of the Saju year.
- The Twelve Hours십이시 · 十二時The twelve two-hour blocks that decide your hour pillar.
How characters interact
- Clash충 · 沖Two branches sitting directly opposite each other — a collision that forces movement.
- Combination합 · 合Two characters that bind to each other, often producing a third element between them.
- Harm해 · 害A quieter antagonism between two branches — friction rather than collision.
- Hidden Stems지장간 · 支藏干The one to three stems concealed inside every earthly branch.
- Void공망 · 空亡Two branches in every chart that are structurally "empty" — present, but hard to hold onto.
Chart structure
- Strong or Weak Day Master신강신약 · 身強身弱Whether your chart supports you more than it demands of you — the first judgement any reader makes.
- Useful God용신 · 用神The element your chart most needs — the lever a reader recommends pulling.
- Gunghap궁합 · 宮合Compatibility between two charts — still routinely checked before Korean marriages.
Method and accuracy
- True Solar TimeTime measured by where the sun actually is, rather than by the clock on the wall.
- Korea's Timezone HistoryKorea changed its standard meridian four times and ran daylight saving in twelve separate stretches.
- The 23:00 Rule야자시 · 夜子時The sixty-cycle day rolls over at 23:00, not at midnight.
- Three-Pillar ChartWhat you get when the birth hour is unknown — three pillars instead of four.
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