What saju means
Saju (사주, 四柱) means “four pillars,” and the full phrase saju palja (사주팔자, 四柱八字) means “four pillars, eight characters.” It is the Korean name for the same birth chart that Chinese speakers call BaZi: four pairs of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches for the year, month, day and hour of birth.
The idea runs so deep in Korean that palja on its own has become an everyday word for a person's lot in life. Someone whose life runs smoothly might be said to have a good palja, and a person whose circumstances change dramatically is sometimes said to have “changed their palja.”
The same system as Chinese BaZi
The calculation is identical. Saju uses the same ten stems (cheongan, 천간) and twelve branches (jiji, 지지), the same sixty-cycle and the same solar terms, so the saju year also begins at Ipchun (입춘, 立春) around February 4 rather than at Seollal, the Lunar New Year. The Day Master is called ilgan (일간), the five elements ohaeng (오행), the ten gods sipseong (십성), and the ten-year luck cycles daeun (대운).
Korean practitioners traditionally worked from a manseryeok (만세력), a “ten-thousand-year calendar” listing the stem and branch of every day. Two local details deserve attention. Korea's clocks are set to a meridian east of the peninsula, so solar time in Seoul trails the clock by roughly half an hour, and many Korean readers shift the hour boundaries to match. Older generations also tend to keep lunar birthdays (eumnyeok, 음력), which must be converted to the solar date before a chart is calculated.
How saju is used in Korea
Saju is woven into Korean life, often lightheartedly. Around the New Year, many people look up their sinnyeon unse (신년운세), the fortune for the year ahead, and some still consult the Tojeong Bigyeol (토정비결), a Joseon-era book of annual readings. Ipchun itself is greeted by pasting spring blessings such as ipchun daegil (입춘대길), “great fortune at the start of spring,” on doorways.
Before a wedding, couples or their parents may request a gunghap (궁합), a comparison of two charts that looks at how the partners' elements feed or check each other, whether their Day Masters combine or clash, and how their luck cycles line up. Saju also guides jakmyeong (작명), choosing the Hanja for a child's name so that their elements balance the chart, and it thrives in saju cafés, where friends compare charts over coffee.
The sixty-cycle shows up in family life as well. A sixtieth birthday, hwangap (환갑), marks the return of the stem and branch of the year you were born, and it has long been celebrated as one of life's great milestones.
Reading your chart with Korean terms
Each character in your chart has a Korean reading, listed in the tables below. The pillar 甲子, for example, is gapja in Korean and Jia Zi in Chinese. The year 2026 is byeong-o (병오, 丙午), often called the year of the red horse because byeong is Yang Fire and Fire's traditional color is red. Your ilgan, the stem of your day pillar, is the natural place to start reading.
Stems and branches in Korean
| Hanja | Korean | Romanized |
|---|---|---|
| 甲 | 갑 | gap |
| 乙 | 을 | eul |
| 丙 | 병 | byeong |
| 丁 | 정 | jeong |
| 戊 | 무 | mu |
| 己 | 기 | gi |
| 庚 | 경 | gyeong |
| 辛 | 신 | sin |
| 壬 | 임 | im |
| 癸 | 계 | gye |
| Hanja | Korean | Romanized | Animal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 子 | 자 | ja | Rat |
| 丑 | 축 | chuk | Ox |
| 寅 | 인 | in | Tiger |
| 卯 | 묘 | myo | Rabbit |
| 辰 | 진 | jin | Dragon |
| 巳 | 사 | sa | Snake |
| 午 | 오 | o | Horse |
| 未 | 미 | mi | Goat |
| 申 | 신 | sin | Monkey |
| 酉 | 유 | yu | Rooster |
| 戌 | 술 | sul | Dog |
| 亥 | 해 | hae | Pig |
Frequently asked questions
Is saju different from Chinese BaZi?
The calculation is the same: identical stems, branches, solar terms and sixty-cycle, so a correctly calculated saju chart and BaZi chart for the same birth match character for character. The differences lie in language and emphasis. Korean practice uses Korean readings and terms, and popular culture pays special attention to yearly fortunes, gunghap and name selection.
What is gunghap (궁합)?
Gunghap is a compatibility reading that compares two people's saju. A reader looks at whether the two Day Masters combine or clash, whether each person's elements supply what the other lacks, how the day branches (often called the spouse palace) interact, and whether the luck cycles move in step. Once consulted mainly before marriage, it is now just as often a conversation starter.
Why might my saju differ from a reading I got in Korea?
Usually because of time. Many Korean practitioners shift birth times by about thirty minutes to reflect Korea's longitude, while others use true solar time or the clock exactly as written. Daylight saving time (used in 1987 and 1988, and in some earlier years), lunar birthdays entered as solar dates, and the 11 p.m. day boundary can each change a pillar.
BaZi is a traditional Chinese system offered here for self-reflection and entertainment. Readings describe tendencies, not certainties, and are not medical, legal or financial advice.