Before the differences, the big shared fact: both systems take your birth date, time, and place and convert them into four "pillars." Each pillar has a Heavenly Stem (천간 / 天干) on top and an Earthly Branch (지지 / 地支) below. Four pillars × two characters = eight characters — which is exactly what "Bazi" (八字) means. "Saju" (사주, 四柱) just means "four pillars." So at the level of the chart itself, Saju and Bazi are the same object with two different names.
Both also use the same calendar engine: a sexagenary cycle keyed to the 24 solar terms (jieqi in Chinese, jeolgi in Korean). That is why the date-to-pillar calculation rarely differs between a Chinese Bazi calculator and a Korean Saju calculator — the pillars come out the same.
| Dimension | Bazi (中国 八字) | Saju (한국 사주) |
|---|---|---|
| Name & meaning | 八字 — "eight characters" | 사주 (四柱) — "four pillars" |
| Core chart | Four Pillars (identical) | Four Pillars (identical) |
| Calendar | Solar-term sexagenary (same) | Solar-term sexagenary (same) |
| Primary lens | Useful god (用神) and luck cycles | Day Master (일간) and ten gods (십성) |
| Terminology | Classical Chinese terms | Korean Hangul + Hanja terms |
| Signature application | Luck timing, life strategy | Compatibility (궁합), name-giving (작명), annual fortune |
| Cultural context | Chinese metaphysics tradition | Korean Myeongri-hak (명리학) tradition |
Notice that the first three rows are the same. The real differences live in emphasis, terminology, and application — not in the chart.
Korean Saju treats the Day Master — the Heavenly Stem of your birth day — as the anchor of the entire reading. Your personality, strengths, and relationships are read primarily in relation to it. Bazi uses the Day Master too, but classical Chinese practice often gives equal or greater weight to finding the useful god (the element that balances the chart) and to luck-cycle timing.
Both traditions use the "ten gods" (십성 / 十神) — the relationships between the Day Master and the other stems. Korean Saju tends to foreground these as a personality-and-life-flow framework in everyday readings, which is why a Saju reading often feels more like a character portrait than a timing forecast.
"Saju and Bazi give different charts." They don't. Run the same birth data through a Korean Saju calculator and a Chinese Bazi calculator and you'll get the same pillars. Any difference is interpretation, not calculation.
"One is more accurate than the other." Neither is "more accurate" at the chart level — the math is shared. Accuracy of a reading depends on the skill (or the engine) doing the interpreting, not on which name the tradition uses.
"You need to be Korean or Chinese for it to work." The Four Pillars are calendar-based, not nationality-based. As long as you know your birth date, time, and location, both systems apply to you.
Both read the same Four Pillars built from the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. The difference is tradition and emphasis: Bazi is the Chinese lineage; Saju is the Korean lineage that leans on the Day Master and ten gods, uses Korean terminology, and is applied to things like compatibility and name-giving. Same chart, different interpretive school.
Partly. "Saju" means "four pillars" and "Bazi" means "eight characters" — two names for the same chart. But the Korean tradition (Myeongri-hak) developed distinct interpretive conventions, so in practice Saju is a related but separate school, not just a translation.
Yes — both use the solar-term (24 jeolgi / jieqi) sexagenary calendar, so the raw pillar calculation is essentially identical.
For the Korean emphasis (Day Master personality, ten-gods life flow, compatibility), choose Saju. For the classical Chinese luck-cycle and useful-god approach, choose Bazi. If you're new, a free Saju reading is the easiest starting point.
It's the Heavenly Stem of your birth day, representing your core self. There are ten Day Masters (five elements in Yin and Yang form). Korean Saju uses it as the anchor of the whole reading.
Free Saju Reading — Korean Four Pillars (English supported) →