A saju chart looks intimidating — eight characters in a grid — but it reads in a clear order. This guide walks you through it step by step: the four pillars, finding your Day Master, weighing the Five Elements, and reading the Sip-sin (Ten Gods). You will not need to read hanja, and you can build your own chart for free in about a minute.
A saju chart is a grid of four pillars — year, month, day, and hour — and each pillar holds two characters: a heavenly stem on top and an earthly branch below. That is eight characters in total (사주팔자, saju palja). Every character belongs to one of the Five Elements, and reading the chart means reading how those elements appear and relate to one another.
| Pillar | Built from | Broadly governs |
|---|---|---|
| Year | Your birth year | Early life, ancestry, your zodiac animal |
| Month | Your birth month | Career direction, social environment |
| Day | Your birth day | The self and partnership — holds your Day Master |
| Hour | Your birth hour | Later life, children, hidden talents |
The Day Master (일간, ilgan) is the heavenly stem of your day pillar. It is the anchor of the whole chart — your core temperament. Its element sets the lens for everything: a Wood Day Master reads the chart differently from a Water one. Before anything else, find your Day Master and note its element.
Each character belongs to one of the Five Elements (오행, ohaeng). Tally them across the chart.
| Element | Korean | Themes |
|---|---|---|
| Wood 木 | 목 (mok) | Growth, leadership, planning, kindness |
| Fire 火 | 화 (hwa) | Expression, passion, charisma, the spotlight |
| Earth 土 | 토 (to) | Stability, trust, mediation, patience |
| Metal 金 | 금 (geum) | Discipline, justice, precision, structure |
| Water 水 | 수 (su) | Wisdom, intuition, communication, flow |
An element that appears several times is a strong, recurring influence. An element that is missing points to a quality you may need to cultivate. The reading lives in the balance relative to your Day Master, not in any single character.
The Sip-sin (십신, Ten Gods) are ten relationship roles that describe how each element relates to your Day Master — what supports it, what it controls, what drains it. They map onto life themes such as career, wealth, resources, recognition, and partnership. Reading the Sip-sin is what turns a tally of elements into a narrative about your strengths and your seasons.
Beyond the static chart, saju adds the 대운 (daewoon) — ten-year luck cycles that describe the "season of life" you are currently moving through. Once you can read the four pillars and the elements, the daewoon shows how that picture shifts over time. It is the difference between a snapshot and a moving story.
Your birth date alone gives the year, month, and day pillars — enough to read a meaningful chart. Adding your hour unlocks the hour pillar and sharpens the later-life themes, but a date-only chart is still readable.
The structure is logical once you follow the order: pillars, Day Master, elements, Ten Gods. The hard part is traditionally the calculation, which a tool now does instantly, letting you focus on interpretation.
Right here. The free Cheonmyeongdang saju reading builds your four pillars from your birth date and hour and labels your Day Master and Five Elements in English, ready to read with this guide.