The lower halves of your four pillars are the twelve earthly branches — the familiar zodiac animals — and in Korean saju they do not sit still. Some branches pull together into harmonies; some opposite pairs push against each other in a clash. This guide explains the three patterns you will hear about most — Samhap (삼합, Three Harmony), Yukhap (육합, Six Harmony) and Chung (충, Six Clash) — and what each tends to describe in a reading. It is a tradition meant for reflection and self-understanding, not prediction — and you can see your own branches free, in plain English, in about a minute.
Each of your four pillars has a heavenly stem on top and an earthly branch below. The branches each carry a Five Element and a hidden inner makeup, and saju reads them not as isolated boxes but as positions that can cooperate, bind or collide with one another. When branches harmonize, an element is traditionally read as reinforced or steadied; when they clash, the reading leans toward friction, movement or change in the life area those positions touch.
None of this is read in isolation. A harmony or a clash is one texture within the whole chart, weighed against your Day Master strength, your element balance and the wider pattern.
| Pattern | Korean | What it is | Traditional feel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three Harmony | 삼합 (samhap) | Three branches amplifying one element | Strong reinforcement of an element |
| Six Harmony | 육합 (yukhap) | Six branch pairs that bind gently | Quiet cooperation, closeness, stability |
| Six Clash | 충 (chung) | Six opposing branch pairs | Friction, movement, change, turning points |
Samhap groups three branches that together amplify a single Five Element. When two or three members of a group appear in a chart, that element is traditionally read as reinforced — a common way a saju leans strongly one way. The four groups are:
| Group (three branches) | Element amplified |
|---|---|
| Tiger · Horse · Dog | Fire |
| Pig · Rabbit · Goat | Wood |
| Monkey · Rat · Dragon | Water |
| Snake · Rooster · Ox | Metal |
A full three-branch samhap is the strongest form; a two-branch "half harmony" still leans the chart toward that element, though more softly. Whether a reinforced element helps or overwhelms depends on what your chart actually needs.
Yukhap is made of six branch pairs that bind together gently. A yukhap pairing is traditionally read as a quiet pull of cooperation, closeness or stabilizing in the positions it touches. The six pairs are:
Where samhap is a broad, element-amplifying group, yukhap is a softer one-to-one bond — often described as two positions that get along and settle each other.
Chung is a clash between two directly opposing branches — the pairs that sit across from each other on the zodiac circle. It is traditionally read as friction, movement or change in the life area the branches occupy, not as a curse. The six clashing pairs are:
| Branch | clashes with |
|---|---|
| Rat | Horse |
| Ox | Goat |
| Tiger | Monkey |
| Rabbit | Rooster |
| Dragon | Dog |
| Snake | Pig |
A clash can read as restlessness, a recurring tension point, or a turning point that unsettles something stuck. It can even be welcome when it moves out an element you did not need. The same clash reads very differently from one chart to the next.
Honesty matters in any reading. A clash in your saju does not predict misfortune, and a harmony does not guarantee good luck or a good relationship. These patterns describe tendencies and textures — tension, change, cooperation, reinforcement — within a centuries-old framework for self-reflection. They are not forecasts of events and not advice. Read alone, a single clash or harmony tells you very little; read in balance with the whole chart, it adds nuance to a picture meant for understanding yourself, not foretelling the future.
Yes — many do. One pair of branches might harmonize while another pair clashes, and a single branch can be involved in both. This is normal and is part of why saju is read as a balance: harmonies and clashes pull in different directions, and the chart as a whole shows how those forces settle out.
They use the same idea but at different scales. Within one chart, a clash describes internal tension. Between two people, the same harmony and clash rules feed into how their branches interact — which is the heart of gunghap (saju compatibility). The patterns above are the same building blocks, read across two charts instead of one.
Three of the four branches — year, month and day — come from your date alone, so most harmonies and clashes are already visible without the hour. The hour branch can add or complete one more, refining the picture. For more on this, read the guide to saju and birth time.
Right here. The free Cheonmyeongdang calculator turns your birth date and hour into your eight characters, four earthly branches and Five Elements distribution in plain English — everything you need to start spotting harmonies and clashes.