The same chart can use Korean words, Chinese romanization and English labels. The characters are often the easiest way to check that two terms refer to the same thing.
Updated October 24, 2026
Reading the eight characters
Saju 사주 · 四柱
“Four pillars”: the birth year, month, day and hour, each represented by a pair of characters. Palja (팔자 · 八字), “eight characters,” names the same construction by its total number of characters.
Heavenly Stem 천간 · 天干
The upper character in a pillar. There are ten stems. Each has an element and a yin or yang association.
Earthly Branch 지지 · 地支
The lower character in a pillar, drawn from twelve branches. Branches have animal and time associations as well as elemental ones.
Day Master 일간 · 日干
The Heavenly Stem of the day pillar. In 壬寅 it is 壬, Yang Water. It stays the Day Master even if Earth has the largest visible count. See all ten stems.
Five Elements 오행 · 五行
Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. The element next to a character is its association in the chart. Read the visible count.
Hidden stems 지장간 · 地藏干
Additional stem associations within an Earthly Branch. Hello Saju's simple visible element tally does not add them to the eight displayed positions.
Words used to compare parts of a chart
Yin and yang 음양 · 陰陽
The two polarities assigned to the stems and branches. A person's Day Master polarity is a chart label, not a gender label.
Ten Gods 십성 · 十星
Relationship labels derived by comparing a stem's element and polarity with the Day Master. “Gods” is a conventional English translation; the labels are not ten deities.
Combination and clash 합 · 合 / 충 · 沖
Named relationships between particular stems or branches. Check which characters and which rule are being compared. In our free two-person result, the branch layer checks the confirmed day branches.
Calendar and timing
Solar terms 절기 · 節氣
Seasonal calendar markers used in determining the year and month pillars. The pillar month does not simply change on the first day of each civil month.
Ipchun 입춘 · 立春
The beginning-of-spring solar term used as the year boundary in the calculation here. A January birth can therefore carry the previous pillar year.
Daewoon 대운 · 大運
A sequence of longer, roughly ten-year periods in traditional chart interpretation. English BaZi charts often call it Da Yun. An unknown birth hour can affect the starting point.
True solar time
A correction to clock time using longitude and astronomical timing data. Our country-based location choice is approximate. Check the location rules if a birth falls near a boundary.
Terminology notes
The Academy of Korean Studies Saju entry is a reference for the pillar structure and Korean terms. Explanations of our counts, free comparison and location rules refer to this service. Names such as “The Expansive Navigator” are Hello Saju profile titles; they are not additional traditional terms.
