BaZi · Four Pillars
The Day Master: the stem of your day pillar
In a BaZi chart the Day Master (日主) is the stem of the day pillar — the character every other one in the chart is named against. There are ten of them, and the chart cast here prints yours.
The Day Master is the stem of the day pillar in a BaZi (four pillars) chart; the ten stems run 甲 jiǎ to 癸 guǐ, each with an element and a polarity. Rimo's free BaZi calculator names your Day Master and shows the other three pillars against it.
What the Day Master is
The four pillars are year, month, day and hour, each one stem over one branch. The stem of the day pillar is the Day Master: the fixed point a reading starts from. The other seven characters are not read on their own terms but in relation to it.
How to find yours
Cast the chart and read the day pillar. The day is counted in the same sixty-day cycle that has run without a break through the whole calendar, so it depends on no month or year boundary; only the hour pillar needs the hour.
The ten Day Masters
| Stem | Element | Read as | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jia 甲 | Wood · Yang | a tall tree, a beam of timber | Jia is Yang Wood, the first of the ten stems: a tall tree, a beam, timber that has already taken its shape. |
| Yi 乙 | Wood · Yin | grass, a vine, a climbing plant | Yi is Yin Wood: grass, a vine, the plant that bends in the wind and comes back. |
| Bing 丙 | Fire · Yang | the sun | Bing is Yang Fire: the sun itself, light that falls on everything without choosing. |
| Ding 丁 | Fire · Yin | a lamp, a candle, forge fire | Ding is Yin Fire: a lamp, a candle, the small flame that is carried and sheltered. |
| Wu 戊 | Earth · Yang | a mountain, a wall | Wu is Yang Earth: a mountain, a wall, ground that does not move on its own. |
| Ji 己 | Earth · Yin | a field, garden soil, a pot | Ji is Yin Earth: a field, garden soil, ground that gets turned and planted. |
| Geng 庚 | Metal · Yang | ore, an axe, an unpolished blade | Geng is Yang Metal: ore, an axe, a blade that has not been polished yet. |
| Xin 辛 | Metal · Yin | a jewel, a needle, a mirror | Xin is Yin Metal: a jewel, a needle, a mirror — metal that has already been worked. |
| Ren 壬 | Water · Yang | a river, the sea, a running current | Ren is Yang Water: a river, the sea, water that is already going somewhere. |
| Gui 癸 | Water · Yin | dew, rain, a spring | Gui is Yin Water: dew, rain, a spring that seeps rather than runs. |
What it is not
The Day Master is not your Chinese zodiac animal: the animal is read from the year pillar alone, and the year turns at 立春, not at 1 January. Nor is it one of the stars of the twelve-palace chart — Zi Wei Dou Shu and BaZi are two separate systems, and this page belongs to BaZi.
How the rest of the chart reads against it
Every other stem is named by how it stands to the Day Master: the same element as a Companion or Rob Wealth, what it feeds as Eating God or Hurting Officer, what it controls as wealth, what controls it as officer or Seven Killings, what feeds it as resource. Those ten relations are the ten gods, printed beside each pillar in the chart.
Questions
Which Day Master do I have?
Look at the day pillar: the stem above the branch is the Day Master. The chart here prints it as a row of its own, under the four pillars.
Does the Day Master change over a life?
No. The four pillars are fixed at birth. What changes are the luck pillars and the annual pillars laid over them, and a reading asks how those stand to the Day Master.
Is the Day Master the same as the 生肖?
No. The zodiac animal comes from the year pillar; the Day Master is the day pillar's stem. They run on different cycles, and a four-pillars chart uses both.
Cast the chart and see your Day Master Luck Pillars (大运) — the ten-year blocks of a BaZi chart FAQ