The Ten Day Masters in Saju, Explained One by One
In Saju, the stem of the day pillar is called the Day Master. It represents you, and the other seven characters in the chart are read in relation to it. There are ten possible Day Masters, because there are ten Heavenly Stems. Each one comes with a traditional nature image, which is the easiest way to remember it. These are symbols from a centuries-old tradition, offered here as a way to reflect, not as a measure of your character.
How the ten are organised
The ten stems are the five elements, each in a yang form and a yin form. Yang is the more outward, active, larger expression of an element. Yin is the quieter, finer, more inward one. So the first Day Master, Jia, is large wood, and the second, Yi, is small and pliant wood.
The images below follow the usual teaching of the Chinese classical texts. Different schools tell them with slightly different emphasis, so do not be surprised if another source words them differently.
Jia: tall wood
Jia is yang wood, pictured as a great tree standing straight. People with this Day Master are traditionally described as upright, ambitious and slow to bend. The tree needs deep roots and room to grow, and it is said to do best when it has a clear direction and plenty of water.
Yi is yang's partner, yin wood, pictured as grass, vines and flowers. Where the tree stands, the vine adapts. Yi is described as flexible, charming and resourceful, someone who finds a way around obstacles instead of through them.
Bing and Ding: sun and candle
Bing is yang fire, the sun. It shines on everything without asking, and the traditional description is generous, warm and open, sometimes too bright to notice the shade it casts. Bing is said to need little help to be seen.
Ding is yin fire, the flame of a candle or a lamp. It is smaller than the sun, but it can be carried indoors and used to read by. Ding is described as thoughtful, focused and quietly intense, a light that gives warmth at close range. It needs fuel such as wood to keep burning.
Wu and Ji: mountain and fields
Wu is yang earth, a mountain or a high wall. It is solid, reliable and slow to move. In the classical images, Wu is the one that others lean on, and the risk is stubbornness, since a mountain does not change its mind quickly.
Ji is yin earth, the soil of a garden or a field. It is soft enough to plant in and rich enough to nourish. Ji is described as practical, caring and adaptable, someone who takes in what is given and helps it grow.
Geng and Xin: sword and jewel
Geng is yang metal, raw iron or a sword before it is polished. It stands for strength, decisiveness and a sense of justice. The traditional note of caution is that raw iron can be hard on others, and it is said to be improved by the fire that forges it.
Xin is yin metal, a jewel or fine silver. It is refined, sensitive and aware of beauty and detail. Xin is described as elegant and exacting, with a high standard for itself. Like a jewel, it is said to shine best when it is cleaned by water.
Ren and Gui: ocean and rain
Ren is yang water, a great river or the open sea. It is broad, restless and curious, always moving toward something new. The classical description is of intelligence and freedom, together with a tendency to flow past boundaries unless there are banks to guide it.
Gui is yin water, rain, mist or a spring. It is gentle, perceptive and intuitive, working by seeping in instead of crashing. Gui is described as imaginative and sensitive, often reading the mood of a room before anyone speaks.
Reading a Day Master in context
A Day Master is never read alone. A Jia wood born in the heat of summer sits in a different situation from a Jia wood born in the cold of winter, because the season changes which elements support the chart and which drain it. This is why readers look at the month pillar first, to judge whether the Day Master is strong or weak.
A strong Day Master is one with plenty of support from its own element and the element that feeds it. A weak one is surrounded by elements that drain or restrain it. The advice that follows is the reverse of what you might guess: a strong chart is balanced by elements that use up its energy, and a weak chart is balanced by elements that support it. NamesByStars uses this idea when it explains why a name sound is a good match.
Finding your own Day Master
You cannot work out a Day Master from the year of birth alone, because the day pillar runs on its own sixty-day cycle. It depends on the exact calendar date, and for births close to midnight, on the hour too. The Saju path on the home page calculates it for you and shows it on your chart summary, together with the other pillars and the balance of the five elements.
If you would like to understand the system as a whole first, start with our introduction to Saju, and then read how name sounds are matched to the five elements.
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