How to Read a Saju Chart, Step by Step
A Saju chart looks intimidating because it is written in Chinese characters, but it is only a small grid. This walkthrough uses Jungkook’s chart, born 1997-09-01, as the example. You can follow along with your own by entering your birthday on the home page.
Step 1: Find the four columns
A chart has four columns, the pillars: year, month, day and hour. Traditional charts run right to left; this site shows them left to right. Because Jungkook’s birth time is not public, the chart has three:
| Year | Month | Day | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stem (top) | 丁 Jeong, fire | 戊 Mu, earth | 丙 Byeong, fire |
| Branch (bottom) | 丑 Chuk, earth | 申 Sin, metal | 午 O, fire |
Step 2: Find the day master
Look at the top character of the day column. That is the day master, the character that stands for the person. Here it is 丙, Yang Fire, pictured as the sun. Everything else is read from this character’s point of view.
Step 3: Count the elements
Give each character its element and count. Jungkook’s six visible characters come to: wood 0, fire 3, earth 2, metal 1, water 0. There is no wood or water, which a reader would call the missing elements. A fourth pillar could change that count, which is one reason birth time matters.
Step 4: Relate the elements to the day master
Now use the two cycles from the five elements guide. For a fire day master:
- Wood feeds it. This is support and learning.
- Fire is the same element. This is peers and self-confidence.
- Earth is what it feeds. This is expression and output.
- Metal is what it controls. This is traditionally linked to wealth and results.
- Water controls it. This is discipline and pressure.
Professional readers name these five relationships, split by Yin and Yang, as the “ten gods” (십성, 十星). You do not need the names to follow the logic.
Step 5: Look at the year branch
The bottom character of the year column gives the zodiac animal. Jungkook was born in a 丑 year: the year of the Ox.
Step 6: Compare with another chart
Compatibility repeats these steps across two charts: how the day masters relate, whether the branches harmonise or clash, and whether each chart fills the other’s gaps. That is exactly what the match tool and the idol × idol tool calculate.
Saju is a cultural tradition, and this site treats it as entertainment. There is no scientific evidence that a birth chart determines personality or predicts the future.