There are not twelve signs but sixty — stems, branches and the cycle
updated · 5 min read
The twelve animals used on new year cards are properly called the earthly branches. When these readings speak of a sign, they mean one of sixty combinations, made by pairing the branches with something else: the heavenly stems.
There are ten stems. The characters are unfamiliar, and it helps to think of them as symbols in a fixed order. Combining the ten with the twelve is what gives the signs used in divination.
Why sixty and not a hundred and twenty
Ten times twelve suggests a hundred and twenty, and there are sixty. The pairing follows a rule: the stems and the branches each advance by one at a time, which halves the combinations that can occur.
| Position | Stem | Branch | The pair |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Yang Wood | Rat | Yang Wood Rat |
| 2nd | Yin Wood | Ox | Yin Wood Ox |
| 3rd | Yang Fire | Tiger | Yang Fire Tiger |
| … | … | … | … |
| 60th | Yin Water | Pig | Yin Water Pig |
| 61st | Yang Wood | Rat | Yang Wood Rat, back round again |
The lowest common multiple of ten and twelve is sixty, so after sixty steps it returns to the start. The Japanese celebration of kanreki marks the sixty-first year, when the sign of your birth year comes round again. That is why it is kept at sixty.
Each stem carries one of the five elements
The ten stems are distributed two apiece across the five elements — wood, fire, earth, metal and water — and each pair splits into a yang and a yin form. This correspondence is the ground on which the Four Pillars reads character.
| Element | Yang | Yin |
|---|---|---|
| Wood | Yang Wood | Yin Wood |
| Fire | Yang Fire | Yin Fire |
| Earth | Yang Earth | Yin Earth |
| Metal | Yang Metal | Yin Metal |
| Water | Yang Water | Yin Water |
If the stem of your day pillar is Yang Fire, you are read as holding the quality of fire. A compatibility reading uses the relations between these elements too. You need not learn the stems themselves; knowing which element each belongs to makes everything else quicker.
The difference between yang and yin is taken as a difference in how the same element comes out. Within wood, the yang form is often described as a great tree growing straight up and the yin form as grasses spreading pliantly. It is not a difference of strength.
The year, the month and the day each have a sign
The Four Pillars assigns a sign to the year, the month and the day of birth. Only the year sign is well known, and in practice three are read side by side — four where a time of birth is used. This service does not use a time of birth, so it works with three.
Each pillar has its part. The year is family line and how society sees you, the month work and where you stand, the day yourself. Of these, the stem of the day pillar is taken to show the person's essential nature and carries the most weight.
The sign of a day can be calculated from the date alone. This service derives it from the Julian day number used in astronomy, and has checked it against known values: 1 January 1900 gives Yang Wood Dog, and 1 January 2000 gives Yang Earth Horse.
Common questions
- Is the zodiac on a new year card different from the one in divination?
- The cards use the twelve branches. Divination uses the sixty combinations made with the stems. Looking at the branch of the year alone, the same animal reads differently when the stem differs.
- Where can I find my own signs?
- A reading on this service shows the year, month and day pillars on the result screen. Entering a date of birth is enough.
- Why is kanreki celebrated at sixty?
- Because the cycle runs sixty before repeating. Returning to the sign of your birth year falls in the sixty-first year, which by the traditional count is age sixty-one and by the modern count sixty.