年柱 · Year
The sexagenary year
Stem = (year − 4) mod 10, branch = (year − 4) mod 12, with 甲子 at 0. The astrological year turns at 立春 Lìchūn — fixed here to Feb 4. So 2024 reads 甲辰, 2026 reads 丙午.
Long before charts and clocks, the almanac read a life from 八字 — the eight characters of your birth. Each of the four pillars is a Heavenly Stem 天干 laid over an Earthly Branch 地支; each character carries one of the Five Elements 五行. Enter a birth date and the chart is cast in real time — the day pillar computed to the exact day, the way a 通勝 almanac would.
This reading is generated from the chart by rule, not by a diviner, and is offered for reflection and delight — not prediction. BaZi is a centuries-old symbolic system; treat its mirror gently.
Stem = (year − 4) mod 10, branch = (year − 4) mod 12, with 甲子 at 0. The astrological year turns at 立春 Lìchūn — fixed here to Feb 4. So 2024 reads 甲辰, 2026 reads 丙午.
Branch from the 12 節 solar terms, approximated with fixed dates (±1 day from the true term); stem from the year stem by the 五虎遁 rule.
Day index = (JDN + 49) mod 60 — the offset calibrated against known dates: 2000-01-01 = 戊午, 1984-02-01 = 乙丑, 1990-05-20 = 乙酉. The day pillar is exact.
Branch from the double-hour (子 23:00–01:00 …); stem from the day stem by the 五鼠遁 rule. Uses clock time — no longitude / true-solar correction, midnight as the day boundary.
A note on honesty: only the day pillar is exact to the day. Month and year boundaries are the true solar terms in principle, but here they are approximated by fixed calendar dates — near a boundary (early February, or the first days of a month) the pillar may shift by one. Element balance counts each of the eight characters' primary element once; the hidden stems 藏干 inside each branch, which a full reading weighs, are not tallied here.