Four Pillars Calculator

Enter your birth moment to draw the eight characters of your BaZi chart.

Time zone of birthplace

Use the place you were born, not where you live now.

Sex at birth

This sets the direction of your luck cycles.

Sample chart: 15 June 1990, 08:30, Shanghai

You are Yin Metal

Year庚Geng · Yang Metal午Wu · Horse · Fire
Month壬Ren · Yang Water午Wu · Horse · Fire
Day辛Xin · Yin Metal亥Hai · Pig · Water
Hour壬Ren · Yang Water辰Chen · Dragon · Earth

Five Elements

Wood0
Fire2
Earth1
Metal2
Water3

Ten-year luck cycles

Starts at 7 years, 5 months · Runs forward

Age 7癸未
Age 17甲申
Now乙酉
Age 37丙戌
Age 47丁亥
Age 57戊子
Age 67己丑
Age 77庚寅

Understanding Four Pillars

Four Pillars, or BaZi, turns your birth moment into eight Chinese characters: a stem and a branch for each of the year, month, day and hour. Readers use them to describe temperament and strengths, and to map the timing of life's phases.

How it is calculated

  1. YearThe year pillar changes at Start of Spring, around 4 February. It does not change on 1 January or at Chinese New Year.
  2. MonthThe month pillar changes at twelve solar terms, which follow the sun rather than the moon.
  3. DayThe day pillar follows an unbroken sixty-day cycle.
  4. HourThe day divides into twelve double hours. The day stem sets the stem of each hour.

How to read it

  1. Find your Day MasterThe stem of the day pillar stands for you. Everything else is read in relation to it.
  2. Check the element balanceSee which of the five elements are strong, weak or missing.
  3. Read the Ten GodsEach stem takes a role, such as Wealth or Officer, based on its relation to your Day Master.
  4. Follow the luck cyclesEach ten-year cycle brings new elements, which shift the balance of the chart.

Our method

Birth time
Local clock time at the birthplace, including historical time zones and daylight saving.
Late Zi hour
A birth from 23:00 counts as the next day. Some schools keep the same day.
Luck start age
Three days to the nearest solar term equal one year of age.
Element count
Each stem and branch counts once by its main element. Hidden stems are not counted.
True solar time
Not applied yet. We plan to offer it as an option.

Common questions

What if I do not know my birth time?

You can still draw six of the eight characters. The hour pillar stays blank.

Why does my zodiac animal differ on other sites?

Four Pillars turns the year at Start of Spring. Many zodiac sites use Chinese New Year.

Does this predict my future?

It shows how a traditional system describes a birth moment. Treat it as culture and reflection, not as advice.

Is my birth data stored?

No. The chart is calculated in your browser, and nothing is sent to a server.

Sources

  • 淵海子平 Yuan Hai Zi Ping
  • 三命通會 San Ming Tong Hui
  • 滴天髓 Di Tian Sui
  • 子平真詮 Zi Ping Zhen Quan