The Ox in 2026: harm (Hai Tai Sui, 害太岁)

2026 is the Fire Horse year (Bing Wu, 丙午). Its Tai Sui (太岁) — the star said to rule the year — sits with the Horse. The Ox and the Horse: they harm each other (Liu Hai, 六害). That is why folk lists of the signs that “offend” the year, Fan Tai Sui (犯太岁), include the Ox: harm (Hai Tai Sui, 害太岁).

Counted by sign, every Ox gets the same answer for the year — one person in twelve. Below they are split twice: by birth year, counting the element of the year as well as its animal, and then by the day pillar — the element and animal of the day you were born — which is what the classics actually read.

First, check your sign — and your day pillar

If you were born in January or February, check: some count the sign from Chinese New Year and some from the Start of Spring (Li Chun, 立春, around 4 February), and anyone born between the two gets a different sign from each. Settle it to the minute with your birth time and place

All twelve signs against 2026’s Tai Sui (太岁)

Red: on the folk lists of signs that “offend” the year, Fan Tai Sui (犯太岁) — the same sign, or a clash, punishment, harm or break. Green: in harmony with the year — a pair (six harmony, Liu He, 六合) or one of a group of three (trine, San He, 三合) — which folk lists count as lucky. Grey: neither. These are fixed relations between the animals, not ratings.

The Ox with each sign, from the classics: Rat · Ox · Tiger · Rabbit · Dragon · Snake · Horse · Goat · Monkey · Rooster · Dog · Pig

The Ox, birth year by birth year

The animal is the same in every row: the Ox against the Horse — harm (害太岁). What differs is the element: each birth year’s stem stands differently to 2026’s Yang Fire (丙), and the Stems column says how. The nayin is the birth year’s traditional image. Age is the age turned during 2026.

Born Pillar Nayin Age Stems Named
1925 乙丑Wood Ox 海中金Gold in the Sea 101 Wood produces Fire
1937 丁丑Fire Ox 涧下水Water in the Ravine 89 both Fire
1949 己丑Earth Ox 霹雳火Thunderbolt Fire 77 Fire produces Earth
1961 辛丑Metal Ox 壁上土Earth on the Wall 65 Fire and Metal bind
1973 癸丑Water Ox 桑柘木Mulberry Wood 53 Water controls Fire
1985 乙丑Wood Ox 海中金Gold in the Sea 41 Wood produces Fire
1997 丁丑Fire Ox 涧下水Water in the Ravine 29 both Fire
2009 己丑Earth Ox 霹雳火Thunderbolt Fire 17 Fire produces Earth
2021 辛丑Metal Ox 壁上土Earth on the Wall 5 Fire and Metal bind

Double clash (Tian Ke Di Chong, 天克地冲): the stems control each other and the animals clash. Double bond (Tian He Di He, 天合地合): the stems bind and the animals pair. Same pillar: the year’s pillar is the birth year’s, sixty years on. These three are the combinations folk readings mention most; they are marked here, not judged.

What the classics read: the day pillar, not the sign

The Song-dynasty manual Yuan Hai Zi Ping (淵海子平) judges Tai Sui by the day pillar — the element and animal of the day you were born — against the year’s, in three ways: offending the year’s lord (Fan Sui Jun, 犯岁君), war (Zheng, 征), gloom (Hui, 晦). In 2026, 25 of the sixty day pillars are marked. Of the days in Ox years from 1925 to 2021, about 42% fall on one of them — much the same as for every other sign. By the classical rule, your sign does not decide it.

The same work says to “look only at whether the chart holds help” (但看八字有无救助), so whether it matters is the whole chart’s question. Check your day pillar with the form above, or see the full list of marked day pillars for 2026.

The twelve months of 2026 against the Ox’s branch, Chou (丑)

How each month’s animal stands to the Ox (丑). Months run from one solar term (Jie, 节) to the next, UTC+8, not from new moon to new moon.

Month pillar Begins With the Ox
庚寅Metal Tiger 2026-02-04 —
辛卯Metal Rabbit 2026-03-05 —
壬辰Water Dragon 2026-04-05 break
癸巳Water Snake 2026-05-05 trine
甲午Wood Horse 2026-06-05 harm
乙未Wood Goat 2026-07-07 clash, punishment
丙申Fire Monkey 2026-08-07 —
丁酉Fire Rooster 2026-09-07 trine
戊戌Earth Dog 2026-10-08 punishment
己亥Earth Pig 2026-11-07 —
庚子Metal Rat 2026-12-07 six harmony
辛丑Metal Ox 2027-01-05 same branch

Famous Oxs

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889), Mahathir Mohamad (1925), Joan Chen (1961), Jacky Cheung (1961), Andy Lau (1961), Lisa (1997)

One sign, and a different day pillar each. Every page has that person’s pillars.

Does 2026 help you or not?

A sign is one character of the year pillar; a day pillar is two of the eight. What 2026 is to you means setting the Fire Horse (丙午) against all four pillars, which needs your birth time and place.

About this page

Same sign, clash, punishment, harm, break, six harmony and trine are fixed relations between branches; the year pillars, nayin, month pillars and solar-term moments are calendar arithmetic; the Tai Sui (太岁) section follows the Yuan Hai Zi Ping (淵海子平). There are no ratings here for money, love or career — a sign cannot give them.