The Rat in 2026: clash (Chong Tai Sui, 冲太岁)
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 Rat and the Horse: they clash — six apart, directly opposite. That is why folk lists of the signs that “offend” the year, Fan Tai Sui (犯太岁), include the Rat: clash (Chong Tai Sui, 冲太岁).
Counted by sign, every Rat 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.
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 Rat with each sign, from the classics: Rat · Ox · Tiger · Rabbit · Dragon · Snake · Horse · Goat · Monkey · Rooster · Dog · Pig
The Rat, birth year by birth year
The animal is the same in every row: the Rat against the Horse — clash (冲太岁). 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1924 | 甲子Wood Rat | 海中金Gold in the Sea | 102 | Wood produces Fire | |
| 1936 | 丙子Fire Rat | 涧下水Water in the Ravine | 90 | the same stem | |
| 1948 | 戊子Earth Rat | 霹雳火Thunderbolt Fire | 78 | Fire produces Earth | |
| 1960 | 庚子Metal Rat | 壁上土Earth on the Wall | 66 | Fire controls Metaldouble clash | double clash |
| 1972 | 壬子Water Rat | 桑柘木Mulberry Wood | 54 | Water controls Firedouble clash | double clash |
| 1984 | 甲子Wood Rat | 海中金Gold in the Sea | 42 | Wood produces Fire | |
| 1996 | 丙子Fire Rat | 涧下水Water in the Ravine | 30 | the same stem | |
| 2008 | 戊子Earth Rat | 霹雳火Thunderbolt Fire | 18 | Fire produces Earth | |
| 2020 | 庚子Metal Rat | 壁上土Earth on the Wall | 6 | Fire controls Metaldouble clash | double clash |
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 Rat years from 1924 to 2020, about 41% 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 Rat’s branch, Zi (子)
How each month’s animal stands to the Rat (子). 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 Rat |
|---|---|---|
| 庚寅Metal Tiger | 2026-02-04 | — |
| 辛卯Metal Rabbit | 2026-03-05 | punishment |
| 壬辰Water Dragon | 2026-04-05 | trine |
| 癸巳Water Snake | 2026-05-05 | — |
| 甲午Wood Horse | 2026-06-05 | clash |
| 乙未Wood Goat | 2026-07-07 | harm |
| 丙申Fire Monkey | 2026-08-07 | trine |
| 丁酉Fire Rooster | 2026-09-07 | break |
| 戊戌Earth Dog | 2026-10-08 | — |
| 己亥Earth Pig | 2026-11-07 | — |
| 庚子Metal Rat | 2026-12-07 | same branch |
| 辛丑Metal Ox | 2027-01-05 | six harmony |
Famous Rats
Jin Yong (1924), S. R. Nathan (1924), Yuan T. Lee (1936), Jimmy Choo (1948), Lawrence Wong (1972)
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.