Yin Water Ox (Gui Chou, 癸丑) day pillar
A Yin Water day master, the Mist, sitting on the Ox.
Your day pillar is the pair of characters for the day you were born. The top one, the stem, is your day master — you. The bottom one, the branch, is what it sits on. The sixty pillars come round in turn, one a day, so about one person in sixty was born on a Gui Chou day.
Its sound element: Mulberry Wood (Sang Zhe Mu, 桑柘木)
The sixty pillars go in pairs, and each pair carries a sound element (Na Yin, 纳音) — an image, separate from the element of the stem. The classic San Ming Tong Hui (三命通会) describes each pillar by it:
Wood harmed by too little water; likes Metal, Water and autumn.
伤水少之木，喜金水及秋
What the Ox holds, and what it is to Yin Water
Each branch holds one to three stems. The ones under your own day master are the closest things to you in the chart.
- Yin Earth (Ji, 己), the main one — Seven Killings (Qi Sha, 七杀). What controls you, same polarity. Pressure with nothing softening it: demand, risk, and whatever you answer to whether you chose it or not.
- Yin Water (Gui, 癸) — Friend (Bi Jian, 比肩). Same element, same polarity as you. A peer: someone standing where you stand, competing for the same thing and equally able to share the load.
- Yin Metal (Xin, 辛) — Indirect Resource (Pian Yin, 偏印). What produces you, same polarity. Support of an indirect kind — the tradition treats it as nourishment that can also crowd out the Eating God (食神).
A Gui Chou day at each birth hour: San Ming Tong Hui (三命通会)
Two volumes of this classic go hour by hour, and at each hour say something about this exact day pillar. These are its sentences on a Gui Chou day; what it says about the other five Yin Water days is on the Yin Water day master page. Hours are true solar time, not clock time.
Rat hour 23:00–01:00 · Yang Water Rat (Ren Zi, 壬子)
Horse (午), Tiger (寅), Wood Ox (乙丑) and Earth Ox (己丑) in year or month, a civil post of the fourth or fifth grade; carrying a month where the self is strong in Wood qi with no Yang Earth (戊), Yin Earth (己), Horse or Snake (巳) character, conspicuously noble. Goat (未), the censorate. Snake and Horse, a graduate. It dislikes Water Tiger (壬寅), Wood Goat (乙未) and Metal Dog (庚戌) months, all punishment; a Wood Ox month, low and base.
午寅、乙丑，己丑年月，文职四五品，通身旺木气月，无戊己午巳字，显贵。未，风宪。巳午，进士。忌壬寅、乙未、庚戌月，俱刑。乙丑月，下贱。
Ox hour 01:00–03:00 · Yin Water Ox (Gui Chou, 癸丑)
the Ox (丑) reaching at a distance for the Yang Fire (丙) and Yang Earth (戊) within Snake (巳) as wealth and officer; if born in a year or month with Ox, Tiger (寅), Monkey (申), Rat (子) or Rooster (酉) in triad, it governs a worthy wife and filial children, glory, nobility and outstanding parts; Fire and Earth periods, ill; Metal and Water periods, favourable.
丑遥巳中丙戊为财官，若生丑寅申子酉三合年月，主妻贤于孝，荣贵特达；火土运凶；金水运吉。
Tiger hour 03:00–05:00 · Yang Wood Tiger (Jia Yin, 甲寅)
noble in itself, but within Ox (丑) there is Yin Metal (辛), which lessens its measure. Pure Water in year and month, office to the first grade. Born in autumn, Direct Resource (印绶), also noble. A Dragon (辰) month running an eastern period, poor and low. Pure Monkey (申) breaking the Tiger (寅), ill.
本贵，丑中有辛金，减其分数。纯水年月，官至一品。秋生印绶，亦贵。辰月，行东运，贫下。纯申破寅，凶。
Rabbit hour 05:00–07:00 · Yin Wood Rabbit (Yi Mao, 乙卯)
Dragon (辰) and Ox (丑) months, highly noble. One account says low when young and noble in middle age.
辰丑月，高贵。一云：少贱中年贵。
Dragon hour 07:00–09:00 · Yang Fire Dragon (Bing Chen, 丙辰)
middling. Dragon (辰), Dog (戌), Ox (丑) and Goat (未) months, wealth and officer having qi, noble.
平。辰戌丑未月，财官有气，贵。
Snake hour 09:00–11:00 · Yin Fire Snake (Ding Si, 丁巳)
poor first and rich after, running Fire and Water periods, coming out.
先贫后富，行火水运，发达。
Horse hour 11:00–13:00 · Yang Earth Horse (Wu Wu, 戊午)
wealth thick. A southern period governs nobility with a short life; an eastern period, favourable.
财厚，南运主贵寿促，东运吉。
Goat hour 13:00–15:00 · Yin Earth Goat (Ji Wei, 己未)
high. Year and month both Ox (丑), poor and thin. Dragon (辰), Dog (戌), Ox and Goat (未), Earth (土) strong, governs eye disease, poverty and low station. Running through Metal, Wood and Water qi, noble. A Horse (午) month with a north-eastern period, sixth or seventh grade.
高。年月俱丑，贫薄。辰戌丑未，土旺，主目疾、贫贱。通金木水气，贵。午月，东北运，六七品贵。
Monkey hour 15:00–17:00 · Yang Metal Monkey (Geng Shen, 庚申)
Dragon (辰), Dog (戌), Ox (丑) and Goat (未) in year or month, his writing caps the age, office reaching the third grade. A Rat (子) month sitting on the prosperity star (禄), also favourable.
辰戌丑未年月，文章冠世，官至三品。子月坐禄，亦吉。
Rooster hour 17:00–19:00 · Yin Metal Rooster (Xin You, 辛酉)
an autumn month, the Direct Resource (印绶) pattern; running an officer or Killings (煞) period, favourable. Winter, blessing and the prosperity star (禄) both complete. Rat (子) and Tiger (寅) in year or month with no Yang Earth (戊) or Yin Earth (己) character at the stem head, noble.
秋月，印绶格，行官煞运，吉。冬，福禄双全。子寅年月，干头无戊己字，贵。
Dog hour 19:00–21:00 · Yang Water Dog (Ren Xu, 壬戌)
punishment. A Pig (亥) month, Earth thick, noble in that quarter. Dragon (辰) and Monkey (申) in year or month with a southern period, first in the examination. The fifth month with a southern period, chief censor. If born in spring or autumn with a southern period, eighth or ninth grade.
刑，亥月，土厚地方上贵。辰申年月，南方运，状元。五月，南运，都宪。若春秋生，南方运，八九品。
Pig hour 21:00–23:00 · Yin Water Pig (Gui Hai, 癸亥)
it makes the Flanked Prosperity (拱禄) pattern. Born in Snake (巳), Rooster (酉) or Ox (丑), the blessing, virtue and fine qi (福德秀气). A Horse (午) month, ordinary. Rabbit (卯) and Rooster months running a southern period, gold and purple, the censorate — but the lifespan hard.
作拱禄格。巳酉丑生，福德秀气。午月平常。卯酉月，行南运，金紫风宪，但难为寿。
The Ox and the other animals
When the day branch meets these — in a year, a ten-year luck period, or someone else’s chart — the classics read it by these relationships.
- Clashes with
- Goat
- Pairs with (six harmony)
- Rat
- In a trine with
- Snake, Rooster
- Punishment with
- Goat, Dog
- Harms
- Horse
- Breaks
- Dragon
The next Gui Chou days: 5 December 2026, 3 February 2027, 4 April 2027. It returns every sixty days.
Famous people born on a Gui Chou day
- Chloé Zhao Film director · Academy Award for Best Director, Nomadland
The Yin Water day master · Before it: Ren Zi · After it: Jia Yin · All sixty day pillars