Yin Earth Ox (Ji Chou, 己丑) day pillar
A Yin Earth day master, the Garden, 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 Ji Chou day.
Its sound element: Thunderbolt Fire (Pi Li Huo, 霹雳火)
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:
Lightning; likes Water, and spring and summer; given ground, it goes dark.
电也，喜水及春夏，得地而晦
What the Ox holds, and what it is to Yin Earth
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 — 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 Water (Gui, 癸) — Indirect Wealth (Pian Cai, 偏财). What you control, same polarity. Wealth that comes sideways rather than by salary — the uneven kind.
- Yin Metal (Xin, 辛) — Eating God (Shi Shen, 食神). What you produce, same polarity. Output that comes easily: making, feeding, expressing, without strain.
A Ji 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 Ji Chou day; what it says about the other five Yin Earth days is on the Yin Earth day master page. Hours are true solar time, not clock time.
Rat hour 23:00–01:00 · Yang Wood Rat (Jia Zi, 甲子)
transforming, noble; Horse (午) and Tiger (寅) in year or month, an early death; carrying a month of Earth qi, noble. It dislikes a Wood Tiger (甲寅) month, a bad death in the midst of nobility; a Fire Goat (丁未) month, taking punishment; a Fire Ox (丁丑) month, breaking the ancestors, losing the home village and a bad death.
化贵，午寅年月，夭折；通土气月，贵。忌甲寅月，贵中恶死。丁未月受刑，丁丑月破祖，失乡恶死。
Ox hour 01:00–03:00 · Yin Wood Ox (Yi Chou, 乙丑)
Seven Killings (偏官) at the hour, dwelling in a military office as a garrison commander — look also to the region to judge it. A Rabbit (卯) month with Metal and Water periods, sixth or seventh grade.
时上偏官，居武职都阃，还看地方断之。卯月金水运，六七品贵。
Tiger hour 03:00–05:00 · Yang Fire Tiger (Bing Yin, 丙寅)
spring, the officer strong; summer, the Resource (印) strong; autumn, the crossing complete; winter, middling. Dragon (辰) and Dog (戌) in year or month, literary nobility and conspicuousness. Pure Ox (丑), long life. A Dog month with Wood and Fire periods, fifth or sixth grade.
春官旺，夏印旺，秋既济，冬平。辰戌年月，文贵显达。纯丑，寿高。戌月，木火运，五、六品贵。
Rabbit hour 05:00–07:00 · Yin Fire Rabbit (Ding Mao, 丁卯)
Monkey (申), Rat (子) and Dragon (辰), a military office. Pig (亥), Rabbit (卯) and Goat (未), glory and riches. Snake (巳), Rooster (酉) and Ox (丑) running a northeastern period, favourable.
申子辰，武职。亥卯未，荣富。巳酉丑，行东北运，吉。
Dragon hour 07:00–09:00 · Yang Earth Dragon (Wu Chen, 戊辰)
the self solitary. Tiger (寅) and Rabbit (卯) months, the prosperity star (禄) strong. A Dragon (辰) month with Yang Wood (甲) showing, read as a transformed qi, noble. Horse (午), rich and thick. Tiger and Rooster (酉), the censorate. Rat (子) and Ox (丑) in year or month with Yang Wood showing, running a southeastern period, gold and purple, close to the throne; it fears a northwestern period, which retires him from office.
身孤。寅卯月，禄旺。辰月透甲，作化气看，贵。午，富厚。寅酉，风宪。年月子丑透甲，行东南运，金紫，近侍；怕西北运，退职。
Snake hour 09:00–11:00 · Yin Earth Snake (Ji Si, 己巳)
a Dragon (辰) month with a northwestern period, noble. Horse (午) and Goat (未), Fire strong, greatly noble. Monkey (申), Rat (子), Dog (戌) and Snake (巳), also favourable.
辰月，西北运，贵。午未火旺，大贵。申子戌巳，亦吉。
Horse hour 11:00–13:00 · Yang Metal Horse (Geng Wu, 庚午)
born in a Tiger (寅) month, noble; summer ill; autumn violent; winter, the wealth strong and the children few.
寅月生，贵；夏凶；秋暴；冬，财旺子少。
Goat hour 13:00–15:00 · Yin Metal Goat (Xin Wei, 辛未)
if not noble then wealthy. Carrying a month of Earth qi, wealthy. Carrying a month of Wood qi, noble. One account says punishment, ill.
不贵即富。通土气月，富。通木气月，贵。一云刑，凶。
Monkey hour 15:00–17:00 · Yang Water Monkey (Ren Shen, 壬申)
a Rooster (酉) year or month with the Resource (印) showing at the stems, wealthy, noble and fond of propriety, a generous person. Dragon (辰) and Dog (戌) favourable. A Pig (亥) year, the great pattern of heaven clear and earth level. Tiger (寅) and Monkey (申), officer and nobility supporting each other — both favourable.
酉年月，天干透印，富贵好礼，为人慨慷。辰戌吉。亥年，乾清坤夷大格。寅申，官贵相辅，俱吉。已卯日壬申时，辰月，杂气财官，早贵。亥月、南方运，五、六品贵。寅申年，三、二品贵。
Dog hour 19:00–21:00 · Yang Wood Dog (Jia Xu, 甲戌)
it harms the father, too strong. Born in a Dragon (辰) month, the Earth thick. Dwelling at Snake (巳), Horse (午), Goat (未) and Monkey (申) — Officehood (临官) and Peak (帝旺) — favourable. Pig (亥), Dog (戌), Tiger (寅) and Rabbit (卯), the Earth ill and dead, ill. Rooster (酉) and Dragon, third or fourth grade, noble, retiring at ease in middle age. Pig with Wood and Fire periods, sixth or seventh grade, noble.
克父太旺。辰月生，土厚。居巳午末申，临官、帝旺，吉。亥戌寅卯，土病死，凶。酉辰，三、四品，贵，中年退闲。亥木火运，六、七品，贵。
Pig hour 21:00–23:00 · Yin Wood Pig (Yi Hai, 乙亥)
Snake (巳), Rooster (酉) and Ox (丑) months, checking the Killings (煞) and keeping the officer, noble. A Horse (午) month, the self strong, also noble. A Rat (子) month with a Fire period, seventh or eighth grade, noble. Rabbit (卯) and Goat (未) with Yin Metal (辛) showing to check the Yin Wood (乙), greatly noble.
巳酉丑月，制煞留官，贵。午月，身旺，亦贵。子月、火运、七、八品，贵。卯未，透辛制乙，大贵。
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 Ji Chou days: 11 November 2026, 10 January 2027, 11 March 2027. It returns every sixty days.
Famous people born on a Ji Chou day
- Joan Chen Actor and director · The Last Emperor
The Yin Earth day master · Before it: Wu Zi · After it: Geng Yin · All sixty day pillars