Yang Wood Dragon (Jia Chen, 甲辰) day pillar
A Yang Wood day master, the Great Tree, sitting on the Dragon.
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 Jia Chen day.
Its sound element: Lamp Fire (Fu Deng Huo, 覆灯火)
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:
A lamp; likes night and Water, dislikes the day.
灯也，喜夜及水，恶昼
What the Dragon holds, and what it is to Yang Wood
Each branch holds one to three stems. The ones under your own day master are the closest things to you in the chart.
- Yang Earth (Wu, 戊), the main one — Indirect Wealth (Pian Cai, 偏财). What you control, same polarity. Wealth that comes sideways rather than by salary — the uneven kind.
- Yin Wood (Yi, 乙) — Rob Wealth (Jie Cai, 劫财). Same element, opposite polarity. A peer who takes rather than shares — the tradition reads it as what draws on your resources through people close to you.
- Yin Water (Gui, 癸) — Direct Resource (Zheng Yin, 正印). What produces you, opposite polarity. Straightforward support: what teaches, shelters and backs you.
A Jia Chen 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 Jia Chen day; what it says about the other five Yang Wood days is on the Yang Wood day master page. Hours are true solar time, not clock time.
Rat hour 23:00–01:00 · Yang Wood Rat (Jia Zi, 甲子)
where the year and month are Water positions, Water floods and the Wood floats — it governs moving the root and changing the leaves. In a Monkey (申) month the Killings (煞) star meets the Resource (印) and both are noble. In a Rat (子) month, running Water and Wood periods, also noble. A Rooster (酉) month is Direct Officer (正官) and greatly noble. Tiger (寅), Horse (午) and Dog (戌) months are all favourable. A Wood Rabbit (乙卯) month breaks under punishment. A Water Snake (癸巳) month dies between Water and Fire. A Water Pig (癸亥) month dies ill.
若水位年月，水泛木浮，主移根换叶；申月，煞星会印，俱贵。子月，行水木运，亦贵。酉月正官，大贵。寅午戌月，俱吉。乙卯月，刑折。癸巳月，水火中死。癸亥月，凶死。
Ox hour 01:00–03:00 · Yin Wood Ox (Yi Chou, 乙丑)
rich and thick with property. Where year and month carry Fire qi, noble.
主富厚有财，通火气年月，贵。
Tiger hour 03:00–05:00 · Yang Fire Tiger (Bing Yin, 丙寅)
dragon and tiger hold the gate, and the dragon sings while the tiger roars — noble, or else close to the noble all one's life; the source of money is sometimes had and sometimes lost, name and profit now finished and now unfinished. With Goat (未) or Tiger (寅) in year or month, office among the six ministers; a Dog (戌) month, the censorate; a Rooster (酉) month, third grade; Rat (子), Pig (亥) or Ox (丑) months, fourth or fifth grade, and running a western period, greatly noble; Rabbit (卯) and Snake (巳) in year or month are ordinary.
龙虎拱门，又龙吟虎啸，主贵，或一生近贵，财源或得或失，名利既济未济。未、寅年月，官至六卿；戌月风宪；酉月三品；子、亥、丑月四五品，行西方运，大贵；卯、巳年月平常。
Rabbit hour 05:00–07:00 · Yin Fire Rabbit (Ding Mao, 丁卯)
money fills the eye, the living runs to surplus, the wife worthy and the children filial — read as a high destiny. Born in spring, too strong and unchecked, poor, low and crippled. Ox (丑) and Rooster (酉) months, noble.
财帛满目，生计盈余，妻贤子孝，高命论之。春生太旺无制，贫贱残疾。丑、酉月贵。
Dragon hour 07:00–09:00 · Yang Earth Dragon (Wu Chen, 戊辰)
punishment and clash bring out money; the wife is taken twice and the children come late; both parents suffer harm. A Rooster (酉) month, third or fourth grade. An Ox (丑) month is also noble. Branches all Dragon (辰), greatly noble.
刑冲发财，妻重子晚，双亲有克。酉月三四品贵。丑月亦贵。地支纯辰，大贵。
Snake hour 09:00–11:00 · Yin Earth Snake (Ji Si, 己巳)
bearing and manner generous and thick, a life at peace, money coming to something. Snake (巳), Rooster (酉) and Ox (丑) in year or month, running Fire and Metal periods, noble. Wood Horse (甲午) month at the Earth Snake (己巳) hour: The Metal Spirit (金神) entering a Fire country, greatly noble. A Rooster month running Fire and Wood periods, a military office with authority.
丰姿敦厚，一生平安，财帛有成。巳酉丑年月，行火金运，贵。甲午月己巳时，金神入火乡，大贵。酉月，行火木运，武职有权。
Horse hour 11:00–13:00 · Yang Metal Horse (Geng Wu, 庚午)
fields and gardens enjoyed. A Tiger (寅) month running a Metal period, the censorate.
田园乐赏。寅月，行金运，风宪。
Goat hour 13:00–15:00 · Yin Metal Goat (Xin Wei, 辛未)
Dragon (辰), Dog (戌), Ox (丑) and Goat (未) months, wealthy. Snake (巳), Rooster (酉), Ox and Rat (子) in year or month, noble.
辰戌丑未月富。巳酉丑子年月贵。
Monkey hour 15:00–17:00 · Yang Water Monkey (Ren Shen, 壬申)
Tiger (寅) and Dragon (辰) in year or month, conspicuous in writing and noble. Yang Fire (丙) and Yang Earth (戊) showing at the stems, finer still.
寅辰年月，文章显贵。透丙戊尤美。
Rooster hour 17:00–19:00 · Yin Water Rooster (Gui You, 癸酉)
Rat (子) and Dog (戌) in year or month, wealth and officer both had, noble.
子戌年月，有财有官，贵。
Dog hour 19:00–21:00 · Yang Wood Dog (Jia Xu, 甲戌)
the source of money steady and thick, with much ill. A spring month running Metal and Fire periods, office to the sixth grade.
财源稳厚，多凶。春月金火运，官至六品。
Pig hour 21:00–23:00 · Yin Wood Pig (Yi Hai, 乙亥)
a Rooster (酉) month is Direct Officer (正官), most noble. Dragon (辰), Dog (戌), Ox (丑), Goat (未), Tiger (寅) and Pig (亥) in year or month, all favourable.
酉月正官，最贵。辰戌丑未及寅亥年月，俱吉。
Named days in Yuan Hai Zi Ping (渊海子平)
These are decided by the day pillar alone, so everyone born on a Jia Chen day is in them. The work attaches conditions to most of them; the passage is given whole.
The ten unpardonable days
The day pillar is one of the ten whose prosperity star (禄) falls in its own decade's Void (空亡). The passage is explicit that it is not simply bad — 况犯者未必皆凶，若内有吉神相扶，贵气相辅，当为吉论 — so it is reported and not graded.
六甲旬中十个日值禄人空亡，如甲辰、乙巳，甲以寅为禄，乙以卯为禄，甲辰旬以寅卯为空亡……余如丙申、丁亥、庚辰、戊戌、癸亥、辛巳、乙丑等日皆仿此。命中犯者，当以日上见之为是，其余不论
The Dragon 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
- Dog
- Pairs with (six harmony)
- Rooster
- In a trine with
- Rat, Monkey
- Punishment with
- Dragon (itself)
- Harms
- Rabbit
- Breaks
- Ox
The next Jia Chen days: 26 November 2026, 25 January 2027, 26 March 2027. It returns every sixty days.
Famous people born on a Jia Chen day
- Jimmy Choo Shoemaker
- JJ Lin Singer-songwriter
- Jacky Cheung Singer and actor · the "God of Songs"
The Yang Wood day master · Before it: Gui Mao · After it: Yi Si · All sixty day pillars