Yang Water Horse (Ren Wu, 壬午) day pillar
A Yang Water day master, the Ocean, sitting on the Horse.
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 Ren Wu day.
Its sound element: Willow Wood (Yang Liu Mu, 杨柳木)
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:
The trunk and joints of the willow; likes spring and summer.
杨柳干节，喜春夏
What the Horse holds, and what it is to Yang 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 Fire (Ding, 丁), the main one — Direct Wealth (Zheng Cai, 正财). What you control, opposite polarity. Wealth held steadily — earned, kept, accounted for.
- Yin Earth (Ji, 己) — Direct Officer (Zheng Guan, 正官). What controls you, opposite polarity. Authority in its orderly form: office, rule, the structure you fit into.
A Ren Wu 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 Ren Wu day; what it says about the other five Yang Water days is on the Yang Water day master page. Hours are true solar time, not clock time.
Rat hour 23:00–01:00 · Yang Metal Rat (Geng Zi, 庚子)
hour and day clash together — many daughters and few sons. Ox (丑) and Goat (未) months running a southern period, wealth and rank. For other years and months, look to the noble destinies and it may be seen. It dislikes a Wood Horse (甲午) month, self-punishment and much right and wrong; a Water Rooster (癸酉) month, great ruin, losing the home village and a bad death; a Metal Pig (辛亥) month, a bad death.
时日并冲，女多男少。丑未月，行南运，富贵。余年月，观诸贵命可见。忌甲午月自刑，多是非；癸酉月大破，失乡恶死；辛亥月恶死。
Ox hour 01:00–03:00 · Yin Metal Ox (Xin Chou, 辛丑)
The prosperity star (禄) and horse in the same country, noble. Summer favourable. Autumn, wealth, officer and Resource (印) complete, also noble.
禄马同乡，贵。夏吉。秋，财官印全，亦贵。
Tiger hour 03:00–05:00 · Yang Water Tiger (Ren Yin, 壬寅)
much illness and calamity in youth. Water Horse (壬午), the prosperity star (禄) and horse in the same country. Dragon (辰) and Tiger (寅) in year or month, second grade, noble. Monkey (申) and Rooster (酉), high-minded; and if it carries Wood and Fire, talent and name crowning the age, noble. A Dog (戌) month running a southeastern period, a regional post of the highest grade.
少年多疾厄。壬午，禄马同乡。辰寅年月，二品贵。申酉，高尚，若通木火，才名冠世，贵。戌月，行东南运，方面极品。
Rabbit hour 05:00–07:00 · Yin Water Rabbit (Gui Mao, 癸卯)
the Yang Water (壬) dwelling in the Horse (午) position, the prosperity star (禄) and horse in the same country, and meeting the Rabbit (卯) hour besides — conspicuously noble and coming through. Snake (巳) and Horse in year or month, a military office and the censorate.
壬居午位，禄马同乡，又值卯时，贵显荣达。巳午年月，武职风宪。
Dragon hour 07:00–09:00 · Yang Wood Dragon (Jia Chen, 甲辰)
calamity of Water and Fire. Tiger (寅) and Dragon (辰) in year or month, a scholar of the academy, or dwelling as libationer. Pure Rat (子), the censorate. Rabbit (卯) and Tiger, rich and thick. Dragon and Rat, a Confucian post.
水火灾。寅辰年月，翰苑宿儒，或居祭酒。纯子，风宪。卯寅，富厚。辰子，儒职。
Snake hour 09:00–11:00 · Yin Wood Snake (Yi Si, 乙巳)
Dragon (辰) and Dog (戌) months, noble. A Pig (亥) month with a Metal period, a position reaching commander-in-chief.
辰戌月，贵。亥月，金运，位至都帅。
Horse hour 11:00–13:00 · Yang Fire Horse (Bing Wu, 丙午)
a winter day with the self strong, favourable. Summer, wealth in quantity and the self weak; an Ox (丑) day, close to the throne, noble. Tiger (寅) and Horse (午) with Metal and Earth periods, the weak alone following the strong, abandoning the destiny and going to wealth — a high destiny.
冬日身旺，吉。夏，财多身弱，丑日近侍，贵。寅午，金土运，独弱从强，弃命就财，高命。
Goat hour 13:00–15:00 · Yin Fire Goat (Ding Wei, 丁未)
spring middling, summer wealthy, autumn noble, winter favourable. Snake (巳) and Horse (午) in year or month, a position reaching king or marquis. A Goat (未) month with an eastern period, noble. A Rat (子) month, Direct Resource (正印) and the three marvels all hidden, noble to the highest grade.
春平，夏富，秋贵，冬吉。巳午年月，位至王候。未月，东运，贵。子月，正印、三奇俱藏，贵当极品。
Monkey hour 15:00–17:00 · Yang Earth Monkey (Wu Shen, 戊申)
Seven Killings (偏官) and Indirect Resource (偏印). Pig (亥), Rabbit (卯), Goat (未) and Tiger (寅) months, awe and authority. Rat (子) and Ox (丑) months with Wood and Fire periods, the academy, pure and noble. A Dog (戌) month running a southeastern period, high rank.
偏官偏印。亥卯未寅月，威权。子丑月，木火运，翰林清贵。戌月，行东南运，高品。
Rooster hour 17:00–19:00 · Yin Earth Rooster (Ji You, 己酉)
The prosperity star (禄) and horse in the same country, hard first and easy after. Ox (丑) and Tiger (寅) months with Metal and Water periods, a military office of the second grade.
禄马同乡，先难后易。丑寅月，行金水运，武职二品。
Dog hour 19:00–21:00 · Yang Metal Dog (Geng Xu, 庚戌)
The prosperity star (禄) and horse in the same country, the Yang Water (壬) sitting on its own the prosperity star, and with Yang Metal (庚) and Yin Metal (辛) to check the Yang Wood (甲) and Yin Wood (乙) it is noble. Dragon (辰), Dog (戌), Ox (丑) and Goat (未) in year or month, favourable. A Monkey (申) month, the hall of learning, literary nobility greatly conspicuous. Pig (亥) and Rat (子), the Water strong, and with Yang Water showing it governs ill. Horse (午) and Dog with Yang Earth (戊) showing, the Killings (煞) strong, also ill.
禄马同乡，壬自坐禄，有庚辛制甲乙为贵。辰戌丑未年月，吉。申月学堂，文贵大显。亥子水旺，透壬主凶。午戌透戊，煞旺亦凶。
Pig hour 21:00–23:00 · Yin Metal Pig (Xin Hai, 辛亥)
middling. An Ox (丑) month, the censorate. A Tiger (寅) month, the prosperity star (禄) and horse in the same country, running Metal and Water periods, a regional post. A Dog (戌) month with a northeastern period, fourth or fifth grade. Ox and Horse (午), the destiny of a monk or priest in office.
平。丑月，风宪。寅月，禄马同乡，行金水运，方面。戌月，东北运，四五品。丑午，僧道官命。
The Horse 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
- Rat
- Pairs with (six harmony)
- Goat
- In a trine with
- Tiger, Dog
- Punishment with
- Horse (itself)
- Harms
- Ox
- Breaks
- Rabbit
The next Ren Wu days: 4 November 2026, 3 January 2027, 4 March 2027. It returns every sixty days.
Famous people born on a Ren Wu day
- Leslie Cheung Singer and actor
The Yang Water day master · Before it: Xin Si · After it: Gui Wei · All sixty day pillars