A 3,000-Year East Asian Tradition · Explained in English
The Four Pillars of Destiny — known as Saju (사주) in Korean, BaZi (八字) in Chinese, and 四柱命理 in classical texts — is a descriptive system developed in East Asia over three thousand years ago. It records the year, month, day, and hour of a birth as four pairs of symbols (the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches) and reads them through the Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). Use the calculator below to generate your chart, learn what each symbol represents, and explore the patterns the tradition describes.
Privacy: Every calculation runs in your browser. No AI is used, no data is uploaded, and no account is required.
Computes the year, month, day, and hour pillars using astronomical formulas verified against classical 만세력 reference tables.
Birth data never leaves your device. No cookies, no tracking, no analytics on personal input.
Enter a Gregorian or Korean lunar date (1900–2099). The site converts lunar dates automatically.
See the distribution of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water across your chart with balance analysis.
Enter your birth date and time below to compute the four pillars
About the Four Pillars tradition
The Four Pillars of Destiny (四柱命理) — called Saju (사주) in Korean and BaZi (八字) in Chinese — is a descriptive system used across East Asia for over three thousand years. It maps a person's birth year, month, day, and hour into four pairs of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches (eight characters in total), interpreted through the Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). It is read as a symbolic chart, not as a prediction of fixed outcomes.
The astronomical algorithm has been verified against known 만세력 reference dates: Jan 1, 2000 = 戊午 day; year pillars of 1984 (甲子), 2008 (戊子), and 2024 (甲辰); the 60-day cycle wrap; and the 입춘 (Feb 4) year boundary. As with all Saju software, dates that fall exactly on a solar-term transition can be off by one day due to the astronomical nature of the term dates. Results are descriptive and educational.
Yes. All calculation runs entirely inside your browser. Birth data, time, and any other input never leave your device. The site uses no cookies, no tracking pixels, no analytics on personal input, and no external API for the reading itself.
Yes. If you don't know your exact birth hour, the calculator still provides a three-pillar chart (year, month, and day) — which is more than enough to learn about the tradition. The hour pillar refines the picture later if you find the information.
Yes. Choose the "Lunar" calendar option in the form and enter your lunar birth date (1900–2099). The site converts it to the solar (Gregorian) date automatically before computing the chart.
No. The calculator is implemented in plain JavaScript and runs locally. The interpretive text is curated English prose written specifically for this site. No AI model, no third-party API, and no remote service generates your chart.
The interpretive descriptions are written originally in English for an English-speaking audience. The mathematical algorithm that places your birth on the 60 sexagenary cycle is shared with the broader East Asian tradition and is not language-specific.