Korean Astrology: Saju Framework & Birth Chart
Every term you need to read a birth chart — from Day Master and Ten Gods to Gunghap and Luck Pillars
The vocabulary of Saju is precise, and its precision is part of what makes the system analytically powerful. Terms that appear to translate straightforwardly — “element,” “star,” “pillar” — carry specific technical meanings within the framework that their English equivalents only partially capture. Terms that have no natural English equivalent — 일간, 십신, 대운 — require definition before they can be used meaningfully at all.
This glossary covers the essential vocabulary of the Saju system: the cosmological concepts that form its foundation, the structural terms that describe the chart’s architecture, the analytical concepts that practitioners use in reading, and the cultural and temporal terms that give the practice its social context. Each entry is written to stand on its own, but the terms are most fully understood in relation to each other — which is, in the end, the nature of the system they describe.
Entries are organized thematically rather than alphabetically, moving from foundational concepts through chart structure to analytical framework to cultural context. Readers looking for a specific term will find it most efficiently by scanning the bold headings within each section.
Foundational Concepts
Yin and Yang (음양, 陰陽) The two fundamental modes of energy in East Asian cosmological thought — not two opposing substances, but two complementary phases of any phenomenon. Yin represents the receptive, contracting, cooling, inward-turning quality; Yang represents the active, expanding, warming, outward-turning quality. Nothing in the natural world is purely one or the other; all phenomena move cyclically between states that emphasize one quality or the other. In the Saju chart, every stem character carries either a Yin or Yang designation, and this polarity affects how that character relates to every other character in the chart. The system is not about Yin being good and Yang being bad, or vice versa — it is about the dynamic balance and interaction between the two modes.
The Five Elements (오행, 五行) The five phases of elemental energy through which the world’s energy transforms and cycles: Wood (목, 木), Fire (화, 火), Earth (토, 土), Metal (금, 金), and Water (수, 水). These are not literally the five substances of which the world is made; they are five characteristic modes of energy, each with its own seasonal associations, directional associations, organ correspondences, and quality of engagement with the world. The Five Elements interact through two primary cycles — the Generating Cycle and the Controlling Cycle — and the analysis of how any given chart’s elemental configuration creates balance or imbalance is among the first tasks in a Saju reading. “Elements” in this context is a conventional translation; “phases” or “agents” would be more technically accurate, but “elements” has become standard in English usage.
Wood (목, 木) The first of the Five Elements. Wood carries the energy of growth, initiation, and upward movement, associated with spring, the color green, and the organs of the liver and gallbladder. At its best, Wood energy produces creativity, flexibility, and visionary momentum. Under pressure, the same upward drive curdles into rigidity — the inability to yield or change direction. In the chart, Wood is nourished by Water and feeds Fire; it is penetrated and challenged by Metal.
Fire (화, 火) The second of the Five Elements. Fire carries the energy of heat, illumination, and outward expression, associated with summer, the color red, and the heart. At its best, Fire energy produces warmth, charisma, and the natural ability to inspire. Taken to its extreme, the warmth becomes impulsivity and the brightness becomes an inability to modulate. In the chart, Fire is nourished by Wood and creates Earth; it is quenched and challenged by Water.
Earth (토, 土) The third of the Five Elements. Earth carries the energy of consolidation, stability, and seasonal transition — associated not with a single season but with the pivot points between seasons, the color yellow, and the stomach and spleen. At its best, Earth energy produces groundedness, reliability, and the capacity to contain and sustain. At its extreme, stability becomes immobility and the containing quality becomes an inability to release. In the chart, Earth is produced by Fire and generates Metal; it is penetrated by Wood and absorbs Water.
Metal (금, 金) The fourth of the Five Elements. Metal carries the energy of contraction, precision, and refinement, associated with autumn, the color white, and the lungs. At its best, Metal energy produces excellent judgment, principled adherence, and the capacity to cut through to what matters. At its extreme, precision becomes inflexibility and directness becomes a cutting harshness that injures without intending to. In the chart, Metal is produced by Earth and generates Water; it is melted and challenged by Fire.
Water (수, 水) The fifth of the Five Elements. Water carries the energy of depth, flow, and storage, associated with winter, the color black or dark blue, and the kidneys. At its best, Water energy produces philosophical depth, adaptability, and the capacity to move around obstacles rather than through them. Under pressure, these same qualities become fearfulness and an inability to commit to direction. In the chart, Water is produced by Metal and nourishes Wood; it is absorbed and challenged by Earth.
Generating Cycle (상생, 相生) The cycle in which each of the Five Elements produces or nourishes the next: Wood feeds Fire, Fire creates Earth, Earth produces Metal, Metal holds Water, Water nourishes Wood. The Generating Cycle represents supportive, productive relationships between elements. When elements in a chart are related through the Generating Cycle, they tend to create sustainable, productive flows of energy. The Generating Cycle is also the basis for the Resource Stars and Expression Gods in the Ten Gods framework.
Controlling Cycle (상극, 相剋) The cycle in which each of the Five Elements constrains or overcomes another: Wood penetrates Earth, Earth absorbs Water, Water quenches Fire, Fire melts Metal, Metal cuts Wood. The Controlling Cycle represents structuring, disciplining relationships between elements. In a well-configured chart, the Controlling Cycle provides necessary checks on excess; in an imbalanced chart, controlling relationships can become overwhelming or depleting. The Controlling Cycle is the basis for the Power Stars and Wealth Stars in the Ten Gods framework.
The Calendar Architecture
Sexagenary Cycle (육십갑자, 六十甲子) The sixty-unit calendar cycle that is the structural foundation of the Saju chart. Generated by pairing each of the Ten Heavenly Stems with each of the Twelve Earthly Branches in sequence, the cycle produces sixty unique stem-branch combinations — because ten and twelve share a least common multiple of sixty — before returning to its starting point. Every year, month, day, and two-hour period is assigned a position in this cycle, giving it a specific elemental character. The Saju chart records which position in this cycle governed the birth year, month, day, and hour. The sixty-year cycle is also culturally significant in Korea: completing one full cycle from the year of one’s birth is the occasion for Hwangap (환갑), the celebrated sixtieth birthday.
Ten Heavenly Stems (천간, 天干) The ten characters that constitute one of the two building blocks of the sexagenary cycle. Each stem represents one of the Five Elements in either its Yang or Yin expression, producing ten distinct elemental signatures. In sequence: Gab (갑, 甲, Yang Wood), Eul (을, 乙, Yin Wood), Byeong (병, 丙, Yang Fire), Jeong (정, 丁, Yin Fire), Mu (무, 戊, Yang Earth), Gi (기, 己, Yin Earth), Gyeong (경, 庚, Yang Metal), Sin (신, 辛, Yin Metal), Im (임, 壬, Yang Water), Gye (계, 癸, Yin Water). In the Saju chart, the upper character of each pillar is always a Heavenly Stem. The Day Master — the most important single character in the chart — is specifically the Heavenly Stem of the Day Pillar.
Twelve Earthly Branches (지지, 地支) The twelve characters that constitute the second building block of the sexagenary cycle. Each branch is associated with one of the twelve zodiac animals and carries a primary elemental energy, but also contains hidden Heavenly Stems — embedded elemental energies that modify and complicate the branch’s primary character. The twelve branches in sequence: Ja (자, 子, Rat, Water), Chuk (축, 丑, Ox, Earth), In (인, 寅, Tiger, Wood), Myo (묘, 卯, Rabbit, Wood), Jin (진, 辰, Dragon, Earth), Sa (사, 巳, Snake, Fire), O (오, 午, Horse, Fire), Mi (미, 未, Goat, Earth), Sin (신, 申, Monkey, Metal), Yu (유, 酉, Rooster, Metal), Sul (술, 戌, Dog, Earth), Hae (해, 亥, Pig, Water). In the Saju chart, the lower character of each pillar is always an Earthly Branch.
Hidden Stems (지장간, 地藏干) The Heavenly Stems embedded within each Earthly Branch that are not immediately visible but that add elemental depth to the branch’s primary character. A Snake (사, 巳) branch, for instance, primarily carries Fire energy but contains hidden stems of Metal and Earth, which is why Snake-branch individuals may display a precision and sharpness (Metal) that surprises those who have encountered only their warmth. Hidden stems are taken into account in advanced Saju analysis, particularly in reading the Ten Gods configurations produced by the branches.
Hwangap (환갑) The Korean celebration of the sixtieth birthday, marking the completion of one full sexagenary cycle from the year of one’s birth — the moment when the same stem-branch pair that governed the birth year comes around again. Hwangap has traditionally been one of the most significant milestones in a Korean life: a moment of cosmological return, of having lived through a complete cycle of time. In contemporary Korea, as life expectancy has lengthened and the significance of specific age milestones has shifted, Hwangap is celebrated with variable formality, but its cosmological meaning within the Saju framework remains intact.
Chart Structure
Saju Palja (사주팔자, 四柱八字) The full name of the Korean Four Pillars of Destiny system, literally translating as “four pillars, eight characters.” Saju (사주, 四柱) refers to the four pillars — year, month, day, and hour — each consisting of one Heavenly Stem and one Earthly Branch. Palja (팔자, 八字) refers to the eight characters produced by these four pairs. The phrase “팔자다” — literally “it is one’s eight characters” — is a common Korean idiom meaning roughly “it’s fate” or “it can’t be helped,” reflecting how deeply the Saju framework has embedded itself in everyday Korean language.
Year Pillar (년주, 年柱) The first of the four pillars, encoding the elemental energy of the birth year according to the sexagenary calendar. The Year Pillar is associated with a person’s social face — how they appear to the world at large, the generational energy they carry, and their relationship with ancestors and the early family environment. The Earthly Branch of the Year Pillar is what gives a person their zodiac animal — the most simplified, publicly accessible fragment of the full Saju chart. In modern Korean Saju practice, the Year Pillar is the least emphasized of the four, far less central than the Day Pillar.
Month Pillar (월주, 月柱) The second of the four pillars, encoding the elemental energy of the birth month according to the solar calendar’s division into twelve sections. The Month Pillar is associated with the parents — particularly the father — the conditions of upbringing, and the environmental energy that shaped the formative years. Practitioners sometimes describe the Month Pillar as indicating the “season” of one’s foundational character: the elemental conditions one grew up in before the central self fully formed.
Day Pillar (일주, 日柱) The third and most important of the four pillars, encoding the elemental energy of the birth day. The Day Pillar contains two critically important elements: the Day Master (일간), which is the Heavenly Stem and represents the central self, and the Spouse Palace (배우자궁), which is the Earthly Branch and represents the inner relational self — the energy one brings to the most intimate partnerships. In modern Korean Saju practice, the Day Pillar is the primary reference point of the entire chart; all other elements are read in their relationship to it.
Hour Pillar (시주, 時柱) The fourth of the four pillars, encoding the elemental energy of the birth hour according to the traditional two-hour division of the day. The Hour Pillar is associated with the innermost self — the private, perhaps hidden dimensions of character — and carries weight in two directions: inward, toward creative drives and the self one keeps from the world, and forward, toward children, legacy, and the shape of one’s later years. The Hour Pillar is also the most contingent of the four: an error of even a few minutes at the boundary between two-hour periods can shift the entire Hour configuration, which is why experienced practitioners always confirm birth time carefully before reading this pillar with confidence.
Day Master (일간, 日干) The Heavenly Stem of the Day Pillar, and the single most important character in the Saju chart. The Day Master represents the person — their identity, core personality, and fundamental elemental nature — and functions as the chart’s central protagonist and primary reference point. All other characters in the chart are read in their relationship to the Day Master: do they nourish it, control it, support it, drain it, or clash with it? There are ten possible Day Masters, corresponding to the five elements in their Yang and Yin expressions: Gab Wood, Eul Wood, Byeong Fire, Jeong Fire, Mu Earth, Gi Earth, Gyeong Metal, Sin Metal, Im Water, and Gye Water. Each carries characteristic tendencies, strengths, and vulnerabilities — but these are always modified by the full chart configuration rather than constituting fixed personality types.
Spouse Palace (배우자궁) The Earthly Branch of the Day Pillar, also called the Day Branch. The Spouse Palace represents the inner relational self: the characteristic energy one brings to the most intimate partnerships. In Gunghap (compatibility analysis), the relationship between the two people’s Spouse Palaces receives specific analytical attention, because these characters represent not the public presentation of each person but the self they become in the context of genuine intimacy. The name reflects the traditional Saju emphasis on marriage as the primary intimate relationship, but contemporary practitioners read it more broadly as indicating how one’s fundamental elemental energy manifests in any relationship of deep personal closeness.
The Ten Gods Framework
Ten Gods (십신, 十神) The framework for characterizing how each element in the Saju chart relates to the Day Master according to the elemental Generating and Controlling cycles. Each element in the chart occupies one of five relational positions relative to the Day Master — Companions, Expression Gods, Wealth Stars, Power Stars, or Resource Stars — each expressed in two forms (Regular and Irregular), producing ten roles in total. The Ten Gods framework converts a list of elements into a map of relational forces: what the self produces, what it controls, what controls it, what it competes with, and what sustains it. It is the most analytically sophisticated layer of the Saju chart and the one that reveals the characteristic patterns of a life most precisely.
Companions (비겁, 比劫) The first of the five Ten Gods positions: elements of the same type as the Day Master. Companion energy represents the self in relation to peers — competition, identity assertion, the aspects of character formed through standing alongside or against others who are fundamentally similar. Regular Companions (비견, 比肩) share both the Day Master’s element and its polarity; Irregular Companions (겁재, 劫財) share the element but oppose the polarity. Strong Companion energy in a chart supports self-sufficiency and independence but can also produce competitive dispersal — too much of the same energy contesting the same territory.
Expression Gods (식상, 食傷) The second Ten Gods position: elements generated by the Day Master. Expression God energy represents the self’s output — creativity, communication, teaching, performance, and the characteristic mode of giving oneself to the world. Regular Expression Gods (식신, 食神) represent the flowing, natural output of the Day Master; Irregular Expression Gods (상관, 傷官) represent the more transgressive, convention-challenging output. A chart with strong Expression Gods indicates a natural channel for creative or intellectual output; weakened Expression Gods may indicate difficulty translating internal wealth into external form. The Irregular Expression God’s relationship with the Regular Power Star — 상관 and 정관 in direct confrontation — is one of the most classically discussed configurations in Saju, associated with tension between authentic self-expression and institutional conformity.
Wealth Stars (재성, 財星) The third Ten Gods position: elements controlled by the Day Master. Wealth Star energy represents what the self masters and manages — resources, practical competence, the material world. Regular Wealth Stars (정재, 正財) indicate a stable, disciplined relationship with resources; Irregular Wealth Stars (편재, 偏財) indicate a more dynamic, expansive, risk-tolerant relationship with opportunity. The term “Wealth” is conventional but somewhat misleading: Wealth Stars represent the element the Day Master controls, and what that element governs in life is broader than financial resources — it includes any domain in which the Day Master exerts mastery and direction.
Power Stars (관성, 官星) The fourth Ten Gods position: elements that control the Day Master. Power Star energy represents authority, social role, and the structuring pressure of the external world. Regular Power Stars (정관, 正官) indicate the disciplining force of legitimate institutional authority; Irregular Power Stars (편관, 偏官) — traditionally called the Seven Killings (칠살, 七殺) — indicate more intense, compressive pressure that either forges or overwhelms depending on the Day Master’s strength. The assessment of whether the Day Master is strong enough to bear the pressure of its Power Stars is among the most critical evaluations in a Saju reading.
Resource Stars (인성, 印星) The fifth Ten Gods position: elements that generate the Day Master. Resource Star energy represents what nourishes and develops the self — support, knowledge, learning, and the conditions that allow the Day Master to replenish and grow. Regular Resource Stars (정인, 正印) represent steady, unconditional sustenance — formal education, maternal nourishment, institutional support; Irregular Resource Stars (편인, 偏印) represent more unconventional intellectual nourishment — independent study, unusual mentors, the sustenance found outside established structures. For a Day Master under the pressure of strong Power Stars, the presence of Resource Stars is the most critical supporting factor.
Seven Killings (칠살, 七殺) The traditional name for the Irregular Power Star (편관, 偏官) — the element that controls the Day Master while sharing its polarity. The name reflects the intensity of the configuration: the Seven Killings represents compressive pressure on the central self in its most forceful form. When the Day Master is strong and adequately resourced, Seven Killings pressure can be forging — producing a quality of capability and authority that comes specifically from having been shaped by serious challenge. When the Day Master is weak or the Resource Stars insufficient, the same configuration produces chronic overwhelm. The Seven Killings is one of the most frequently discussed and most frequently misunderstood configurations in Saju, because its name invites alarmed interpretation that the system’s actual logic does not support.
Regular and Irregular (정 and 편, 正 and 偏) The distinction within each Ten Gods pair between the form that shares the Day Master’s Yin/Yang polarity (Irregular, 편) and the form that opposes it (Regular, 정). Regular forms are generally associated with steady, conventional, institutionally sanctioned versions of the relevant domain — stable resource management, legitimate authority, formal education. Irregular forms are associated with more dynamic, unconventional, or intense versions — entrepreneurial opportunity, intense pressure, independent intellectual engagement. The Regular/Irregular distinction applies to all five Ten Gods positions and is consistently applied: same polarity as the Day Master = Irregular (편); opposite polarity = Regular (정).
Temporal Analysis
Luck Pillars (대운, 大運) A sequence of ten-year periods beyond the natal chart that map the changing elemental conditions through which a person’s life moves across time. Each luck pillar is a new stem-branch pair brought into interaction with the natal chart, activating some elements, suppressing others, and changing the overall elemental weather of that decade. The first luck pillar begins a few years after birth (the specific timing is calculated from the natal chart) and subsequent pillars continue in sequence across the lifespan. The luck pillar system is what gives Saju its distinctive temporal dimension — the capacity to characterize not just who a person is, but what kind of decade they are currently living through. Assessing the current luck pillar and how it interacts with the natal chart is a standard component of any comprehensive Saju reading.
Annual Fortune (세운, 歲運) The elemental overlay produced by each calendar year’s stem-branch pair, read in interaction with both the natal chart and the current luck pillar. The annual fortune reading — the most commonly sought form of Saju consultation in contemporary Korea — assesses how the elemental energy of the current year aligns with or challenges the natal chart’s configurations. It is the system’s most practical and temporally specific offering: not a character portrait but an assessment of how this year’s particular elemental conditions interact with this specific person’s chart. The annual fortune does not override the natal chart or the luck pillar; it operates as a third layer of temporal overlay on top of the more foundational structures.
Day Master Strength The assessment of whether the Day Master has sufficient elemental support to assert itself effectively in the chart configuration it faces. A strong Day Master is one well-resourced by Resource Stars and Companion energy; a weak Day Master is one depleted by excessive Power Stars or Expression Gods without adequate support. Day Master strength is the pivotal variable in Saju analysis: the same Power Star that challenges a strong Day Master productively can overwhelm a weak one; the same Resource Star that replenishes a depleted Day Master may be redundant for a strong one. Almost every interpretive judgment in a Saju reading depends on the practitioner’s assessment of the Day Master’s relative strength.
Samjae (삼재, 三災) A traditional concept in Korean folk cosmology identifying three consecutive years in which a person’s birth year branch enters a particular relationship with the annual stems and branches, believed to bring heightened risk of difficulty or adversity. The specific years that constitute a person’s Samjae cycle repeat roughly every twelve years and are associated with the same three-year sequence for everyone born in the same year. Samjae is one of the most widely known and most frequently misapplied concepts in popular Korean fortune-telling culture: it is often presented as a period of certain danger requiring ritual protection, while practitioners working within the full Saju framework tend to treat it as one among many factors to consider rather than a deterministic forecast of difficulty. The anxiety that Samjae can generate in popular culture is one of the clearest examples of how a legitimate analytical concept can be weaponized commercially.
Compatibility and Social Practice
Gunghap (궁합, 宮合) The Saju compatibility reading between two people’s birth charts, examining how the elemental configurations of the two charts interact and what the patterns of that interaction suggest about the dynamics of the relationship. Gunghap analysis examines the Day Master relationship, the combined elemental balance of both charts, specific branch harmony and clash patterns, and the relationship between the two Spouse Palaces. Historically, Gunghap was a formal pre-marriage analysis conducted between families in the Joseon period; in contemporary Korea, it has expanded into a general-purpose compatibility tool used casually for romantic, friendship, and professional relationships through digital platforms. No Gunghap reading produces a simple verdict of compatible or incompatible; the analysis describes the dynamics the two charts generate in contact and what those dynamics require of both people to navigate well.
Sajudanja (사주단자) The formal document traditionally exchanged between families as part of the Joseon-era marriage process, containing a prospective partner’s birth data — year, month, day, and hour — for use in Gunghap analysis. The exchange of sajudanja was a required step before marriage negotiations could proceed; the practitioner’s reading of the two documents was treated as a legally and socially consequential input to the marriage decision. The sajudanja is rarely used in its formal historical form in contemporary Korean society, but the underlying practice of exchanging birth data for compatibility analysis before serious relationship commitment has been thoroughly absorbed into digital Gunghap culture.
Three-Harmony Combination (삼합, 三合) A specific relationship between three Earthly Branches that, together, complete an elemental union: Tiger (인), Horse (오), and Dog (술) for Fire; Pig (해), Rabbit (묘), and Goat (미) for Wood; Snake (사), Rooster (유), and Ox (축) for Metal; Monkey (신), Rat (자), and Dragon (진) for Water. When all three branches in a combination appear across the two charts in a Gunghap reading — one person’s chart containing two and the other containing the third — the relationship “completes” the elemental group, producing a concentrated elemental dynamic in the combined chart. The three-harmony combination is one of the most positively interpreted branch interactions in Gunghap analysis.
Six-Clash (육충, 六沖) The direct opposing relationship between six pairs of Earthly Branches: Rat and Horse, Ox and Goat, Tiger and Monkey, Rabbit and Rooster, Dragon and Dog, Snake and Pig. When branches in a six-clash relationship appear in direct confrontation between the two charts in a Gunghap reading — particularly between the Day Pillars — the interaction generates significant elemental friction. Six-clash relationships are not inherently disqualifying in Gunghap analysis; they indicate dynamic tension that can be productive or depleting depending on the overall elemental configuration. The six-clash relationship between Year Branches — the most commonly cited in popular Gunghap culture, often under the label of incompatible zodiac animals — is considered less significant than a clash between Day Pillars.
Saju Reading (사주 풀이 or 사주 상담) The full consultation process in which a practitioner analyzes a person’s birth chart across its multiple analytical layers — elemental balance, Day Master strength, Ten Gods configuration, current luck pillar, annual fortune — in response to the client’s questions. A thorough reading for someone with specific questions may last an hour or more. The vocabulary of a responsible reading is the vocabulary of tendency and pattern, not certainty and fate: the practitioner describes what the chart’s configurations characteristically involve and what understanding them makes possible, without claiming to predict specific events on specific dates.
Key Figures and Schools
Xu Ziping (서자평, 徐子平) The Song Dynasty (960–1279) scholar whose theoretical innovation is considered the most consequential in the development of the Four Pillars system: the shift from the Year Pillar to the Day Pillar as the chart’s primary reference point. Before Xu Ziping’s reform, birth year analysis was the primary anchor of fate reading. After it, the Day Master — the Heavenly Stem of the Day Pillar — became the protagonist of every chart, transforming the system from a predominantly collective and dynastic instrument into a framework for individual self-understanding. This shift is comparable in conceptual significance to the pivot from collective mythology to psychological interiority in Western intellectual history. All contemporary Saju and BaZi practice is built on this foundation.
Gwansanggam (관상감, 觀象監) The official Joseon Dynasty government bureau responsible for astronomical observation, calendar-making, and meteorological work, which also counted fate analysis among its official functions. The Gwansanggam’s incorporation of Saju practice into the state apparatus is a key reason for the system’s extraordinary institutional depth in Korean society: fate analysis was not merely a private practice tolerated by the state but a formally institutionalized function of government. The Gwansanggam’s existence across the five centuries of the Joseon period shaped the social authority that Saju continues to carry in contemporary Korean life.
BaZi (팔자, 八字 in Chinese: 八字) The Chinese Four Pillars of Destiny system, from which Korean Saju descended and with which it shares its fundamental cosmological architecture. The two systems use identical chart construction methods — the same sexagenary calendar, the same four-pillar structure, the same eight characters — but have developed different analytical emphases, interpretive conventions, and cultural embeddings through centuries of separate practice. In English-language contexts, BaZi has historically been better documented than Saju, making it the more familiar entry point for many Western readers approaching the Four Pillars tradition. The relationship between Saju and BaZi is that of dialects: mutually intelligible in structure, distinct in interpretive intonation.
A Note on Romanization
Korean terms in Saju writing appear in several romanization systems, and inconsistency between sources can create confusion. This glossary uses the Revised Romanization of Korean (현대 한국어 표기법), the official system adopted by the South Korean government in 2000, for all Korean terms. The same terms may appear differently romanized in older sources or in sources from communities that use alternative systems: 갑 may appear as Gab (Revised Romanization) or Kap or Gap in other systems; 기 as Gi or Ki or Kee. When searching for information about specific terms, it is worth trying multiple romanizations to ensure comprehensive results.
Chinese terms — for concepts shared with the BaZi tradition — appear in pinyin romanization, the standard system for Mandarin Chinese. Korean and Chinese pronunciations of the same character differ: the Chinese 甲 (jiǎ) is the Korean 갑 (Gab); the Chinese 八字 (bāzì) is the Korean 팔자 (palja). Readers moving between Korean and Chinese sources will encounter the same underlying concepts under different romanized names.