What Is BaZi? (Chinese Four Pillars of Destiny)
BaZi (八字) means “eight characters,” and is also called Si Zhu (四柱, “four pillars”). It is the Chinese Four Pillars of Destiny: a birth chart of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches whose Five Elements are read against your Day Master. It is the same East Asian engine that Korea calls Saju and Japan calls Shichu Suimei.
The eight characters
A BaZi chart converts your birth date and time into four pillars — year, month, day, and hour. Each pillar is a Heavenly Stem (天干) over an Earthly Branch (地支), giving eight characters drawn from the sexagenary (60-term) calendar.
Day Master and the Five Elements
The Day Master (日主) is the Heavenly Stem of the day pillar — the character that stands for “you.” Classical BaZi schools then weigh the Five Elements — Wood (木), Fire (火), Earth (土), Metal (金), Water (水) — around it.
- Generating cycle: Wood feeds Fire, Fire makes Earth, Earth bears Metal, Metal carries Water, Water nourishes Wood.
- Controlling cycle: Wood parts Earth, Earth dams Water, Water quenches Fire, Fire melts Metal, Metal cuts Wood.
BaZi and Korean Saju are the same engine
BaZi (China), Saju (Korea), and Shichu Suimei (Japan) read the identical eight characters from the identical calendar. The terminology and analytical emphasis differ, but the chart does not. Mirae uses the Korean Saju framing while remaining fully compatible with BaZi — your Day Master, pillars, and element balance are computed the same way.
Mirae presents this as cultural and entertainment insight for self-reflection — not deterministic fate, and not medical, legal, or financial advice.