What this system examines
BaZi uses the Four Pillars to examine natal structure, elemental balance, and the wider timing context around a present concern.
Free BaZi calculator: four pillars and five elements
Enter a birth date and time to see the four pillars, day master and five elements with this free BaZi calculator. No account needed. Then ask one question.
Only the chart, without a question
Calculation rules / A practical boundary
Calculate your Four Pillars, Day Master, and Five Elements from your birth date and time. Review the calculation settings alongside your chart.
This is a transparent traditional calculation, not proof, prediction, or personal advice.
The year and month pillars are set by converting the birth moment to China Standard Time (UTC+8) and comparing it with the solar-term time; the day and hour pillars follow the local birth time.
The calculator runs on this page. Your birth details are not saved or sent unless you choose to bring the result into a reading below.
Do not use this tool as the basis for medical, legal, financial, safety, or relationship decisions.
How this system reads
How the result is formed
Birth date, recorded time precision and time zone determine the pillars. The free calculator shows the inputs and calculation version; an unknown birth time leaves the hour pillar unset.
How to read it responsibly
Birth-time uncertainty can change the hour pillar, so the input must be shown and correctable. BaZi describes a traditional interpretive framework, not a fixed destiny.
After the BaZi calculator plots your chart, where to look first
Check the birth details
The calculator uses the clock time in the birthplace time zone you choose, with that zone's historical UTC offset and daylight saving. It does not correct for the birthplace longitude unless you open Solar time & coordinate correction, choose the coordinate-based correction and enter a latitude and longitude. The calculation receipt records the time zone, the UTC offset used and the engine version.
Read the four pillars
Each pillar is a heavenly stem over an earthly branch. By tradition the year pillar speaks of family and early years, the month pillar of upbringing and the season of birth, the day pillar of yourself and your partner, and the hour pillar of children and later life. The heavenly stem of the day pillar is the day master, the point the rest of the chart is read against.
Hidden stems and elements
Each branch holds one to three hidden stems, listed under its pillar. The five elements count each of the four heavenly stems as 1 and each hidden stem by weight, 0.5 for the main one, 0.3 for the second and 0.2 for the third, then show every element as a share of the total. The branches count only through their hidden stems.
Solar terms and midnight
The year pillar turns at the Start of Spring (立春) and the month pillar at the solar term that opens each month, not on 1 January or the lunar new year. To place them, the birth moment is converted to China Standard Time (UTC+8) and compared with the solar-term time; the day and hour pillars follow the local birth time. After 23:00 the day pillar stays on the date you entered.
The BaZi calculator without a birth time
Choose Unknown under Birth time and the calculator gives the year, month and day pillars and the day master. It leaves out the hour pillar and the five-element totals, because both depend on the hour.
Bring one question
The calculator stops at the chart: it does not grade the day master as strong or weak or list luck cycles. The free BaZi luck pillars calculator on this site lists the luck pillars, and the BaZi Ten Gods calculator shows the ten gods of each pillar. Ask one question about the chart and a reading answers it in writing, pointing at the pillar or element it reads from. A complete reading uses credits.
What your BaZi chart tells you
Your day master
In a BaZi chart, the day master is the heavenly stem of your day pillar. Of the eight characters in the chart, it is the one that stands for you, and every other stem and branch is read by how it relates to it. Two people born in the same month can read very differently because their day masters differ.
There are ten day masters, one for each heavenly stem: Jia and Yi (Wood), Bing and Ding (Fire), Wu and Ji (Earth), Geng and Xin (Metal), Ren and Gui (Water), each pair being yang and then yin. The tradition gives every stem an image, such as a tall tree for Jia, the sun for Bing, raw metal for Geng and a great river for Ren. The image is a quick way to picture temperament, and the rest of the chart can change it a lot.
What the day master does in your chart depends on the company it keeps. The season of birth, shown by the month pillar, and the roots it has in the branches decide whether it is supported or stretched. This calculator names your day master and shows the five elements as shares, but it does not grade the day master as strong or weak. The day master guide explains how to read yours, and you can ask about your own chart from the line under the result.
The four pillars and the Ten Gods
BaZi, also called the Four Pillars of Destiny, gives each pillar its own part of life. By tradition the year pillar speaks of family background and the early years, the month pillar of upbringing, career and parents, the day pillar of you and your partner, and the hour pillar of children and later life. The month pillar usually counts the most, because it records the season you were born in.
The Ten Gods turn that map into relationships. Every stem and hidden stem in the chart is named by how it stands to your day master, from the element relationship plus whether the yin or yang matches. Companion and Rob Wealth are peers and rivals. Eating God and Hurting Officer are about expression, one easy and gentle, the other sharp and critical. Direct Wealth is regular income you manage, and Indirect Wealth is money that moves through deals and contacts. Direct Officer works within the rules and earns standing, while Seven Killings pushes ahead under pressure. Direct Resource and Indirect Resource are about learning and support, from teachers and mentors to a line of study of your own.
Where a Ten God sits changes what it says. Direct Wealth in the month pillar reads differently from Direct Wealth in the hour pillar, and one on a stem shows on the surface while one in a hidden stem works underneath. A name alone is never good or bad, and Seven Killings, despite how it sounds, is not a warning. This calculator draws the pillars and hidden stems. Find the Ten God of each with the free BaZi Ten Gods calculator, or read how each one is worked out in the Ten Gods guide.
Your 10-year luck pillars
If the chart is the car, luck is the road it drives on. Your BaZi chart is set at birth, and a life is divided into 10-year luck pillars (大运, da yun), each a stem and branch pair laid over the chart. The chart itself stays the same for life; each luck pillar changes the conditions it works in for ten years.
The pillars are counted from your month pillar through the 60-pair cycle, forward or backward. A man born in a yang year and a woman born in a yin year run forward; a woman born in a yang year and a man born in a yin year run backward. Each new pillar moves one step along the cycle, so its stem and its branch both change: running forward, Jia Zi is followed by Yi Chou, then Bing Yin. The age the first pillar starts comes from counting the days from birth to the nearest solar term in that direction (the next one when running forward, the previous one when running backward), at three days to a year. That puts it somewhere between birth and about age 10, different for each person.
To read a pillar, look at its Ten God, the relationship of its stem to your day master, and at whether it adds to an element your chart already has plenty of or supplies one it lacks. Hurting Officer on a pillar leans toward expression and change, Direct Officer toward duty and position. Nothing is set to happen on the day a pillar changes, so treat the change as a good time to review your plans. Annual luck covers one year within the decade, so read the pillar first and the year second. The free BaZi luck pillars calculator gives your current pillar, its Ten God and the date the next one starts, and the luck cycles guide explains how the start age is counted.
Why one BaZi calculator can give different pillars from another
Two BaZi calculators can disagree on the same birth because each has to settle three things: when the day changes, when the year changes, and which clock the birth time is read on. Here is how this BaZi calculator settles each one, with births we ran through it as examples.
When the day changes
The day pillar changes at midnight. For a birth on 8 March 1990 at 23:30, the chart keeps the day pillar of 8 March, 壬申 (Ren Shen), and the hour pillar is 壬子 (Ren Zi), the Zi hour that runs from 23:00 to 01:00. The hour stem of this late Zi hour follows the next day’s stem, 癸 (Gui), which is why it is 壬子 and not 庚子 (Geng Zi). Calculators also differ on this, and it is a common reason two hour pillars disagree. A calculator that starts the new day at 23:00 would give the same minute the day pillar 癸酉 (Gui You). For a birth at 00:10 on 9 March, the day pillar here is 癸酉.
When the year changes
The year pillar changes at Li Chun (立春, the Start of Spring), not on 1 January and not at Chinese New Year. In 2024 Li Chun fell at 16:27 China Standard Time (UTC+8) on 4 February, which is 17:27 in Tokyo. For a birth in Tokyo on 4 February 2024 at 17:00, the year pillar is 癸卯 (Gui Mao) and the month pillar 乙丑 (Yi Chou). At 17:30, they are 甲辰 (Jia Chen) and 丙寅 (Bing Yin). A calculator that turns the year on 1 January gives both births 甲辰, and one that waits for Chinese New Year (10 February in 2024) gives both 癸卯. Here the birth moment is converted to UTC+8 and compared with the solar-term moment.
Which clock the birth time is read on
By default the chart uses the clock time of the birth in the time zone you choose, with that zone’s historical UTC offset and daylight saving, and no true solar time. To use true solar time, open Solar time & coordinate correction, choose the coordinate-based correction and enter a latitude and longitude. For a birth on 8 March 1990 at 09:30 China time in Urumqi (43.83, 87.62), the clock time gives the hour pillar 乙巳 (Yi Si). True solar time there is 141 minutes earlier, 07:09, and the hour pillar becomes 甲辰 (Jia Chen). The year, month and day pillars stay 庚午, 己卯 and 壬申. When a correction would move the day or the two-hour period, you confirm it first.
When two results disagree, compare these three first. The calculation receipt under every chart records the date used, the time zone and UTC offset, whether true solar time was applied, and the engine version.
The other systems
All systemsArticles for this tool
How to read a BaZi chart, step by step
How to read a BaZi chart: check the receipt, find the four pillars and the day master, then read hidden stems and element percentages in order.
How to calculate BaZi from your birth details
How to calculate BaZi: gather the birth date, its calendar, the time as precisely as recorded and the birthplace time zone, then check the receipt.
BaZi day master: how to find your day stem
Your BaZi day master is the heavenly stem of your day pillar. See how to find it on your chart, which element it is, and why it is not your year animal.
BaZi five elements: how the chart totals work
BaZi five elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. See which stems belong to each and how hidden-stem weights and rounding shape your percentages.
BaZi hidden stems: what each branch holds
BaZi hidden stems are the one to three stems inside each earthly branch. See the full chart, the main, middle and residual order, and how they count.
BaZi without birth time: reading three pillars
BaZi without birth time still gives three pillars and the day master. Choose the right input, keep the hour open and record candidate times.
BaZi compatibility: what two charts can show
BaZi compatibility starts with what is compared: year branches, day masters or whole charts. Prepare both records and question any match score.
BaZi ten gods: how each name is worked out
The BaZi ten gods name how another stem relates to your day master: element direction plus yin or yang. See all ten names and how Jia reads Bing and Geng.
Day master element: how the five elements relate
Your day master element comes from your day stem. Read Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water as arrows around it, with Jia Wood and Bing Fire as examples.
BaZi month pillar: season and your day master
The BaZi month pillar changes at solar terms, not on the lunar month. See how its branch sets your day master's season, using Jia Wood in Mao and You.
Strong vs weak day master: what BaZi checks
Strong vs weak day master is not decided by a count or percentage. See how BaZi weighs season, roots and support or restraint, with two Jia Wood examples.
BaZi luck cycles: start age and 10-year periods
BaZi luck cycles are 10-year periods counted from a calculated start, Qi Yun. See when the first one begins and how to read a row of a luck cycle table.
What is BaZi? Four Pillars of Destiny explained
What is BaZi? The Chinese Four Pillars of Destiny: a birth year, month, day and hour written as four stem-branch pairs. See what a chart holds and needs.
Common BaZi mistakes when reading a chart
Common BaZi mistakes start before interpretation: unchecked inputs, the wrong day master, miscounted elements, strength labels and luck cycles.
Luck pillars and Ten Gods
Looking for your Chinese zodiac sign?
The Chinese astrology calculator names your zodiac animal and the element of your birth year, then shows the four pillars under them.
Open the Chinese astrology calculatorCommon questions
- Is this BaZi calculator free?
- Yes. The chart is free and needs no account. The calculator runs on this page, and your birth details are not saved or sent unless you choose to bring the result into a reading. An AI reading is written only when you ask for one: a short reading costs 10 credits and a complete reading 40. A new account's first short AI reading is free, and members' short readings use no credits.
- Can I use the BaZi calculator without a birth time?
- Yes. Choose Unknown under Birth time and you get the year, month and day pillars and the day master. The hour pillar and the five-element totals are left out. Noon stands in for the missing hour only to place the date, so on the day a solar term begins, when the month pillar (and at the Start of Spring the year pillar) can change, the result follows noon.
- Which time zone does the chart use, and is it true solar time?
- The birthplace time zone you choose; your browser's zone is filled in first. Its historical UTC offset and daylight-saving rules are applied, and if a local time happened twice you pick which one. The chart uses that clock time, not true solar time, unless you open Solar time & coordinate correction, choose the coordinate-based correction and enter a latitude and longitude. The time then moves by the gap between that longitude and the meridian of the UTC offset used, plus the equation of time, and you confirm first if this changes the two-hour period or the day.
- Is a BaZi chart calculator the same as a four pillars of destiny calculator?
- Yes. BaZi means eight characters: the four pillars of year, month, day and hour each have a heavenly stem and an earthly branch, eight in all. Four Pillars of Destiny is the English name for the same chart.
- What does the free BaZi plotter show, and what does it not analyse?
- It shows the four pillars, the hidden stems of each branch, the day master and the five elements as shares, with a calculation receipt you can copy. It does not show ten gods or luck cycles, grade the day master as strong or weak, or interpret the chart. The free BaZi luck pillars calculator and Ten Gods calculator on this site show the luck pillars and the ten gods. For analysis as well as the calculation, ask a question about the chart.
- What do I get when I ask a question about the chart?
- A written reading: your question as the title, the chart it was read from, and one thing to do next. It can read the stems and branches, the hidden stems, the day master and the balance of the five elements, and it says where it read from. A short reading takes up the one or two of these that bear on your question.
- How do I enter a lunar date or a leap month in the BaZi calculator?
- Choose Lunar calendar above the date, enter the lunar year, month and day, and tick Leap month if the month is a leap month. The BaZi calculator converts the date to the Gregorian calendar and the calculation receipt shows both. The lunar year is the one that begins at Chinese New Year, and if that year has no leap month with that number the form says so and asks you to untick the box. The pillars follow the converted Gregorian date and the solar terms, not the name of the lunar month, so a leap month needs no special rule.
- Does AI calculate the pillars in this BaZi calculator?
- No. A fixed calendar engine calculates the pillars, the day master and the element shares from the date and time you enter, so the same birth always gives the same chart. AI is used only when you ask a question about the chart, and it then reads the chart the engine already built.
- What else is BaZi called?
- BaZi (八字, eight characters) is also called the Four Pillars of Destiny, after its four pillars of year, month, day and hour. In Korea the same chart is called Saju (사주), in Japan Shichusuimei (四柱推命), and in Cantonese the name is often spelled Paht Chee. All of these name the same method with the same four pillars; only the name and some reading customs change from place to place.
- What is a day master?
- The day master is the heavenly stem of your day pillar, the part of the chart that stands for you and that every other stem and element is read against. The day master guide explains how to read yours.