DAY PILLARS · SAJU
Day pillar 庚申 (Gyeongsin): Yang Metal on the Monkey
A steel blade lies on a workbench full of tools, at the start of a clear autumn. The 庚申 pillar doubles the strength of Yang Metal, an image of decisiveness, efficiency and frankness, with an energy that prefers acting to commenting.
1. The image
Yang Metal is raw iron, the axe, the will that cuts. The Monkey is a lively Metal, the metal of early autumn, when the air turns crisp. The stem finds a support of its own nature: metal on metal, the image has an edge. Beneath the Monkey hide 庚, 壬 and 戊: more metal, a water that sharpens it and a rock that carries it. The nayin 石榴木, “Pomegranate Wood,” is a surprise: a tree with seed-filled fruit that grows among stones.
2. Your birth element: Yang Metal
Yang Metal is raw ore or the axe: a dense, direct material that cuts. You may recognize yourself in this taste for clear-cut things and decisions you stand by. Your frankness saves everyone time. The flip side: cutting short where a gentler sentence would have done.
Read the portraits of the ten elements
3. What it rests on: the Monkey
The Monkey is a Metal branch, the one that opens autumn, around August. It hides 庚 Yang Metal, 壬 Water and 戊 Earth: a material that hardens and a water that begins to flow. In this image, the seat of the day is nimble, inventive, quick to find solutions.
When the main element of the branch is the peer, the day stem rests on its own nature: same element, same polarity. The tradition sees in it a seat of self-confidence and autonomy: you know how to rely on yourself. The flip side: finding it hard to ask for help or to let the other person decide. The lever: share part of the road.
4. In daily life
You may prefer an imperfect decision made today to a perfect one made in a month. You solve problems, you move the furniture, you say what isn’t working. The branch’s “peer” gives you solid confidence in your judgment, and a comrade’s loyalty. The flip side is a blade always drawn: frankness that cuts, impatience with hesitation, and difficulty accepting that others move forward by trial and error.
5. Up close, as a couple
With the Monkey in the spouse palace, intimate life loves the concrete and movement: doing things together rather than talking about them at length. You can be a loyal, direct support who doesn’t let people down. The flip side would be making joint decisions on your own, or mistaking the other person’s sensitivity for slowness. Closeness grows when the blade accepts a sheath.
6. The lever
The pomegranate of the nayin is a reminder that a hard rind can hold hundreds of seeds. The lever for this pillar is to add a moment of gentleness before acting: a question, a sentence that acknowledges the other person’s effort. It costs only a few seconds and often changes the tone of an exchange. Your frankness stays whole. In which recent situation would a gentler sentence have helped your message be heard?
7. The nayin: Pomegranate Wood
石榴木, Pomegranate Wood: a tree with red flowers and fruit full of seeds. The image suggests abundance, vitality, the riches hidden under a plain rind. The tradition associates it with a wood that blooms in high summer and holds a great deal inside.
8. Why this pillar isn’t the whole story
This pillar is only one part of your chart. Saju counts eight signs, spread across the year, month, day and hour of birth. Thousands of people share this same day pillar, since it comes back every 60 days. What changes everything is the rest: the year and month set the scene, the hour adds its nuance, and the balance of the elements draws a chart that is yours alone.
The next 庚申 days
The calendar of days moves forward continuously: here are the next dates when this pillar comes back, for information only.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the 庚申 pillar have a Wood nayin?
The nayin doesn’t necessarily follow the element of the stem or the branch. It comes from a separate traditional system that gives an image to each pair of pillars. 庚申 and 辛酉 thus share “Pomegranate Wood” (石榴木), a poetic symbol rather than an element to be counted.
Why do people talk about the 11 p.m. rule?
In many Saju schools, the day doesn’t start at midnight but at 11 p.m., at the beginning of the hour of the Rat. If you were born between 11 p.m. and midnight, your day pillar may therefore be the next day’s. Other schools keep midnight. Local solar time can also shift this boundary.
Are two people with the same day pillar alike?
They share the same basic image, but not the same chart. The year, month and hour pillars change the balance of the elements and the way the day expresses itself. Two people with the same pillar can therefore have very different temperaments, each in their own way.