DAY PILLARS · SAJU
Day pillar 壬子 (Imja): Yang Water on the Rat
A great winter river flows beneath a midnight sky, with nothing to hold it back. The 壬子 pillar brings together two faces of Water, and the tradition sees a deep intelligence, a broad imagination and a great need for freedom of movement.
1. The image
Yang Water is the river that carries boats, the sea that links the shores. The Rat answers with the same nature: it is the Water of the winter solstice, of midnight, the deepest hour. The stem finds a support of its own nature, and the current gains breadth. A single hidden stem, 癸, a fine rain, makes the image very concentrated. The nayin 桑柘木, “Mulberry Wood,” brings a riverbank: the tree whose leaves feed silkworms, an image of patient work.
2. Your birth element: Yang Water
Yang Water is the river or the sea: a great movement that flows around obstacles and goes far. You may recognize yourself in this broad curiosity, this need for space and fresh ideas. Your mind moves fast. The flip side: scattering yourself, or slipping out of a situation rather than settling into it.
Read the portraits of the ten elements
3. What it rests on: the Rat
The Rat is a Water branch, the branch of midwinter, around December, when the nights are longest. It hides only one stem, 癸, Yin Water: a pure, concentrated seat. In this image, the base of the pillar is lively, discreet, turned toward listening and reflection.
With emulation, the branch carries the same element as the stem, but with the opposite polarity: like a double who resembles you without being you. In this image, there is energy, courage, a taste for measuring yourself against others. The flip side: experiencing close relationships as a comparison. The lever: turn this drive into a shared project rather than a rivalry.
4. In daily life
You can jump from one subject to another in an evening, from a documentary on volcanoes to an idea for a career change, and connect the two effortlessly. Others are struck by how quickly you understand and adapt. “Emulation” pushes you to measure yourself, to swim further than the others. The flip side looks like a flood: too many ideas, too many open projects, and the urge to leave as soon as a framework tightens. Sometimes you need a riverbank.
5. Up close, as a couple
With the Rat in the spouse palace, intimate life needs both space and depth. You can be a fascinating presence, full of stories, yet keep part of yourself in deep water. The other person may feel they only see the surface. In this image, closeness grows when you let someone go down a little way with you, without fearing you will lose your freedom.
6. The lever
A river becomes useful when it has banks. The lever for this pillar is to choose a few banks: a project you see through to the end, a fixed appointment, a person you really tell how you are doing. These limits don’t stop you, they give the current a direction. The mulberry of the nayin is a reminder of the thread’s patience. Among your current ideas, which one deserves to be woven all the way through?
7. The nayin: Mulberry Wood
桑柘木, Mulberry Wood: the tree whose leaves feed silkworms. The image suggests usefulness, generosity, patient work that gives birth to something fine. The tradition associates it with a nourishing wood, in the service of what is being woven.
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 壬子 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 is the Rat of the 壬子 pillar linked to midnight and winter?
In Saju, each branch corresponds to a time slot and a month. The Rat (子) covers the hours from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. and the month of the winter solstice. It is Water at its deepest point, which further strengthens the 壬 stem of the 壬子 pillar.
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.