DAY PILLARS · SAJU
Day pillar 壬申 (Imsin): Yang Water on the Monkey
The 壬申 pillar, Imsin, looks like a river bursting from a metallic rock on the threshold of autumn. Cold water pours out of the cool stone, abundant and fast, and it always seems to know how to find the slope.
1. The image
Yang Water is the river, the sea, the current that travels far. The Monkey is a Metal branch, the one that opens autumn. Metal feeds water: in this image, the spring never runs dry, as if the rock itself made what it needs to flow. The hidden stems 庚, 壬 and 戊 strengthen the stone, double the current and set down a bank. We call this support the singular resource, lively and inventive. The nayin 劍鋒金, “Metal of the Blade”, adds an edge: a quick mind, able to cut cleanly.
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 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.
Singular resource is the element that feeds the stem, with the same polarity: an original support that comes through reflection, intuition, unusual knowledge. You may recognize yourself in this independent mind that likes to understand things alone. The flip side: retreating into your head and doubting what you feel. The lever: share your ideas sooner.
4. In daily life
You may grasp a situation in a few minutes and see three solutions where others are looking for one. You move from one subject to another with ease; you love ideas, travel, conversations that go far. The flip side: a fast river sometimes overflows. You can scatter yourself, starting a book, a podcast and a project on the same evening, or cut a discussion short because you’ve already seen the end when the other person isn’t there yet.
5. Up close, as a couple
Up close, this image brings movement, curiosity, conversations that go on late. You need a bond that lets things flow without closing you in. The flip side is staying elusive, dodging a heavy conversation with a quip, or drifting off into your thoughts when the other person needs you to stay. A riverbank, sometimes, is just staying seated until the end of a sentence.
6. The lever
The lever: choosing your riverbed. A powerful current becomes useful when it follows a course instead of spilling everywhere. Take one idea among those on your mind and give it a concrete path: one step this week, just one, that you finish before opening another subject. Your speed stays intact; it gains a direction. Of all the leads open right now, which deserves your full flow for a few days?
7. The nayin: Metal of the Blade
劍鋒金, Sword Blade Metal: the edge of a sword, forged and sharpened. The image suggests sharpness, decision, the gleam of an already worked material. The tradition associates it with a strength that asks to be handled with care, to protect rather than to wound.
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
What does the nayin “Metal of the Blade” of 壬申 mean?
劍鋒金 refers to the metal of a sword blade, sharpened and keen. 壬申 shares it with 癸酉, the next pillar. It is a traditional image, not a guaranteed trait: it evokes precision and the ability to cut through, to be read with the rest of the chart.
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.