Your Day Master (日主 rìzhǔ) is Jiǎ 甲 — Yang Wood: the tall tree — upright, principled, growing steadily toward the light. Jiǎ people carry a visible integrity: what they say tracks what they do, and everyone around them can lean on the trunk. The cost of being a tree is flexibility; Jiǎ dislikes being bent, and often confuses changing course with breaking.
New to Day Masters? Start with the explainer, or plot your chart to confirm yours.
The Jiǎ temperament
In the five-element mechanics, Jiǎ is fed by Water, expresses itself through Fire, treats Earth as its wealth, and answers to Metal as pressure and authority. Those four arrows explain most of what this stem loves and avoids: seasons, people and jobs are experienced as more or less of each.
In charts we read Jiǎ as the stem of the long project. The tree does not sprint; it commits to a spot and compounds. That shows up as a preference for institutions over gigs, principles over tactics, and a memory for who kept their word. Under pressure the pattern is characteristic: Jiǎ absorbs, stands, absorbs again — then one day the whole trunk moves at once, and colleagues wonder where the storm came from. The practitioner’s advice is usually the same: bend earlier, in small ways, so the big break never has to happen.
In relationships Jiǎ gives shade — dependable, protective, sometimes immovable. Partners get a fixed point to build a life around, and occasionally a wall where they wanted a conversation. The growth edge is learning that listening is not the same as yielding.
Strong Jiǎ, weak Jiǎ
A strong Jiǎ — spring-born, well-watered — needs pruning more than feeding: challenge, deadlines, a craft with standards, or the growth turns leggy and unfocused. A weak Jiǎ — autumn-born, thin roots — needs Water and shelter first: mentors, study, recovery time. Ask the tree to bear fruit before it has roots and you get the classic Jiǎ burnout: outwardly solid, inwardly hollow.
Not sure which you are? Season is half the verdict — see strong vs weak, properly judged. The other half is your favorable elements: which of the five actually help this particular tree. The rules of thumb for Wood charts are laid out in favorable elements for Wood Day Masters.
Jiǎ through the four seasons
The month you were born sets the tree’s baseline. Classical doctrine grades a Day Master’s seasonal state as 旺 wàng (Prosperous), 相 xiàng (Supported), 休 xiū (Resting), 囚 qiú (Confined) or 死 sǐ (Dormant). Seasons here are solar-term seasons, not calendar months, and the Earth branches 辰未戌丑 at each season’s end shade toward Earth.
| Season | Branches | Dates | Jiǎ’s state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jiǎ born in spring | 寅卯辰 | Feb 4 – May 4 | 旺 wàng — Prosperous |
| Jiǎ born in summer | 巳午未 | May 5 – Aug 6 | 休 xiū — Resting |
| Jiǎ born in autumn | 申酉戌 | Aug 7 – Nov 6 | 死 sǐ — Dormant |
| Jiǎ born in winter | 亥子丑 | Nov 7 – Feb 3 | 相 xiàng — Supported |
Spring is Wood’s own season — maximum native strength; the chart usually needs outlets, not more support. Summer drains gently: your element feeds the season, energy flows out — the retired-general state. Autumn is the hard one: Metal controls Wood, so the baseline is weakest and support and timing matter more than effort. Winter feeds the tree: strong by backing, comfortable, resourced, sometimes over-sheltered. Each season page walks through what that means for a real chart.
The Ten Gods for a Jiǎ Day Master
Every other stem in your chart becomes one of the Ten Gods (十神 shíshén) relative to Jiǎ. This is the fixed translation table; the full walk-through lives in the Ten Gods for Jiǎ Wood.
| Stem | Ten God for Jiǎ |
|---|---|
| Jiǎ 甲 (Yang Wood) | Friend 比肩 |
| Yǐ 乙 (Yin Wood) | Rob Wealth 劫财 |
| Bǐng 丙 (Yang Fire) | Eating God 食神 |
| Dīng 丁 (Yin Fire) | Hurting Officer 伤官 |
| Wù 戊 (Yang Earth) | Indirect Wealth 偏财 |
| Jǐ 己 (Yin Earth) | Direct Wealth 正财 |
| Gēng 庚 (Yang Metal) | Seven Killings 七杀 |
| Xīn 辛 (Yin Metal) | Direct Officer 正官 |
| Rén 壬 (Yang Water) | Indirect Resource 偏印 |
| Guǐ 癸 (Yin Water) | Direct Resource 正印 |
Your six Jiǎ day pillars
A Day Master never stands alone; it sits on a day branch, and the pair — the day pillar (日柱 rìzhù) — is the real unit of analysis. As a yang stem, Jiǎ pairs with six branches, each a different tree in a different landscape: Jiǎ Zǐ 甲子, the tree over winter water; Jiǎ Yín 甲寅, the tree rooted in its own forest; Jiǎ Chén 甲辰, the tree in rich spring soil; Jiǎ Wǔ 甲午, the tree in full flower over fire; Jiǎ Shēn 甲申, the tree beside the axe; and Jiǎ Xū 甲戌, the tree on dry autumn earth. Your day branch is also the spouse palace, so these six read very differently in relationship questions — each page goes deep on one.
Career and money
Jiǎ suits work where standing for something is the job: leadership with principles attached, teaching, law, building institutions or long products. The wealth element is Earth — patient, cumulative, territorial. Jiǎ money grows like timber: slowly, then all at once; get-rich-quick schemes are how trees get felled.
Jiǎ in 2026 — the Bǐng Wǔ year
2026’s double Fire is a heavy output year for Wood: maximum expression, visibility and productivity — the tree in full flower. A strong Jiǎ should publish, launch and perform; a weak one should watch for the scorched-sap feeling of overcommitment and keep the Water topped up.
For how a double-Fire year works in general, read the 2026 Fire Horse guide.
Go deeper
A Day Master is the first sentence of a chart, not the whole paragraph. The season you were born into, the hidden stems beneath your branches, and your current luck pillar decide which version of Jiǎ is on duty this decade. For the whole chart in plain English — with the next twelve months mapped — book a reading, or see the other nine stems in the field guide.
First step, though: find your Day Master. Plot your chart free with the Ba Zi calculator and see which of the six Jiǎ pillars — and which season — you were given to work with.