Ten stems, ten ways of meeting the world. Your Day Master (日主 rìzhǔ) is the stem of your day pillar — the character the rest of the chart is measured against, as we explain in Day Masters, explained. These portraits are starting points, not verdicts — the same stem born into different seasons behaves differently, as every guide on this site repeats. Find yours with the calculator, then read your line below.
All ten at a glance
| Stem | Hanzi | Element / polarity | Image | Temperament in one line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jiǎ | 甲 | Yang Wood | The tall tree | Upright and principled; grows steadily toward the light |
| Yǐ | 乙 | Yin Wood | The climbing vine | Flexible and resourceful; adapts around obstacles |
| Bǐng | 丙 | Yang Fire | The sun | Direct and warming; spends energy freely, impossible to ignore |
| Dīng | 丁 | Yin Fire | The lamp flame | Precise, penetrating warmth; steady in the dark |
| Wù | 戊 | Yang Earth | The mountain | Reliable and containing; slow to move, hard to argue with |
| Jǐ | 己 | Yin Earth | The field soil | Nurturing and absorbent; quietly productive |
| Gēng | 庚 | Yang Metal | The raw blade | Decisive and dutiful; cuts through what others tiptoe around |
| Xīn | 辛 | Yin Metal | The finished jewel | Refined and exacting; quality over quantity |
| Rén | 壬 | Yang Water | The river | Ambitious and connective; always moving toward the sea |
| Guǐ | 癸 | Yin Water | The morning dew | Subtle and perceptive; reaches places force cannot |
Notice the pattern down the table: within each element, the yang form acts on the world directly and the yin form works by influence. That polarity difference often matters more day to day than the element itself.
The Woods
Jiǎ 甲 — Yang Wood, the tall tree. Upright, principled, grows steadily toward the light; dislikes being bent and shows it. Fed by Water, shaped by Metal — a Jiǎ with no Metal in the chart grows tall and unpruned.
Yǐ 乙 — Yin Wood, the climbing vine. Flexible, resourceful, thrives by adapting around obstacles rather than confronting them. Needs something to climb: structure, mentors, institutions.
The two Woods illustrate the whole yang–yin logic: the tree survives storms by standing, the vine by bending. In teams, Jiǎ holds the position and Yǐ finds the route around it — both are Wood’s growth, differently expressed.
The Fires
Bǐng 丙 — Yang Fire, the sun. Direct, warming, generous with energy, impossible to ignore. Spends itself freely and needs Wood to keep burning; midwinter Bǐng charts run on willpower.
Dīng 丁 — Yin Fire, the lamp flame. Precise, penetrating warmth; steady in the dark where the sun cannot reach. Easily fanned, easily starved — the most environment-sensitive of the ten.
Both Fires are visibility, but the sun lights a landscape and the lamp lights a page. Bǐng needs an audience the way Dīng needs a subject — starve either of it and the flame turns restless.
The Earths
Wù 戊 — Yang Earth, the mountain. Reliable, containing, slow to move and hard to argue with. Holds others steady in a storm; the risk is holding still when the season says move.
Jǐ 己 — Yin Earth, the field soil. Nurturing, absorbent, quietly productive — turns whatever lands on it into growth. Gives more than it logs; needs boundaries more than encouragement.
Earth is the element of holding, and the two Earths hold differently: the mountain holds by mass, the field by receiving. Both are the people others lean on — which is precisely why their charts need somewhere to put the weight down.
The Metals
Gēng 庚 — Yang Metal, the raw blade. Decisive, dutiful, cuts through what others tiptoe around. Needs a whetstone — fire, pressure, a worthy problem — or the edge turns inward.
Xīn 辛 — Yin Metal, the finished jewel. Refined, exacting, quality over quantity. Polish is both gift and armour; criticism lands harder than it should.
The Metals part ways over Fire: the raw blade is made by the forge, the finished jewel can be damaged by it. It is the clearest case of one element’s “friend” being its sibling’s hazard — and a preview of why generic element advice fails.
The Waters
Rén 壬 — Yang Water, the river. Ambitious, connective, always moving toward the sea. Hard to dam, easy to divert — direction is the life question, not energy.
Guǐ 癸 — Yin Water, the morning dew. Subtle, perceptive, reaches places force cannot. Underestimated at your peril; the quietest stem and often the best-informed person in the room.
Water is intelligence in motion. The river moves people and projects at scale; the dew works one surface at a time. Guǐ charts are the ones most often misjudged from the outside — quiet is not small.
How to use this guide
Three steps. First, find your day stem — the calculator highlights it, and it takes a birth date only. Second, read your pair above and the full profile behind the link: each covers personality, the strong and weak versions of the stem, career fit, and the current year. Third, resist the urge to stop there. The portrait tells you what kind of material you are; it cannot tell you what condition the material is in, or what the coming decade asks of it.
A note on reading others: these images are useful shorthand for colleagues and family, but remember you are usually guessing their stem from behaviour, which runs the logic backwards. Behaviour is the chart plus circumstances; the stem is one input. Plot the chart before you diagnose the person.
Read yours properly
A portrait is one sentence; a chart is a paragraph. The stem’s condition — strong or weak in its season — decides whether these traits run in surplus or deficit, and the current luck pillar decides which version of you is on duty this decade. For the whole chart in plain English, book a reading.
Each stem now has a full profile — personality, strong vs weak, career, and its 2026 outlook. Click any name above to read yours.