Three branches · one birth moment
Outer, inner & secret animals
In this simplified model, three animals describe different layers of time. They summarize the year, month and hour branches. The month follows solar terms and the hour follows the traditional two-hour periods beginning with Rat at 23:00.
- 01Year · OuterDog
- 02Month · InnerRabbit
- 03Hour · SecretRooster
Twelve branches · many time scales
Animals are one layer of a larger cycle
The familiar animal name belongs to an Earthly Branch. That branch also carries a direction, a double hour, a seasonal month and a fixed place in the twelve-step cycle.
Explore each branchThree readings at a glance
One date, three scales of time
- 01Year · OuterDog in the example
- What it maps
The annual cycle and outer circumstances.
- What changes it
Spring Festival boundary (typically late Jan–Feb).
- 02Month · InnerRabbit in the example
- What it maps
Seasonal rhythms and inner climate.
- What changes it
Solar terms: each month begins at a major term.
- 03Hour · SecretRooster in the example
- What it maps
Daily flow and immediate timing.
- What changes it
The traditional double hour (≈ 2 modern hours).
The complete branch circle
Each animal in full
What its branch names — the hour, the month, the direction, the phase — and the clash, harmony and trine that its position fixes.
Every animal layer is read from the same twelve branches. The year, month and hour are three different ways of arriving at one of these twelve.
- 01Rat子 Zi · Water23:00–00:59
- 02Ox丑 Chou · Earth01:00–02:59
- 03Tiger寅 Yin · Wood03:00–04:59
- 04Rabbit卯 Mao · Wood05:00–06:59
- 05Dragon辰 Chen · Earth07:00–08:59
- 06Snake巳 Si · Fire09:00–10:59
- 07Horse午 Wu · Fire11:00–12:59
- 08Goat未 Wei · Earth13:00–14:59
- 09Monkey申 Shen · Metal15:00–16:59
- 10Rooster酉 You · Metal17:00–18:59
- 11Dog戌 Xu · Earth19:00–20:59
- 12Pig亥 Hai · Water21:00–22:59
Month and hour mappings
The same circle, read at two speeds
These ledgers show the solar-term month boundaries and the twelve traditional two-hour periods.
Inner · Month
Solar terms opening each branch month
The dates shown are the dates on which each term fell in 2026.
- 01
2026-02-04
- 02
2026-03-05
- 03
2026-04-05
- 04
2026-05-05
- 05
2026-06-05
- 06
Goat未
2026-07-07
- 07
2026-08-07
- 08
2026-09-07
- 09
Dog戌
2026-10-08
- 10
Pig亥
2026-11-07
- 11
Rat子
2026-12-07
- 12
Ox丑
2026-01-05
The dates above are for 2026 specifically. Solar terms are astronomical events, so each one shifts by a day or two between years — 立春 opened the Tiger month on 3 February in 2021 and on 4 February in 2024. The date explorer follows the term for the selected year, which matters for births near a boundary.
Secret · Hour
Twelve traditional two-hour periods
- 01子RatZi · 23:00–00:59
- 02丑OxChou · 01:00–02:59
- 03寅TigerYin · 03:00–04:59
- 04卯RabbitMao · 05:00–06:59
- 05辰DragonChen · 07:00–08:59
- 06巳SnakeSi · 09:00–10:59
- 07午HorseWu · 11:00–12:59
- 08未GoatWei · 13:00–14:59
- 09申MonkeyShen · 15:00–16:59
- 10酉RoosterYou · 17:00–18:59
- 11戌DogXu · 19:00–20:59
- 12亥PigHai · 21:00–22:59
First position in the circle
Rat in the system
Rat corresponds to the 子 Zi branch — position one among the twelve branches. In the hour ledger it opens the cycle at 23:00–00:59, crossing midnight; in the month teaching ledger it covers the approximate December 7 – January 5 range; in the 60-year cycle it pairs with each of the five yang and yin stems in turn.
A date read through all three layers
26 August 2026, 09:30 local time
- 01
Outer · Year
Yang Fire Horse — the year began on 2026-02-17, after Chinese New Year.
- 02
Inner · Month
Monkey — 26 August 2026 falls after Start of Autumn (立秋 Lìqiū), which began on 2026-08-07.
- 03
Secret · Hour
Snake — 09:30 sits inside the 09:00–10:59 period.
Using the three layers
Questions about the three layers
Do the inner and secret animals replace the year animal?
They sit alongside it. The year animal is the best-known layer and the least specific: it is shared by everyone born in the same year. The month branch narrows that to roughly a twelfth of a year and the hour branch to a two-hour window, which is why a chart with all three distinguishes people the year alone cannot.
Why do different sites give different inner animals?
The month can be counted by solar terms, lunar months or fixed date ranges. Solar terms shift from year to year — Li Chun fell on 3 February in 2021 and 4 February in 2024 — and this guide follows the solar term for the selected year.
Why does the Rat hour cross midnight?
The twelve traditional double hours begin with Zi, the Rat, covering 23:00–00:59. The sequence then advances one branch every two hours, ending with Hai, the Pig, at 21:00–22:59.