Daily chart coordinate · 日柱
Bazi Day Pillar 日柱: 60-Day Cycle & Your Day Master
The day pillar advances every day through 60 stem–branch pairs. Its first character is the Day Master; compare the 23:00 and midnight day boundaries.
Stem above · branch below
What the daily pair contributes
The day branch completes the daily stem–branch pair. The day stem also receives a second job: it becomes the reference for the Ten Gods relationship names.
- 01Visible stemThe Day Master · 日主
Its phase and polarity are compared with every other concrete stem.
- 02Visible branchDaily branch position
It is the branch paired with the stem at that point in the sixty-day cycle.
- 03Time scaleOne sexagenary day
The pair advances daily and returns after sixty positions.
- 04Chart roleRelationship origin
Its phase and polarity define the reference for the Ten Gods.
Where this coordinate changes
The late Rat hour exposes two day boundaries
Most birth times give the same day pillar under both common conventions. The disagreement is confined to 23:00–23:59, before civil midnight but inside the Rat period.
- 01 · 00:00 convention
Civil midnight opens the new day
The current civil date keeps its day pair until 23:59, then advances at midnight.
- 02 · 23:00 convention
Late Rat hour opens the next sexagenary day
Under 晚子時, the first hour of Rat already belongs to the following day pair.
- 03 · Published result
Keep the convention beside the pair
When the two readings diverge, the site reports both instead of hiding a methodological choice.
How the pillar is formed
How the daily pair and Day Master are read
A verified calendar anchor and the elapsed-day count locate the date modulo sixty. The resulting first character becomes the Day Master; the second is that day's branch.
Calendar anchor + elapsed days mod 60 → day stem + day branch
- 01
Locate the sixty-day position
The count advances without restarting at a Gregorian month, lunar month or New Year.
- 02
Apply the chosen day boundary
Civil midnight and late Rat hour differ only during the 23:xx interval.
- 03
Name relations from the stem
Compare target phase first and polarity second to obtain one of the ten structural names.
Keep the coordinate precise
Common day pillar confusions
Check the date boundary, pillar position and related chart terms.
- Is the Day Master a fifth pillar?
- No. It is the Heavenly Stem already visible in the day pillar, given the special role of relationship reference.
- Does a Day Master alone determine a person?
- No. It is one fixed chart coordinate. The other pillars, branches, hidden stems and declared interpretive method remain separate evidence.
- Why can charts disagree for a 23:30 birth?
- One school advances the sexagenary day at 23:00; another waits for civil midnight. The hour stem also changes with the selected day stem.