Five Elements Compatibility
Wood, fire, earth, metal, water — two birth years, one match.
The five elements
Each birth year carries one of ten heavenly stems: five elements, each in a yang and a yin form. Tap an element for its years and full match list.
How is five elements compatibility calculated?
Five elements compatibility here compares the heavenly stem of two birth years. The stem follows the last digit of the year: 4 is yang wood (甲), 5 yin wood (乙), 6 yang fire (丙), 7 yin fire (丁), 8 yang earth (戊), 9 yin earth (己), 0 yang metal (庚), 1 yin metal (辛), 2 yang water (壬) and 3 yin water (癸). The year turns at Seollal, the Korean Lunar New Year, so a January or February birthday may belong to the previous year; we check it against a table of Seollal dates for 1920–2040 and only accept those years.
The match uses the traditional cycles with points we chose ourselves. The five stem unions (甲己, 乙庚, 丙辛, 丁壬, 戊癸) score 92. In the generating cycle wood feeds fire, fire feeds earth, earth feeds metal, metal feeds water and water feeds wood: 86. Two stems of the same element: 76. In the controlling cycle wood tames earth, earth tames water, water tames fire, fire tames metal and metal tames wood: 58. Outside unions, one yang and one yin adds 2 and two of the same takes 2 away.
This looks at one year only. A real saju reading uses the year, month, day and hour, so treat this as a playful, simplified game, not a forecast or a science. Your birthday stays in your browser; only the two stems go into the result link.
Frequently asked questions
Is five elements compatibility a real saju reading?
No. A saju (Four Pillars) reading uses the year, month, day and hour of birth; this game looks only at the year's heavenly stem. The cycles and stem unions come from tradition, but the points are our own design, and none of it is science.
How do I find my element from my birth year?
Look at the last digit of your birth year: 4–5 wood, 6–7 fire, 8–9 earth, 0–1 metal, 2–3 water, with even digits yang and odd digits yin. If you were born in January or February before Seollal, use the previous year. For example, January 26, 1990 is still 1989, yin earth.
Which element pairs score highest?
The five traditional stem unions score 92%: 甲 Yang Wood + 己 Yin Earth, 乙 Yin Wood + 庚 Yang Metal, 丙 Yang Fire + 辛 Yin Metal, 丁 Yin Fire + 壬 Yang Water, 戊 Yang Earth + 癸 Yin Water. Next come generating-cycle pairs at 84–88%, such as wood with fire.