What is Korean saju?
Updated · Saju Trip by Jeomji
Short answerKorean saju (사주, “four pillars”) reads your birth year, month, day and hour as four pairs of characters — eight in all — and Koreans use it mostly to describe temperament. Saju Trip calculates your chart for free on your own device and explains it in plain English.
The four pillars and eight characters
Each pillar is a heavenly stem sitting on an earthly branch. Your year, month, day and hour of birth each give one pillar, so a full chart has eight characters. If you don't know your birth time, you get six of the eight — your Destiny Type still comes from the day pillar, so it does not change.
Every character belongs to one of the Five Elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. How much of each element your chart holds is your element balance — a lean, not a score.
Why Koreans call it the “Korean MBTI”
Koreans use saju less as prediction and more as a way to describe who you are, which is why it gets compared to MBTI. The heavenly stem of your birth day — your Day Master — stands for “you” in the chart. There are ten Day Masters, and Saju Trip names them as ten Destiny Types: The Pine, The Vine, The Sun, The Candle, The Mountain, The Garden, The Blade, The Jewel, The Ocean and The Rain.
How Saju Trip calculates it
- Your birthday, birth time and birth city are turned into the eight characters inside your browser. The birthday never reaches Saju Trip's servers.
- Month boundaries follow the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) solar-term times.
- Birth times are corrected for true solar time — about 32 minutes for Korea — and for the birth city's time zone.
On Saju Trip
Questions
- Is saju the same as fortune telling?
- Saju is often called Korean fortune telling, but Saju Trip uses it as a personality lens for fun and self-discovery. Nothing on Saju Trip predicts the future, health, money or relationships.
- Do I need my birth time?
- No. Without a birth time you get six of the eight characters. Your Destiny Type comes from the day pillar, so it stays the same.
- Does Saju Trip store my birthday?
- No. The birthday is calculated inside your browser. Saju Trip only receives result codes — your type, elements and day themes — and only if you save or share.