Gunghap (궁합)

Korean Marriage Compatibility by Saju

Overview

Gunghap (궁합, the union of palaces) is the Korean art of relationship and marriage compatibility, traditionally read by comparing two people’s Saju charts. It weighs how their Five Elements and zodiac branches attract or clash, distinguishing geot-gunghap (겉궁합), the outer harmony of social fit and surface temperament, from sok-gunghap (속궁합), the deeper, more intimate accord read from the day pillars. Long a near-mandatory step before a Korean wedding, it survives today as both family due diligence and a popular, playful test for couples and prospective partners.

Origin & history

Gunghap grew out of Saju (사주), the Korean Four Pillars system rooted in Chinese myeongri thought, applied to two charts at once. Its principles rest on the Ohaeng (오행), the Five Elements — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water — whose generating and controlling cycles judge whether two destinies reinforce or undermine each other.

In the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897), compatibility was a prerequisite for marriage: during the Uihon (의혼) negotiations the groom’s family sent a Saju-danja (사주단자) bearing his birth data, which the bride’s family took to a scholar to assess. Once a ritual gate, gunghap is now often treated as cultural counselling and entertainment by modern Koreans.

How it works

A reader builds both partners’ four pillars, then examines the interplay of their Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches: element harmony, zodiac-branch combinations and clashes, and how each chart’s strengths offset the other’s gaps. Surface fit (geot-gunghap) is read broadly from year and stem relations, while intimate fit (sok-gunghap) draws on the day pillars. The askTIAN API takes two birth datasets, computes both charts, evaluates elemental and zodiac harmony across outer and inner layers, and returns a compatibility breakdown with a 0–100 score.

Good for

Use cases

Marriage Match

Compare two Saju charts to weigh long-term marital harmony in the traditional way.

Dating Compatibility

Gauge attraction and friction between partners early through element and zodiac fit.

Outer vs Inner Read

Separate geot-gunghap social fit from sok-gunghap intimate accord for a fuller picture.

Strengths & Cautions

Surface where two charts reinforce each other and where they are likely to clash.

Key terms

Geot-gunghap
Outer compatibility — the surface harmony of social fit and temperament, read broadly from the charts.
Sok-gunghap
Inner compatibility — the deeper, intimate accord drawn chiefly from each partner’s day pillar.
Saju-danja
The traditional document recording a person’s four-pillar birth data, exchanged in marriage negotiations.
Ohaeng
The Five Elements whose generating and controlling cycles determine whether two charts harmonise or clash.

API

The askTIAN Gunghap API takes two birth charts, evaluates outer and inner elemental and zodiac harmony, and returns a compatibility breakdown with a 0–100 score.

Endpoint: POST /trpc/korean.gunghap — 5 TIAN Points. See the API documentation and Playground.