Shichusuimei (四柱推命)
Four Pillars Reading of Destiny
Overview
Shichusuimei is the Japanese form of the Four Pillars of Destiny, the classical Chinese system known in Mandarin as BaZi. It encodes the year, month, day, and hour of birth as four ‘pillars,’ each built from one of the ten Heavenly Stems and one of the twelve Earthly Branches. The day’s stem, called the Day Master, anchors the chart and represents the self; every other element is read in relation to it through the Ten Gods and the Five Elements. From this lattice a reader derives character, strengths, relationships, career inclination, and the unfolding ten-year luck cycles that shape a life’s timing.
Origin & history
Four Pillars astrology was systematised in Song-dynasty China and is traditionally credited to Xu Ziping (徐子平), whose name became a byword for the method. It reached Japan through Chinese astrological texts and was studied within onmyōdō circles, later developing a dedicated Japanese literature under the name Shichusuimei.
The Japanese tradition matured especially in the modern era, with figures such as Abe Taizan (阿部泰山) producing influential twentieth-century commentaries that shaped how Four Pillars is taught and practised in Japan. Today Shichusuimei is regarded as one of the most rigorous and respected divination systems in the country, distinct in flavour from the more popular nine-star and animal methods.
How it works
Birth year, month, day, and hour are each converted into a stem-and-branch pair using the sexagenary calendar, yielding the four pillars. The Day Master stem sets the reference point; its balance against the other stems and branches — by Five-Element production and control — reveals strengths and deficits. The Ten Gods classify each relationship, and decade-long luck pillars are sequenced to map timing. The askTIAN API builds all four pillars from a full birth date and time and returns each pillar’s stem and branch, the Day Master, the Ten Gods, the element balance, and the current luck-cycle reading.
Good for
- In-depth personality analysis
- Career and vocation guidance
- Life-timing and luck cycles
- Relationship and marriage outlook
- Element-balance diagnosis
- Major life-decision support
Use cases
Full Pillars Chart
Generate the complete four-pillar chart with Day Master and element balance for a thorough character and destiny profile.
Luck-Cycle Forecast
Sequence the decade luck pillars to highlight favourable and challenging life phases for long-range planning.
Vocation Reading
Use the Ten Gods and element strengths to point toward suited careers, work styles, and areas of natural talent.
Deep Compatibility
Pairs well with relationship tools that want a substantive, element-based reading rather than a quick label.
Key terms
- Day Master
- The Heavenly Stem of the day pillar, representing the self and serving as the reference point for the entire chart.
- Ten Gods
- The ten relational roles that classify how each stem and branch relates to the Day Master, governing personality, wealth, authority, and support.
- Luck Pillars
- The successive ten-year periods, sequenced from the month pillar, that describe how fortune shifts across a lifetime.
- Five Elements
- Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water, whose cycles of production and control determine the chart’s balance and emphasis.
API
The askTIAN Shichusuimei API builds all four pillars from a birth date and time and returns each pillar’s stem and branch, the Day Master, the Ten Gods, the Five-Element balance, the current luck cycle, and a 0–100 favourability score.
Endpoint: POST /trpc/japanese.shichusuimei — 5 TIAN Points. See the API documentation and Playground.