Hour Pillar Lookup Table: Birth Time, Day Master, and Meaning

The Hour Pillar is the fourth pillar in Four Pillars of Destiny. It converts the time of birth into one heavenly stem and one earthly branch.

To find yours, you need your birth date and time: the time identifies the branch, while the date determines the Day Master used to find the hour stem. If you know your Day Master, use the lookup table below. Otherwise, start with the free chart calculator.

Calculate my Hour Pillar Use the lookup table

A known birth time adds information that is traditionally connected with inner wishes, children, later-life themes, and what a person develops over time. If the time is unknown, the year, month, and day pillars can still be calculated. It is better to leave the Hour Pillar open than to present a guess as certain.

How the Hour Pillar Fits the Four Pillars

The year, month, day, and hour of birth are each written as a stem-branch pair. Four complete pairs make eight characters, which is why the system is also called Bazi, or Eight Characters.

Year PillarFamily and social background, early life, and outward context.

Month PillarBirth season, work and social role, and a major influence on chart strength.

Day PillarThe central self. Its heavenly stem is the Day Master used as the reference point.

Hour PillarTraditionally linked with inner aims, children, later life, and what may grow over time.

These associations vary among schools. The Hour Pillar does not decide later life or family matters by itself; it is read with the whole chart.

The 12 Earthly-Branch Time Ranges

The day is generally divided into 12 periods of about two hours. The Rat period crosses midnight, from 11:00 p.m. through 12:59 a.m.

Branch	Animal	Common clock range
子 Zi	Rat	23:00–00:59
丑 Chou	Ox	01:00–02:59
寅 Yin	Tiger	03:00–04:59
卯 Mao	Rabbit	05:00–06:59
辰 Chen	Dragon	07:00–08:59
巳 Si	Snake	09:00–10:59
午 Wu	Horse	11:00–12:59
未 Wei	Goat	13:00–14:59
申 Shen	Monkey	15:00–16:59
酉 You	Rooster	17:00–18:59
戌 Xu	Dog	19:00–20:59
亥 Hai	Pig	21:00–22:59

Some practitioners correct civil clock time to local or true solar time. Near a boundary, that correction can move a birth into the neighboring branch.

How the Hour Stem Is Derived

The birth hour identifies the earthly branch, but the heavenly stem depends on the Day Master. First find the stem used for the Rat period, then advance one stem for each following branch.

Hour Pillar Lookup: Day Master and Birth Time

Find your Day Master's column, then the row for your birth time. Their intersection gives the Hour Pillar. For example, a Jia (甲) Day Master born at 15:30 uses the Jia / Ji column and Shen (申) row, giving Ren-Shen (壬申).

On small screens, scroll the table sideways. Use a Day Master calculated with Japan Standard Time and a midnight day boundary. For 23:00 or times near a boundary, also read the school differences below.

Birth time and Day Master to Hour Pillar
Time / branch	Jia 甲 / Ji 己	Yi 乙 / Geng 庚	Bing 丙 / Xin 辛	Ding 丁 / Ren 壬	Wu 戊 / Gui 癸
子 23:00–0:59	甲子	丙子	戊子	庚子	壬子
丑 1:00–2:59	乙丑	丁丑	己丑	辛丑	癸丑
寅 3:00–4:59	丙寅	戊寅	庚寅	壬寅	甲寅
卯 5:00–6:59	丁卯	己卯	辛卯	癸卯	乙卯
辰 7:00–8:59	戊辰	庚辰	壬辰	甲辰	丙辰
巳 9:00–10:59	己巳	辛巳	癸巳	乙巳	丁巳
午 11:00–12:59	庚午	壬午	甲午	丙午	戊午
未 13:00–14:59	辛未	癸未	乙未	丁未	己未
申 15:00–16:59	壬申	甲申	丙申	戊申	庚申
酉 17:00–18:59	癸酉	乙酉	丁酉	己酉	辛酉
戌 19:00–20:59	甲戌	丙戌	戊戌	庚戌	壬戌
亥 21:00–22:59	乙亥	丁亥	己亥	辛亥	癸亥

The same clock time produces a different hour stem when the Day Master is different. If you do not know yours, calculate your free birth chart and check the stem in the Day Pillar.

What If Your Birth Time Is Unknown?

Check records firstLook at a maternal and child health handbook, hospital record, family note, or another contemporary record.

Use three pillarsThe year, month, and day pillars still provide a meaningful chart. Leave hour-specific interpretations open.

Do not turn a guess into fact“Morning” may cover several two-hour periods. A family memory should be labeled approximate.

Compare candidates carefullyIf necessary, compare the possible Hour Pillars and separate what changes from what remains stable.

An unknown birth time does not make Four Pillars unusable. It does mean that hour-related ten gods, twelve stages, and five-phase balance may change, so the uncertainty should remain visible.

Why Charts Differ Around 11 p.m. or a Boundary

Day boundarySome methods change the Day Pillar at civil midnight. Others treat 11 p.m., the start of the Rat period, as the change.

Civil or solar timeSome use the recorded standard time; others correct for birthplace longitude or apparent solar time.

Exact boundariesA birth close to 1, 3, or another odd-numbered hour may shift after minute-level or location corrections.

Interpretive schoolsSchools also differ in the people, age periods, and chart relationships they associate with the Hour Pillar.

How Hoshiyomi Chaya Calculates It

Our free calculator uses the entered Japan Standard Time without local or true-solar-time correction. It changes the Day Pillar at 00:00 and assigns hour branches as Rat 23:00–00:59, Ox 01:00–02:59, and so on.

If you were born at 11 p.m. or near a two-hour boundary, another school or calculator may produce a different result. Check its day boundary, time correction, and stated method before deciding that one chart must be wrong.

Using the Hour Pillar Gently

Use the Hour Pillar as a prompt for what you want to develop, what remains private, or how your strengths may change with experience. Do not use one pillar to make fixed claims about children, old age, talent, or fate. Four Pillars is a divination tradition and a reflection tool, not a scientific diagnosis.

References

Try the free Four Pillars readingOpen the form with Four Pillars already selected, then enter your birthday and birth hour.Read the Four Pillars basicsLearn about the Day Master, hidden stems, ten gods, twelve stages, and five-phase balance.