Day Master Meaning: The Stem That Stands for You
Your Day Master (Ri Zhu) is the Heavenly Stem of the day you were born, and in BaZi it stands for you. It also goes by Day Element (Ri Yuan) or Day Stem (Ri Gan).
A BaZi chart has four pillars: year, month, day and hour. Each pillar has a Heavenly Stem on top and an Earthly Branch below. The stem on top of the day pillar is the one that stands for you.
Take someone born at 8 p.m. on 17 February 1984. Their day pillar is Xin Si, so their Day Master is Xin, which is yin metal.
| Pillar | Year | Month | Day | Hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stem | Jia | Bing | Xin (Day Master) | Wu |
| Branch | Zi | Yin | Si | Xu |
The whole chart is read from Xin's point of view. Whether each of the other seven characters helps you or weighs on you only shows when you compare it with that stem.
Enter your birth date and time in the free BaZi calculator, and the stem on top of the day pillar is your Day Master.
Calculate your BaZi chart
Enter your birth details to discover your Day Master, elemental balance, and how these concepts apply to your Four Pillars.
What Do Yuan Nan and Yuan Nü Mean on a Chart?
They only mark whether the chart belongs to a man or a woman. The yuan part is short for Ri Yuan, the Day Element.
Some apps add a Main Star row above the stems. It names how each stem relates to you, such as Direct Wealth. These relations are called the Ten Gods.
The day stem is you, so there is no relation to name. The app writes Yuan Nan or Yuan Nü there instead, and some apps simply write Day Master.
| Pillar | Year | Month | Day | Hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main star | Direct Wealth | Direct Officer | Yuan Nan or Yuan Nü | Direct Seal |
| Stem | Jia | Bing | Xin | Wu |
They are not Na Yin labels, and they say nothing about good or bad luck.
Day Master vs Day Pillar: What Is the Difference?
The day pillar is two characters, and the Day Master is only the top one. In the Xin Si pillar, Xin stands for you and Si below it is the day branch.
It is the branch you sit on. Tradition treats it as the place of you and your partner, so it is also called the spouse palace.
It describes how you tend to act in a close relationship. It does not predict whether a marriage goes well, and it reads the same for men and women.
The Ten Day Masters at a Glance: Jia Wood to Gui Water
There are ten Day Masters, one for each of the ten Heavenly Stems. Each stem belongs to one of the Five Elements and is either yang or yin.
| Day Master | Image | Tendency |
|---|---|---|
| Jia, Yang Wood | Tall tree | Upright and pioneering; can be stubborn and slow to change course |
| Yi, Yin Wood | Flowers and vines | Soft and adaptable; can be hesitant and lean on its surroundings |
| Bing, Yang Fire | The sun | Warm and generous; can be hasty and impatient |
| Ding, Yin Fire | Candle flame | Careful and focused; can be sensitive and overthink |
| Wu, Yang Earth | Mountain | Steady and reliable; can be conservative and slow to react |
| Ji, Yin Earth | Farm soil | Accepting and practical; can worry a lot and find it hard to say no |
| Geng, Yang Metal | Sword | Decisive and loyal; can be too blunt and leave no room |
| Xin, Yin Metal | Jewel | Refined and principled; can be picky and care a lot about face |
| Ren, Yang Water | Rivers and seas | Bright and far-seeing; can be scattered and hard to settle |
| Gui, Yin Water | Rain and dew | Subtle and intuitive; can worry and keep too much inside |
The images are only a memory aid. Two people with the same one can look very different, depending on whether it is strong or weak.
How the Day Master Is Used: Ten Gods and Strength
Every BaZi reading starts from the Day Master. Each other stem relates to it in one of ten ways, and these ten are the Ten Gods.
Two things decide which one a stem is. The first is whether its element feeds or controls yours, or the other way round. The second is whether its yin-yang polarity matches yours. Take Jia, which is yang wood, as the example.
| Relation to Jia | Same polarity | Opposite polarity |
|---|---|---|
| Same element as Jia | Friend (Jia) | Rob Wealth (Yi) |
| Fed by Jia | Eating God (Bing) | Hurting Officer (Ding) |
| Controlled by Jia | Indirect Wealth (Wu) | Direct Wealth (Ji) |
| Controls Jia | Seven Killings (Geng) | Direct Officer (Xin) |
| Feeds Jia | Indirect Seal (Ren) | Direct Seal (Gui) |
Start from another stem and the whole table changes.
Whether your day stem gets enough support is called Day Master strength. It decides which elements work in your favor, and those are your favorable elements.
