FAQ

Saju (사주, 四柱八字, “four pillars, eight characters”) is the East Asian art of reading the moment you were born. Your birth year, month, day and hour each become a pillar of two characters, a heavenly stem and an earthly branch. Together they show a balance of the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water), which saju reads as personality, strengths and the rhythm of your years.

The calendar side is as precise as we can make it: solar terms to the minute from NASA JPL’s ephemeris, true solar time for your birthplace and historic daylight-saving time. The interpretation is a traditional symbolic system, not a scientific prediction, so enjoy it as a mirror for self-reflection.

It helps, but it isn’t required. Without it we can’t set your hour pillar, so your reading uses the other six characters (year, month and day), and your 10-year luck cycles are timed as if you were born at noon. Good news: your beauty type comes from your day pillar, so it doesn’t need the time unless you were born close to midnight. The time is often on your birth certificate (in Japan, check your 母子手帳; in China, the 出生医学证明), or ask your parents.

Yes. Choose the lunar calendar in the form, and if your birthday falls in a leap month, check the leap-month box. We convert it with the Korean almanac, or with the Chinese almanac if you were born in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong or Macau, because the two occasionally start a month on different days. If a lunar date doesn’t exist (say, the 30th of a 29-day month), we’ll let you know so you can check it.

Enter the time exactly as it was on the clock where you were born, and choose your birth city, not the place you live now. We work out the time zone and any daylight-saving time in force on that date, then convert to true solar time. If your city isn’t listed, pick the nearest listed city in the same time zone. If none fits, use the option for an unlisted city and choose your time zone; we’ll then use your clock time without the longitude correction.

Usually it’s one of four things. (1) We use true solar time for your birthplace, which can move your hour pillar. (2) We use the exact moment of each solar term, so births near the start of a month or year land precisely. (3) We take out historic daylight-saving time. (4) For births between 23:00 and 01:00 we change the day at the start of the 子 hour, while some apps change it at midnight. Our How it works page explains each one.

In saju the year begins at 立春 (Start of Spring), around February 4, not on January 1 or at Lunar New Year. If you were born in January or early February, your year pillar and its animal may belong to the previous year. For example, the 2026 Fire Horse year began at 05:02 on February 4, 2026, Korea time.

It’s Gangnam Saju’s cute name for your day master, the heavenly stem of your day pillar: the character that stands for you in saju. There are ten: Pine (甲), Flower (乙), Sun (丙), Candle (丁), Mountain (戊), Garden (己), Steel (庚), Jewel (辛), Ocean (壬) and Rain (癸). Each comes with a mascot, a color palette, self-care rituals and Seoul spots that suit its energy.

2026 is a 丙午 year: Fire Horse, with fire in both its stem and its branch. In saju it runs from 立春 on February 4, 2026, to 立春 in early February 2027. How it feels depends on your own chart, so your result shows which of the ten gods the year is for you, your scores for 2026 and 2027, and a month-by-month glow calendar.

No. Gangnam Saju is for entertainment and self-reflection only. It isn’t medical, financial or legal advice, and it never recommends a procedure, a surgery date or a treatment. For anything about your health or your body, please talk to a qualified professional.

It’s free, and there’s no sign-up. Enter your birth details and you get your full reading, with a private link you can come back to.

Giving us your email is optional. We use it only to send you the reading you asked for, and only after you check the consent box. No newsletters, no marketing, and it’s never sold or shared. The address is stored with your reading and in our sending log, and it’s erased when you delete the reading, or after 365 days at the latest; our mail server’s own delivery log clears itself within about five weeks.

Only people you give the link to. Your result page has a long, unguessable address and is hidden from search engines. People who open the link see your nickname, four pillars, beauty type and forecasts, but not your birth date, time or place — those show only in the browser you made the reading in. Still, share it only with people you choose, and delete it whenever you like.

Use the private delete link that comes with your reading. You’ll find it on your result page and, if you had your reading emailed to you, in that email too. Confirm, and your reading and personal details are erased right away. Lost the link? Email saju@rebeauty-mail.com with your result link and we’ll delete it for you.

Korean, English, Simplified Chinese and Japanese. Switch any time from the language menu at the top. Your reading link works in all four, so friends can read it in their own language.