Daily Pillar — Today’s Four Pillars, Day Officer & Clash

The ganzhi day for any date and time: four pillars, the twelve-officer value of the day, the clash animal, the void branches and the nayin — all computed by the engine, each with a one-step derivation. The same engine powers the 60 day-pillar pages; this page just points it at today.

Look up a day

Times are treated as Beijing civil time (the calculator default); the date defaults to your device’s today.

The twelve day officers: one rule, twelve seats

The rule is a single line: start at the month branch with Jian and count around to the day branch — the offset is the officer. Nothing here needs memorizing: seat 0 is the month branch itself (Jian), seat 6 clashes it (Po).

OfficerPinyinEnglishStructural reading
建JianEstablishOffset 0 — the day branch is the month branch itself: the month sits on its own seat.
除ChuRemoveOffset 1 — one branch past the month seat; the name tracks "clearing away".
满ManFullOffset 2 — the traditional "fullness" step of the twelve-day cycle.
平PingLevelOffset 3 — mid-point of the first third of the cycle.
定DingStableOffset 4 — the "settled" step of the cycle.
执ZhiHoldOffset 5 — the "holding" step, one before the structural peak.
破PoBreakOffset 6 — the day branch clashes the month branch (+6). This is the structural definition of the Break day.
危WeiPerilOffset 7 — one past the clash: the "peril" step.
成ChengCompleteOffset 8 — the "completion" step of the cycle.
收ShouReceiveOffset 9 — the "receiving" step.
开KaiOpenOffset 10 — the "opening" step.
闭BiCloseOffset 11 — the last step, "closing", right before the cycle returns to the month seat.

The full 12 by 12 table (engine-baked)

Rows are month branches, columns day branches, cells the officer of the day. The highlighted diagonal is Jian — where the day branch equals the month branch.

Month ＼ Day子丑寅卯辰巳午未申酉戌亥
子 Zi建除满平定执破危成收开闭
丑 Chou闭建除满平定执破危成收开
寅 Yin开闭建除满平定执破危成收
卯 Mao收开闭建除满平定执破危成
辰 Chen成收开闭建除满平定执破危
巳 Si危成收开闭建除满平定执破
午 Wu破危成收开闭建除满平定执
未 Wei执破危成收开闭建除满平定
申 Shen定执破危成收开闭建除满平
酉 You平定执破危成收开闭建除满
戌 Xu满平定执破危成收开闭建除
亥 Hai除满平定执破危成收开闭建

School differences (stated openly, not silently picked)

  • Day boundary — This engine switches the day at the zi hour: 23:00 already counts as the next day (same convention as the R11 hour blocks). The midnight convention differs only for the 23:00–00:59 window.
  • Month boundary — The month pillar follows solar terms (absolute instants, identical worldwide) — not the lunar month start, not January 1. Boundary days such as the day before White Dew give different month pillars under the two conventions.
  • Time zone and true solar time — This page treats input as Beijing civil time; the full calculator applies true solar time for a birth place. The true-solar difference across China can reach two hours — use the main calculator when the hour block matters.

FAQ

What is today’s ganzhi day pillar?
The day pillar is one of the 60 stem-branch pairs, changing at the zi hour. Enter any date above and the engine computes the full four pillars, the day officer, the clash and the void branches — every value comes from the same engine that powers the 60 day-pillar pages.
Why does the day change at 23:00, not midnight?
This site follows the zi-hour convention: the zi block starts at 23:00, so a birth or query at 23:30 already uses the next day’s pillar. The midnight convention is the other school; both are listed openly rather than silently picked.
What is a Break (po) day?
Structurally: the day whose branch clashes the month branch — offset 6 in the twelve-officer cycle. That is the whole definition used here; traditional almanacs attach activity advice to it, which is a school layer this page does not copy.
Why does the month pillar follow solar terms instead of the lunar month?
The month pillar switches at the term (jie) — a solar event, the same instant worldwide. The lunar first-day convention and the January 1 convention are different calendars; this engine states its convention and shows the boundary dates.
What are the void branches (kong wang)?
Each ten-day xun starts at a jia day and covers ten branch positions, so two branches of the twelve are always skipped. Those two are the voids of that xun; the page derives them from the day pillar’s xun start rather than looking them up.

Reference