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).
| Officer | Pinyin | English | Structural reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 建 | Jian | Establish | Offset 0 — the day branch is the month branch itself: the month sits on its own seat. |
| 除 | Chu | Remove | Offset 1 — one branch past the month seat; the name tracks "clearing away". |
| 满 | Man | Full | Offset 2 — the traditional "fullness" step of the twelve-day cycle. |
| 平 | Ping | Level | Offset 3 — mid-point of the first third of the cycle. |
| 定 | Ding | Stable | Offset 4 — the "settled" step of the cycle. |
| 执 | Zhi | Hold | Offset 5 — the "holding" step, one before the structural peak. |
| 破 | Po | Break | Offset 6 — the day branch clashes the month branch (+6). This is the structural definition of the Break day. |
| 危 | Wei | Peril | Offset 7 — one past the clash: the "peril" step. |
| 成 | Cheng | Complete | Offset 8 — the "completion" step of the cycle. |
| 收 | Shou | Receive | Offset 9 — the "receiving" step. |
| 开 | Kai | Open | Offset 10 — the "opening" step. |
| 闭 | Bi | Close | Offset 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.