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Branch 11 of 12 · Xu (Dog)

The Dog branch (戌) — Yang Earth, Northwest, 19:00–21:00

The Dog branch is number 11 of the twelve: yang Earth, the animal Dog, the 9th month (beginning at Cold Dew), the hour 19:00–21:00, direction Northwest, season Autumn. Below are the structural facts — hidden stems, six-harmony, clash, harm, punishment, trine and meeting — plus which of the twelve stages each of the ten stems occupies on this branch. All of it is computed and checkable; none of it is a personality verdict.

Computed facts (engine-verified)

This page is generated from the engine v0.14.0, not hand-written; structural facts reconcile against the methodology page.

Branch Xu (Dog) · position 11 of 12
Polarityyang (odd position — consistent with the stem pairs in the sixty-cycle)
ElementEarth 土
AnimalDog 狗
Month9th month · begins at Cold Dew (寒露)
Hour19:00–21:00
DirectionNorthwest (西北)
SeasonAutumn
Hidden stems Wu Yang Earth (main, Earth); Xin Yin Metal (middle, Metal); Ding Yin Fire (residual, Fire)

How this branch relates to the others

Branch relations are fixed tables — combination, clash, harm, punishment, trine and meeting each have a defined membership. This site computes them from those tables and does not add the popular "once combined, everything improves" clause.

Six harmony Mao (Rabbit) — combines into Fire
Six clash Chen (Dragon)
Six harm You (Rooster)
PunishmentPunishment of Ingratitude: Chou (Ox), Wei (Goat)
Three harmonyFire trine: Yin (Tiger) Wu (Horse) Xu (Dog)
MeetingWest Metal meeting: Shen (Monkey) You (Rooster) Xu (Dog)

Where the ten stems stand on this branch

The twelve stages describe how strong a stem is on a given branch. Yang stems run forward, yin stems run backward, so each of the ten stems lands on exactly one stage per branch. The ten rows below are computed; the stage names link to their full definitions.

StemStage on this branchPosition
Jia Yang Wood (yang Wood)Nourishment12 of 12
Yi Yin Wood (yin Wood)Tomb9 of 12
Bing Yang Fire (yang Fire)Tomb9 of 12
Ding Yin Fire (yin Fire)Nourishment12 of 12
Wu Yang Earth (yang Earth)Tomb9 of 12
Ji Yin Earth (yin Earth)Nourishment12 of 12
Geng Yang Metal (yang Metal)Decline6 of 12
Xin Yin Metal (yin Metal)Attiring3 of 12
Ren Yang Water (yang Water)Attiring3 of 12
Gui Yin Water (yin Water)Decline6 of 12

The five pillars containing this branch

Each branch appears in five of the sixty pillars (a yang branch only pairs with yang stems, a yin branch only with yin stems). Every pillar has its own page:

Jia Xu · Bing Xu · Wu Xu · Geng Xu · Ren Xu

A note on what this page deliberately does not do: the popular versions of this material assign a fixed personality to each term — one character per branch, one destiny per stage. This site rejects that framing. What is published here is a structural position: which element sits where, on what kind of ground, with which tenants inside. The same term reads differently under a different month command, and no meaningful judgement exists without the other characters of the chart. Where the tradition offers a reading it is labelled as the tradition's; this site's own contribution is that every number and term on this page is computed, versioned and checkable against the methodology page.

Frequently asked

What is the Dog branch?
It is number 11 of the twelve branches: yang Earth, the animal Dog, the 9th month (beginning at Cold Dew), the hour 19:00–21:00, direction Northwest. Its hidden stems are Wu + Xin + Ding.
Which hours belong to the Dog hour?
The Dog hour covers 19:00–21:00. This site treats the hour as a two-hour block and publishes both conventions for the 23:00 day change (the mainstream Zi Ping rule that rolls to the next day, and the midnight rule) — see the methodology page.
Which branches combine with or clash with Dog?
Six harmony: Mao (Rabbit) (combining into Fire). Clash: Chen (Dragon). Harm: You (Rooster). Trine: Yin (Tiger), Wu (Horse), Xu (Dog). Meeting: Shen (Monkey), You (Rooster), Xu (Dog). These are fixed table relations and every one of them is checkable on this page.
Is the Dog branch good or bad?
A single branch is neither. Dog is a structural position: its element, its hidden stems and its relations to the other branches only mean something inside a whole chart. Any source that grades an individual branch as lucky or unlucky is claiming more than the system itself does.

Nearby branches

You (Rooster) ←  ·  → Hai (Pig)

Reference index

Every enumerable component of ba zi has its own page here. Each page is computed by the same engine and can be checked item by item — none of it is a personality table.