Stems, Branches, Ganzhi
Last updated 10/7/2026
A Wen Wang Gua calendar header normally gives a month branch and a day Ganzhi pair. Parse those fields before applying any calendar rule.
Case 00035 provides the compact example:
Chen month · Ji-Mao day
- month branch: Chen;
- day stem: Ji;
- day branch: Mao.
Do not confuse Wu the fifth stem with Wu the seventh branch. Romanization repeats; the field name resolves the ambiguity.
The ten stems
| Position | Stem | Element | Polarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jia | Wood | yang |
| 2 | Yi | Wood | yin |
| 3 | Bing | Fire | yang |
| 4 | Ding | Fire | yin |
| 5 | Wu | Earth | yang |
| 6 | Ji | Earth | yin |
| 7 | Geng | Metal | yang |
| 8 | Xin | Metal | yin |
| 9 | Ren | Water | yang |
| 10 | Gui | Water | yin |
The twelve branches
| Position | Branch | Element | Polarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zi | Water | yang |
| 2 | Chou | Earth | yin |
| 3 | Yin | Wood | yang |
| 4 | Mao | Wood | yin |
| 5 | Chen | Earth | yang |
| 6 | Si | Fire | yin |
| 7 | Wu | Fire | yang |
| 8 | Wei | Earth | yin |
| 9 | Shen | Metal | yang |
| 10 | You | Metal | yin |
| 11 | Xu | Earth | yang |
| 12 | Hai | Water | yin |
The broader definitions and entity pages live in the Ganzhi reference. This lesson uses only the fields needed by the chart.
The 60 valid day pairs
Advance both lists one position at a time and wrap each list at its own end. Because 10 and 12 share a factor of 2, the cycle returns after 60 pairs.
| 1–10 | 11–20 | 21–30 | 31–40 | 41–50 | 51–60 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jia-Zi | Jia-Xu | Jia-Shen | Jia-Wu | Jia-Chen | Jia-Yin |
| Yi-Chou | Yi-Hai | Yi-You | Yi-Wei | Yi-Si | Yi-Mao |
| Bing-Yin | Bing-Zi | Bing-Xu | Bing-Shen | Bing-Wu | Bing-Chen |
| Ding-Mao | Ding-Chou | Ding-Hai | Ding-You | Ding-Wei | Ding-Si |
| Wu-Chen | Wu-Yin | Wu-Zi | Wu-Xu | Wu-Shen | Wu-Wu |
| Ji-Si | Ji-Mao | Ji-Chou | Ji-Hai | Ji-You | Ji-Wei |
| Geng-Wu | Geng-Chen | Geng-Yin | Geng-Zi | Geng-Xu | Geng-Shen |
| Xin-Wei | Xin-Si | Xin-Mao | Xin-Chou | Xin-Hai | Xin-You |
| Ren-Shen | Ren-Wu | Ren-Chen | Ren-Yin | Ren-Zi | Ren-Xu |
| Gui-You | Gui-Wei | Gui-Si | Gui-Mao | Gui-Chou | Gui-Hai |
Ji-Mao is pair 16, in the second ten-day column. Ren-Chen is pair 29, in the third. Those positions will make the xun calculation visible in lesson 3.2.
Failure controls
- A valid pair always matches polarity: yang stem with yang branch, or yin stem with yin branch.
- The month field in this course needs the branch; do not copy the day stem into it.
- A day branch alone is insufficient for xun and void. Preserve the full day pair.
- Line numbering is unrelated to the Ganzhi position number; keep the two columns separate.
Source note
The ordered 10/12 lists and complete 60-pair cycle make the course calendar lookup reproducible. The Case 00035 header comes from the source record in Zengshan Buyi, volume 2, 天时章第三十五.
Next: Continue to The Ten-Day Xun and Void and calculate the two missing branches from the full day pair.