The five elements of Korean Saju
Every character in a Saju chart belongs to one of five elements. What each one describes, how they feed and check each other, and what it means when one runs high or goes missing.
What the element describes
The five elements — wood, fire, earth, metal and water — are not substances. They are five modes of behaviour that the chart uses to describe movement: expansion, radiance, stabilisation, refinement and flow. Each of the eight characters in a chart carries one, and the proportions they land in are the first thing any reading looks at, because a chart is rarely even.
All five
The generating and controlling cycles
- Wood feeds Fire, controls Earth
- Fire feeds Earth, controls Metal
- Earth feeds Metal, controls Water
- Metal feeds Water, controls Wood
- Water feeds Wood, controls Fire
How SajuSis measures it
The element balance is computed, not estimated. After converting the birth moment to true solar time for the birth location, the engine assigns each stem and branch its element (branches carry hidden stems, so they contribute more than one), weights them by position, and returns a percentage per element. The reading then quotes the number it used for every claim it makes.
What this does not tell you
An element reading describes tendencies inside a chart, not events in a life. It does not predict health, wealth, relationships or outcomes of any kind, and nothing here should inform a medical, legal or financial decision. The element layer is also only one of several — Day Master strength, the Ten Gods and the stars all modify how any of this reads in a real chart.