The day pillar for Thursday, 13 May 2027
| Day pillar | 壬辰 (ren chen) |
|---|---|
| Heavenly stem | 壬 (ren) |
| Earthly branch | 辰 (chen) |
| Day element | Water 水 (shui) |
| Polarity | Yang |
| Month pillar | 乙巳 (yi si), governed by 立夏 (lixia) |
Today's day pillar is 壬辰 (ren chen), a yang Water day in the sixty-day cycle. The month pillar is 乙巳 (yi si), governed by the term 立夏 (lixia).
辰 (chen), the fifth earthly branch
辰 is the dragon branch, damp spring earth at the end of the season, the one branch whose animal nobody has ever seen.
辰 is Earth, yang by position, dragon by animal. Its hours are 07:00 to 09:00 and its month opens at 清明 (qingming) in early April, closing spring before summer starts.
Like the other three earth branches it sits on a seam and stores what the outgoing season leaves behind. Its hidden stems are 戊 (wu, yang Earth), 乙 (yi, yin Wood) and 癸 (gui, yin Water), which is why it is described as wet earth rather than dry.
On the page a 辰 day reads Earth in its branch, though the day element shown is always taken from the stem above. 甲辰 (jia chen) is a Wood day with an Earth branch, and both facts are true at once.