Day pillar type
Yellow Ox (Ji Chou): Personality and Matches
Hongsimdang Editorial Team · Last updated
Yellow Ox (Ji Chou) is the day pillar where tilled fields that raise crops (己) rests on earth at the end of winter (丑). In short, it holds steady at the center and heads straight in the direction you choose.
What decides the Yellow Ox: day stem and day branch
Your day pillar is the stem and branch of the day you were born: the upper character is the day stem and the lower one is the day branch. For Yellow Ox (Ji Chou), the day stem is 己 (Yin Earth) and the day branch is 丑 (Ox). The “Yellow” in the name is the color of the day stem’s element, and “Ox” is the zodiac animal of the day branch. Both are Hongsimdang’s own labels.
The day stem 己 is likened to tilled fields that raise crops. You are practical and detail-minded, and you do your best work tending people and projects until they grow. The day branch 丑 is earth at the end of winter. The Ox is popularly pictured as steady, tough and quietly persistent, but that is the folk image of the zodiac. The actual reading comes from the element relationship and life stage that follow.
Read as elements, your stem and branch form a matching pair, with the same element on both sides. Because your day stem and day branch point at the same element, the face you show and what you feel inside tend to agree, and your center is hard to shake. The branch 丑 also holds the hidden stems 癸, 辛, 己, which lay another side beneath the one that shows.
Seen from your day stem 己, the day branch 丑 sits at the Tomb (Mu) stage of the twelve life stages. It is the stage of storing things away, which brings steadiness and a caution about showing what you think.
How the Yellow Ox shows up at work
Your stem and branch pull the same way, so once a direction is set you rarely hesitate, and you work best where roles are clear. You are more likely to clash with a boss who rewrites the plan midstream, or a workplace whose standards change from day to day.
Nothing flashy, but the longer the campaign runs, the better you look, and not quitting is itself a form of credibility. Worries tend to show up before action does, and half your energy can be gone before you begin.
Under load you keep going without showing it, and when you hit your limit you can stall all at once.
It helps to turn what you have kept up into numbers or records, so you can see your own progress and give yourself credit for it.
How the Yellow Ox shows up in relationships and love
What you show and what you feel sit close together, so affection and irritation both tend to appear on your face. Because your will runs in one direction, someone just as stubborn can turn things into a contest. A partner who can say “let’s pause for a moment” is more likely to last.
You show sincerity through actions rather than words. You warm up slowly, but the friendships tend to last.
A partner who does not rush you and who notices your steady effort is likely to suit you best.
How the Yellow Ox handles money
Your spending follows your convictions, and you will put a sizable sum behind anything you believe in. With joint investments or loans, being that invested makes it hard to stay detached, so agree on the rules in advance.
You keep careful accounts and know where daily spending leaks and where savings belong, though worry over small costs can slow a decision that really matters.
You are good at quietly building savings and better at keeping than spending, but skimping on necessary costs can come back later as a bigger bill.
Day branches that harmonize with the Yellow Ox and ones that clash
The day branch of Yellow Ox (Ji Chou) is 丑 (Ox). Which day branch the other person has decides the relation between your two branches, as shown below. A day branch that is not listed has no direct harmony or clash with yours.
| Their day branch | Relation between branches | How it reads |
|---|---|---|
| Rat (子) | Six Harmony | pulls together and fills in |
| Ox (丑) | Same day branch | like with like |
| Snake (巳) | Triple Harmony partner | moves in the same direction, and the group is complete once a third branch joins |
| Rooster (酉) | Triple Harmony partner | moves in the same direction, and the group is complete once a third branch joins |
| Dragon (辰) | Break | cracks are likely |
| Horse (午) | Harm, Resentment / Ghost Gate | small misunderstandings pile up; attracts yet irritates |
| Goat (未) | Clash, Punishment | head-on opposition; rubs, so friction is likely |
| Dog (戌) | Punishment | rubs, so friction is likely |
Harmony, Clash, Punishment, Harm, Break and Resentment are relations fixed mechanically by the pair of branches. They say nothing about anyone’s character being better or worse.
2027 (Ding Wei year) and the Yellow Ox
2027 is a Ding Wei year. The year’s stem and branch change over at the start of spring, around February 4, 2027. The Ding of 2027 deepens your day stem from within, so time for relearning and digging in alone increases and ideas tend to turn unusual, though it is easy to end up carrying everything yourself. The year branch Wei clashes with your day branch, so the foundations of daily life, such as home, workplace and routines, tend to prompt a rethink. Wei also enters a Punishment relation with your day branch, so stubborn standoffs with people close by are more likely, and rounding the edges of how you say things helps.
What the day pillar alone cannot tell you
The day pillar is one of the four pillars of a chart. The year, month and hour pillars, the ten-year luck cycles, and Zi Wei Dou Shu and Western astrology readings are not included on this page. Two people with the same Yellow Ox can show it differently depending on their other pillars, and your day pillar alone does not settle personality or fate.
To see all four pillars, use the free BaZi calculator. To read a specific question through to timing, a personal reading is the next step.
See the whole chart with the free BaZi calculator →Personal readings →Day Pillar Types →
Frequently asked questions
How do I find out whether I am a Yellow Ox?
The day of Yellow Ox (Ji Chou) comes around once every 60 days, and people born on a 己丑 day belong to this type. Enter your birth date on the day pillar type index to check.
Why am I a Yellow Ox if my birth-year animal is not the Ox?
The birth-year animal comes from the year branch, while the Ox in Yellow Ox comes from the day branch 丑. They are two separate calculations. Even if your birth year belongs to another animal, a day branch of 丑 makes your day pillar a Ox.
Which types match the Yellow Ox?
Looking only at day branches, the Six Harmony partner of 丑 is the Rat (子), and the clash comes from the Goat (未). That is one narrow view. How well two people fit depends on all four pillars and on how they treat each other.
See other types
Same color
- Yellow Dragon (Wu Chen)
- Yellow Snake (Ji Si)
- Yellow Tiger (Wu Yin)
- Yellow Rabbit (Ji Mao)
- Yellow Rat (Wu Zi)
- Yellow Dog (Wu Xu)
- Yellow Pig (Ji Hai)
- Yellow Monkey (Wu Shen)
- Yellow Rooster (Ji You)
- Yellow Horse (Wu Wu)
- Yellow Goat (Ji Wei)
Same animal