Day pillar type
Black Monkey (Ren Shen): Personality and Matches
Hongsimdang Editorial Team · Last updated
Black Monkey (Ren Shen) is the day pillar where a great river or the sea (壬) rests on metal in autumn (申). In short, it turns learning and backing into strength and grows from the roots up.
What decides the Black Monkey: 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 Black Monkey (Ren Shen), the day stem is 壬 (Yang Water) and the day branch is 申 (Monkey). The “Black” in the name is the color of the day stem’s element, and “Monkey” is the zodiac animal of the day branch. Both are Hongsimdang’s own labels.
The day stem 壬 is likened to a great river or the sea. You take a wide view and like to see which way the current runs before you move, and your thinking is large in scale. The day branch 申 is metal in autumn. The Monkey is popularly pictured as quick-witted, nimble and good at juggling several things, 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 resource pair, in which the branch feeds the stem. The branch’s element flows toward your stem the way soil feeds a plant, so learning and backing turn easily into strength, and you often feel held up from underneath. The branch 申 also holds the hidden stems 戊, 壬, 庚, which lay another side beneath the one that shows.
Seen from your day stem 壬, the day branch 申 sits at the Birth (Chang Sheng) stage of the twelve life stages. It is as clear as newborn energy, and candor and quick learning read as charm.
How the Black Monkey shows up at work
Study, credentials and the support of seniors or teachers turn into results for you fairly directly. You tend to wait until you feel prepared, so try putting work out at eighty percent. The gap between you and your peers can open quickly.
You read a situation fast, and your strength shows in scheduling, planning and improvement work that calls for improvising. Your thoughts keep branching out, decisions get slower, and some days your mood sinks deep.
When conditions stay unsettled, your attention scatters and you take up one thing after another until nothing gets finished.
Pick the one thing to keep up first, and treat the rest of your interests as time-limited trials.
How the Black Monkey shows up in relationships and love
You are drawn to people who look after you or guide you, and you are good at receiving. The more comfortable it gets, the easier it is to take that care for granted, so repay it with actions and the relationship will last.
You always have something to talk about, so conversations rarely go flat, but your interest moves quickly and you can drift away before things deepen.
Someone who enjoys change with you, and waits without blame when your interest shifts, is the best fit.
How the Black Monkey handles money
Income comes most easily from knowledge, credentials, contracts or a steady backer, and building up gradually suits you better than speculating. The start may look slow, but once the base is laid you gain ground quickly.
You prefer money to keep moving rather than sit in one place. The range of openings is wide, but without a clear purpose it tends to run off like water.
You spot openings and move money quickly, which suits side income and several streams of earnings, though spreading out too far makes things hard to track.
Day branches that harmonize with the Black Monkey and ones that clash
The day branch of Black Monkey (Ren Shen) is 申 (Monkey). 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) | Triple Harmony partner | moves in the same direction, and the group is complete once a third branch joins |
| Dragon (辰) | Triple Harmony partner | moves in the same direction, and the group is complete once a third branch joins |
| Monkey (申) | Same day branch | like with like |
| Snake (巳) | Six Harmony, Punishment, Break | pulls together and fills in; rubs, so friction is likely; cracks are likely |
| Tiger (寅) | Clash, Punishment | head-on opposition; rubs, so friction is likely |
| Rabbit (卯) | Resentment / Ghost Gate | attracts yet irritates |
| Pig (亥) | Harm | small misunderstandings pile up |
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 Black Monkey
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 is the income and belongings your day stem handles steadily, so the more you build in plain steps, the more it shows, and the footing of daily life tends to settle. The year branch Wei has no direct Six Harmony or Clash with your day branch, so the color of this year shows mainly in its relation to your day stem.
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 Black Monkey 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 Black Monkey?
The day of Black Monkey (Ren Shen) comes around once every 60 days, and people born on a 壬申 day belong to this type. Enter your birth date on the day pillar type index to check.
Why am I a Black Monkey if my birth-year animal is not the Monkey?
The birth-year animal comes from the year branch, while the Monkey in Black Monkey comes from the day branch 申. They are two separate calculations. Even if your birth year belongs to another animal, a day branch of 申 makes your day pillar a Monkey.
Which types match the Black Monkey?
Looking only at day branches, the Six Harmony partner of 申 is the Snake (巳), and the clash comes from the Tiger (寅). 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
- Black Rooster (Gui You)
- Black Horse (Ren Wu)
- Black Goat (Gui Wei)
- Black Dragon (Ren Chen)
- Black Snake (Gui Si)
- Black Tiger (Ren Yin)
- Black Rabbit (Gui Mao)
- Black Rat (Ren Zi)
- Black Ox (Gui Chou)
- Black Dog (Ren Xu)
- Black Pig (Gui Hai)
Same animal