Korean Saju

Where saju comes from

Four pillars,
built one at a time

Your counselor draws four empty columns on a scroll

Your chart stands on four pillars.

They weren’t made all at once.

Come — I’d love to show you how they came to be.

c. 1200 BCE · Shang dynasty

A Shang diviner carves marks into an oracle bone
Diviners dated every oracle bone with two signs — ten stems, twelve branches — turning in a 60-day cycle.
The first column of the scroll glows gold

That same cycle still names the day you were born.

206 BCE – 220 CE · Han dynasty

Han scholars study a round cosmic board
The signs began to count years and months too — and were tied to yin, yang and the five elements.

618 – 907 · Tang dynasty

A Tang scholar studies three bamboo slips
Li Xuzhong read a life from three pillars: the year, the month and the day.

c. 10th century · Song dynasty

A Song scholar writes beside a water clock
Xu Ziping added the hour — four pillars, eight characters — and set the Day Master at the center.
A ship crosses a moonlit sea toward Korea
Then the method crossed the sea to Korea.

15th century · Joseon

Young court scholars bow before a Joseon king
King Sejong brought young readers of fate into the royal observatory, the Seoungwan.
A wrapped letter is handed over at a hanok gate
A groom’s family sent his four pillars to the bride’s home, wrapped in silk — the first step of a wedding.
A family reads a fortune book on Lunar New Year
Every Lunar New Year, families opened a fortune book bearing the scholar Tojeong’s name.

Today

Young people in a Seoul cafe look at their phones
Millions of young Koreans still read their saju — now on their phones.
Your counselor offers you the scroll with four pillars

Four pillars, 3,000 years in the making.

Now I’d love to read yours.