Study — Korean Saju from scratch

Ch. 01

What arrives when you pay?

You leave a birth date (and an hour if you have it). A sealed text appears in the vault.

Two layers: first a plain commentary, then a literary rite. Between them, the four-box table.

A beginner can stop after the commentary. The literary layer is the same person in another mouth.

KeepThe easy commentary comes first. Start there even if you have never heard of saju.

Ch. 02

Top to bottom, in this order

One line at the top — this person in one breath.
Commentary — plain speech, six scenes. If a person remains, that is enough.
Four-box table — hour, day, month, year. The birthday is marked.
Folded terms — open only if you need a name again.
The same reading, written more fully — hills, banks, metal. Same person, other mouth.

Not thisDo not exhaust yourself on the literary layer first. The commentary is the body.

Ch. 03

Six scenes the commentary covers

The commentary is not a glossary. It is scenes. Each scene speaks with examples.

When you first meet them: How this person comes across.
When they take on work: How they take tasks. Not a job forecast.
When they are tired: How force comes back.
Around other people: Who sits near. Not a wedding date.
When they hold money: What is gripped. Not a sum of money.
What not to force: A habit not to push. Not a date to hit.

Ch. 04

The four-box table again

Hour of birth

을

미

을미

Wood · Goat

Birthday — you

신

사

신사

Metal · Snake

Month of birth

계

미

계미

Water · Goat

Year of birth

경

오

경오

Metal · Horse

The on-screen table looks like this. Practice picture.

Hour of birthHour. Empty or 未 if unknown.
Birthday — youDay. Marked. Top letter is I.
Month of birthMonth. Strongest season.
Year of birthYear.

Top row: sky letters. Bottom row: earth letters. To find 일간, look only at the top letter of the marked box.

KeepOne job on the table: find the top letter of the marked box.

Ch. 05

When two boxes bind or collide

합, 충, 형, 해, 파 are relations between boxes, not event forecasts.

A bind can help or glue too tight. A collision rattles like a hinge. Not a disaster.

합: Bind. Help, or glue.
충: Collision. A rattle, a move of seats. Not catastrophe.
형: Friction in the house. Not a curse.
해: Slow spoil. A damp wall.
파: A crack. Two seats that should meet, don’t.

Not thisDo not read 육충 as “a disaster this year.”

Ch. 06

When another table is attached

The thinnest commission (Essence) has no extra table. It is only “who.”

This year (Atelier) adds about eighteen months, each month marked one of three ways.

A lifetime (Dynasty) adds ten-year rows. Craft name: 대운. That decade’s weather sits on top of you. You do not turn into it.

Go for it: A good month to make a move — work, people, money, a conversation. Not a launch-date oracle.
Wait it out: Don’t sign, don’t commit, don’t force a yes or a no.
Keep your head down: Start nothing new. Stay out of fights. Let it pass.
A ten-year chapter: Ten-year weather. Civil age. The NOW row is marked.

Ch. 07

If you read it this way, you are wrong

정관 = promotion: No. Named pressure. The grain of a must-do.
정재 = money in: No. How you grip. Not a sum.
식신 = a job: No. How force leaks outward.
편관 = rank or prison: No. Pressure from an angle.
Hour box = number of children: No. Late fruit as grain. Unknown hour: unread.
육충 = disaster: No. A hinge.

Ch. 08

When you do not know the hour

Leaving the hour blank is honest. We do not invent an eighth letter.

Year, month, and day still stand. Late-fruit talk stays folded.

Not thisWe do not guess “probably the horse hour.”

Ch. 09

When you open a reading, do only this

Read the commentary first. One person left standing is enough.
On the table, find the top letter of the marked box. That is I.
If a hard word appears, open “When you see this word” on the Terms track.
The literary layer is a rite. If the metaphor is hard, fold it. Same person.
If a year or lifetime table is there, do not argue it. Closed means do not force.

KeepThe aim is not to memorise words. It is to keep: I was born this kind of person.