Day Pillar #9 · 壬申
| Position in the cycle | #9 of 60 |
|---|---|
| Heavenly stem 天干 | 壬 — 水 Water |
| Earthly branch 地支 | 申 — 金 Metal |
| Nayin 纳音 | 剑锋金 — Sword-Edge Metal (Metal) |
| Hidden stems 藏干 | 庚、壬、戊 — 庚 (Metal), 壬 (Water), 戊 (Earth) |
| Twelve-stage placement 十二长生 | 长生 — Growth (of the stem in its own branch) |
Renshen (壬申). 壬 is yang water — the classics call it the water that runs to the sea:
壬水通河，能泄金气，刚中之德，周流不滞。
Ren water connects to the river; it can drain the energy of metal. Its virtue is firmness within, and it circulates everywhere without stagnating.
Moving water, not a still pool.
What makes 壬申 specific is what it sits on. 壬 sits on 申, its 长生 — the growth stage. 申 hides 庚 metal, and metal generates water (金生水), so this water is spring-fed and self-renewing rather than borrowed.
Its nayin is 剑锋金, sword-edge metal — shared with the next pillar, 癸酉. The text derives the image from position, not from the stems:
壬申癸酉气盛物极，当施收敛之功，颖脱锋锐之刃。盖申酉金之正位，干值壬癸，金水淬砺，故取象剑锋。
At Renshen and Guiyou the energy is full and things are at their extreme; the work now is to draw in — the keen edge slips free of its sheath. Shen and You are the true seat of metal, and the stems here are Ren and Gui: metal and water quench and hone each other, so the image taken is the sword's edge.
Water drawn off a forged blade.
Every pillar has a failure mode, and this one's is stated as a position rather than a fate: 壬水生于申而死于卯 — Ren water is born at Shen and dies at Mao. At 卯, wood does not channel the water; it steals from it (盗气), and the source runs dry. Same logic as Jia burning out at 午 and Yi drowning at 亥 — every kind of strength has a specific place where it collapses.
Sources: 《三命通会》 (San Ming Tong Hui, Ming, 万民英) and 《滴天髓》 (Di Tian Sui) — both quoted from local plain-text editions and verified character by character. Translations are ours. Corrections are welcome.
Enter a birth date and time to get the four pillars, the hidden stems, the nayin and the twelve-stage placements for a real chart — the same tables this page is built on.
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