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Birth time

What if I don't know my birth time? 6 of 8 characters still count.

Missing your birth hour does not stop a reading. Here is what still works, and how to narrow the gap.

Year

your roots

Month

your environment

Day

you

Hour

unknown

Your date gives 3 of your 4 pairs. Only the hour pair needs a time.

Short answer

You can still calculate your BaZi chart without your birth time. Your Year, Month and Day pillars (the character pairs for your birth year, month and day) stay accurate, and your Day Master, your core element and the most important part of the chart, does not depend on the hour. You only lose the Hour pillar.
On this page
  1. 01What you can still see
  2. 02What you will miss
  3. 03Ways to estimate the time
  4. 04How Elemental Fate handles it

What you can still see

A BaZi chart writes your birth year, month, day and hour as 4 pairs of Chinese characters, 8 in all. Without a birth time, 3 of the 4 pairs are intact: year, month and day. That is 6 of your 8 characters.

Most importantly, your core element (the element that stands for you, called the Day Master in the old books) comes from your birth date, not the hour. So does the strongest force in your chart, which the classical rules read from your birth month. Together they choose your guardian spirit, so you can meet it without the hour.

What you will miss

The hour pair stands for your later years: children, legacy, where you are heading. It also adds 2 characters to your mix of the five elements.

Without it, the picture of the forces in your chart is less complete, and your five elements mix may shift a little from your true chart. In a few charts the hour character is the one that brings out the strongest force, so that force can change once the hour is known.

Ways to estimate your birth time

  • Ask your parents or relatives. Even “early morning” or “around dinnertime” helps.
  • Check your birth certificate. Many include the time, especially for hospital births.
  • Request hospital records. If the certificate has no time, delivery records may.
  • Use a two-hour window. BaZi counts the day in 12 blocks of 2 hours each. “In the afternoon” already narrows it to 2 or 3 possible hour pairs.
For the curious: the proper names
Shichen 時辰
One of the 12 two-hour blocks of the Chinese day. Each has its own animal sign.
Hour pillar 時柱
The pair of characters for your birth hour.
Day Master 日主
Your core element: the top character of your day pair.
Month branch 月支
The animal sign of your birth month. The classical rules read the strongest force from it.

How Elemental Fate handles it

The BaZi calculator works with or without a birth time. Mark the time as unknown and we work out your year, month and day pairs and show the hour as unknown. We never guess or fill in the missing pair.

FAQ

Questions people ask

Can I calculate BaZi without birth time?
Yes. BaZi writes your birth year, month, day and hour as 4 pairs of Chinese characters. Your date alone gives 3 of the 4 pairs, including your core element: the top character of your day pair (classical books call it the Day Master). Only the hour pair needs your birth time. The one exception is a birth very close to midnight or to the moment a new Chinese month begins, where the time can change the day or month.
How important is the Hour Pillar?
The hour pair (the Hour Pillar) adds detail: it is read for your later years, children and legacy. The day pair matters more, because it holds your core element, and it does not need your birth time.
What if I only know morning vs afternoon?
A rough time is better than none. BaZi splits the day into 12 blocks of 2 hours (called shichen 時辰), each with its own animal sign, so a morning or an afternoon covers about 3 possible hour pairs. If you know roughly when you were born, try the most likely hour and see which reading fits you best.

Keep reading

Start with the date. Skip the hour.

Tap “I don't know my birth time” and you still get your core element, your mix of the five elements and your guardian.

Your birth date, time and place
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