Reference · 命卦 The Kua numbers · 8 entries

The eight Kua numbers

Eight Mansions gives every person one number, derived from the birth year and the calculation basis. That number decides which four compass directions work for you and which four do not, and it does not change with the year.

The eight

Computed · Four favourable each

The two life groups

Computed · Exact complements

東四命 (East Life group)

Favourable: East, North, South, South-east

Kua 1 seated North Kua 3 seated East Kua 4 seated South-east Kua 9 seated South

西四命 (West Life group)

Favourable: North-east, North-west, South-west, West

Kua 2 seated South-west Kua 6 seated North-west Kua 7 seated West Kua 8 seated North-east

Both groups hold the same eight designations. Neither has better ground, only different ground.

Why there is no Kua 5

There are nine numbers in the arithmetic and only eight trigram seats on the compass, so one number has nowhere to sit. Five redirects: to 2 on the male calculation basis and to 8 on the female one. Both are west group numbers.

If you have worked out a 5 elsewhere, that is why your number appears to change. A reading keeps the original value on the sheet so you can see what happened rather than wonder.

The year boundary catches people out

The Kua number is derived from the birth year taken at the Li Chun solar boundary in early February, not at 1 January. A birthday in January or the first days of February belongs to the previous year for this purpose.

That single detail is the most common reason a number comes out wrong, and it is why a calculator that asks only for a year without asking anything else can quietly hand you the wrong four directions.

Your number, and what to do with it

Find your day master free →

Knowing the number is the easy half. A reading works it out from your birth data, names all eight directions in severity order, and says which of your actual rooms can carry which.

Eight Mansions 八宅 Your four favourable and four unfavourable directions from your birth year, drawn as a compass, with what the tradition assigns to each sector of a home. Read the page → Eight Mansions for Two 八宅 Two people, one home. Where your favourable directions agree, where they do not, and how to divide a shared space when they disagree. Read the page → Chart Legend A single sheet that decodes any BaZi chart: the stems, the branches, the five elements and the ten gods, each translated once and properly. Made to sit beside a reading. Read the page →

Still working out which system answers your question? The eight directions

Method and sources

Every designation, and the birth years behind each number, are computed from the same function the readings use. The Kua by sector matrix was verified cell by cell against an independent numeric table before it shipped. What each designation tends to mean follows the classical verse listed below.

Read against the classical direction verse and the dwelling essentials:

大遊年歌 Da Youniange Song of the Great Wandering Year, the anchor verse, attributed to 八宅明鏡 Bazhai Mingjing
陽宅三要 Yangzhai Sanyao The Three Essentials of Dwellings