사주 (saju)

사주 (saju) means the four sexagenary signs that mark the year, month, day, and hour of a person’s birth — and, by extension, the destiny read from those four signs. In the first week of the new year, lines form outside the saju cafés in Seoul’s Daehangno and the side streets of Hongdae. Someone about to change jobs, someone trying to pick a wedding date, and someone who is simply curious how the year will go all sit down together and write their birth date and birth time on a slip of paper. For Koreans, the question 너 사주 봤어? (neo saju bwasseo?) — “Have you had your saju read?” — is about half a way of asking, “Is something worrying you these days?”

Written in hanja it is 四柱, “four pillars.” The year you were born is one pillar (연주, yeonju), the month is another (월주, wolju), the day another (일주, ilju), and the hour another (시주, siju). The idea is that you stand these four pillars up and read a person’s life from them. That is why a birthday alone is not enough — you also need the 태어난 시간 (taeeonan sigan), the exact hour of birth. This is why Koreans tend to know their own birth time with surprising precision: at some point in childhood, everyone ends up asking their mother.

The most important point of nuance is that the verb is 보다 (boda), “to look at.” You don’t do saju; you look at it. 사주를 보다 (sajureul boda) is the basic form, and when a fortune teller interprets it for you, that is 사주를 풀다 (sajureul pulda), literally “to unravel one’s saju.” And the temperature of this word is lighter than you might expect. In Korea, saju comes up not as “I devoutly believe in this” but wrapped in a cushioning phrase like 재미로 한번 봤는데 (jaemiro hanbeon bwanneunde) — “I just had it read for fun, but…” People who take it seriously and people who don’t believe a word of it sit at the same table and use exactly the same language.

Checking the National Institute of Korean Language dictionary

사주 (saju) 「noun」

The four sexagenary signs that indicate the year, month, day, and hour of a person’s birth. [en] saju — four pillars of destiny: The four components that represent the year, month, day and time of a person’s birth, which supposedly creates a person’s destiny or fate. [ja] しちゅうすいめい【四柱推命】 — 人が生まれた年・月・日・時を表す4つの柱。 [es] saju, cuatro pilares de destino — Cuatro ciclos sexagenarios en los que se reconoce a una persona mediante su hora, día, mes y año de nacimiento. [zh] 四柱，八字，生辰八字 — 标示人出生的年、月、日、时辰的四支。 — National Institute of Korean Language, Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr)

사주 (saju) 「noun」 2. The fortune a person is born with; or the divination used to find out that fortune. [en] saju — fortune; fate; destiny: The fortune that a person was born with, or the fortune-telling that is aimed at figuring out such fortune. [ja] うんせい【運勢】。うらない【占い】 — 人の持って生まれた幸運・不運の巡り合わせ。または、その運勢を占うこと。 [es] saju, fortuna, destino, suerte — Suerte con la que nace una persona. O adivinación para averiguar la fortuna. [zh] 命，命运 — 人天生的命运；或指算命的卦。 — National Institute of Korean Language, Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr)

사주 (saju) 「noun」 3. Before a wedding, the paper sent from the groom’s family to the bride’s family with the four sexagenary signs of the groom’s birth year, month, day, and hour written on it. [en] saju — four pillars of destiny: The paper with the sexgenary cycle of year, month, day and time of the groom’s birth written on it that his family sends to the bride’s family before marriage. [ja] しちゅう【四柱】 — 結婚を控え、新郎の家が新婦の家へ新郎の生まれた年・月・日・時を表した四つの干支を書いて送る書状。 [zh] 八字贴儿，八字单儿 — 结婚之前新郎家往新娘家送去的纸条，纸条上写有新郎的出生年、月、日和时辰。 — National Institute of Korean Language, Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr)

This dictionary does not include a Portuguese definition. For reference, here is our own rendering (our translation): saju — os quatro pilares do destino: os quatro ciclos sexagenários que marcam o ano, o mês, o dia e a hora do nascimento de uma pessoa; por extensão, o destino com que se nasce e a arte de o adivinhar.

Here are the actual example sentences listed in the dictionary, kept as they are.

나는 사주를 보기 위해 간지를 따져 보았다. I worked out the sexagenary signs in order to have my saju read.

점쟁이는 나의 사주를 보고 내가 관운을 타고나서 앞으로 고위 관직에 오를 것이라고 했다. The fortune teller looked at my saju and said I was born with luck in officialdom, so I would rise to a high government post.

사주를 보니 돼지띠인 나는 토끼띠나 양띠인 사람들과 궁합이 잘 맞는다고 한다. According to my saju, I’m a Pig, so I’m a good match with people born in the years of the Rabbit or the Sheep.

내가 찾아간 관상쟁이는 관상도 보고 사주도 풀어 주었다. The face reader I visited read my face and unraveled my saju as well.

예물을 교환하기 전에 신랑 측에서는 사주를 쓴 단자를 신부 측에 건네주었다. Before the exchange of wedding gifts, the groom’s side handed the bride’s side the note with his saju written on it. — National Institute of Korean Language, Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr)

The first sentence shows the sense that saju is something you calculate before you read it. 간지 (ganji) are the signs formed by combining the ten heavenly stems (갑, 을, 병… gap, eul, byeong…) with the twelve earthly branches (자, 축, 인… ja, chuk, in…). Reading someone’s saju means first working out these signs and building a chart, before any fortune-telling happens.
관운 (gwanun) in the second sentence means luck in office or in one’s career. This “luck in such-and-such” pattern is what actually comes up most often in a saju consultation — 재물운 (jaemurun, luck with money), 애정운 (aejeongun, luck in love), 관운 (gwanun, luck in one’s career).
The third sentence shows how 띠 (tti, zodiac animal**)** and 궁합 (gunghap, compatibility**)** connect to saju. The earthly branch of your birth year is your zodiac animal, so your 띠 is really just one of the four pillars boiled down to its simplest form.
관상 (gwansang) in the fourth sentence is a separate practice: reading fortune from a person’s face. Having your face read and your saju unraveled in the same sitting is what an actual fortune teller’s shop looks like.
The fifth sentence is the third meaning — saju as a piece of paper. In traditional wedding procedure, the groom’s family writes out his saju and sends it to the bride’s family; that paper is called 사주단자 (sajudanja).

One word of caution. If you search for 사주 in a dictionary, you’ll also get sentences like 물 한 잔 사주는 것을 못 봤어 (“I’ve never seen him buy anyone even a glass of water”) or 개량 한복을 사주는 건 어때? (“How about buying her a modernized hanbok?”). The 사주는 here is not the noun 사주 at all — it’s a conjugated form of 사 주다 (sa juda), from 사서 주다 (saseo juda), “to buy something for someone.” Same letters, completely different word. Don’t let it confuse you.

Seeing it in a real conversation

Situation: the first week of January, outside a saju café in Daehangno. The line stretches out of the building and onto the street.

Jun-kyung: 야, 줄 왜 이렇게 길어. 삼십 분은 기다려야겠는데. Hey, why is this line so long? Looks like we’ll be waiting thirty minutes.

Emily: 1월이잖아. 다들 새해 사주 보러 온 거지. It’s January. Everyone’s here to get their new-year saju read.

Jun-kyung: 넌 이런 거 믿어? 캐나다에도 이런 거 있어? Do you actually believe this stuff? Do they have this in Canada?

Emily: 믿는다기보다… 재밌잖아. 근데 나 태어난 시간을 몰라. 그럼 사주 못 봐? It’s less that I believe it… it’s just fun. But I don’t know my birth time. Can I still get it read?

Jun-kyung: 시(時) 빼고도 봐 주긴 해. 어머니한테 전화해서 여쭤봐, 지금. They’ll read it without the hour, sure. Call your mom and ask her, right now.

Emily: 지금 캐나다 새벽 세 시야. 사주 때문에 엄마를 깨우라고? It’s 3 a.m. in Canada right now. You want me to wake my mom up over saju?

This is where it sounds off

✗ (To a client’s department head you met for the first time today) 부장님, 생년월일시 좀 알려 주세요. 사주 봐 드릴게요. Sir, could you tell me your birth date and time? I’ll read your saju for you.

✓ (To a friend) 야, 우리 이따 사주나 보러 갈까? Hey, want to go get our saju read later?

→ To have your saju read, you have to hand over your birth date and the hour you were born. In Korea, that is private information — close to the first half of your resident registration number. Asking for it from someone you aren’t close to, especially someone older or senior to you, comes across as rude.

✗ (To a friend worn out from job hunting) 너 사주에 관운이 없나 보다. I guess your saju just has no career luck in it.

✓ (In the same situation) 나도 작년에 사주 봤는데 때가 늦게 온다더라. 너도 그런 거 아닐까? I had my saju read last year too, and they said my time comes late. Maybe it’s the same for you?

→ Saju talk is welcome only when it’s used as a language of comfort. Declaring that someone else’s saju is bad hurts, even as a joke. That’s why Koreans always attach reported-speech endings like -라더라 (-radeora) or -라고 하던데 (-rago hadeonde) — “I heard that…” — when they talk about saju. It’s a signal that they’re not pronouncing judgment.

Example sentences by situation

1) To a colleague weighing a job change (casual speech, close friends)

나 지난주에 사주 봤는데, 올해 하반기에 움직이는 게 낫대. 너도 한번 보고 결정해. (na jinantue saju bwanneunde, ollyae habangie umjigineun ge natdae.) I had my saju read last week, and apparently it’s better to make a move in the second half of this year. You should get yours read before you decide too.

When you want to put off a decision, saju makes a convenient excuse. Plenty of people really do say they consulted their saju when choosing when to change jobs, move house, or open a business. The -대 (-dae) here is a contraction of -다고 해 (-dago hae), a colloquial way of relaying what you heard.

2) To someone about to get married (polite speech)

양가 어른들이 사주 맞춰 보시고 날짜를 잡으신대요. (yangga eoreundeuri saju matchwo bosigo najjareul jabeusindaeyo.) I hear the elders on both sides are comparing our saju and then setting the date.

In wedding preparations, saju is still a living step in the process. Comparing two people’s saju is 궁합 (gunghap), and choosing the wedding day is 택일 (taegil). It’s common for the young couple not to believe in it at all and go through with it anyway because the elders want it.

3) Muttering to yourself when nothing goes right (casual speech)

이번 달에만 세 번째야. 나 사주가 원래 이런가 봐. (ibeon dare man se beonjjaeya. na sajuga wonrae ireonga bwa.) That’s the third time this month alone. I guess this is just what my saju is like.

This is the self-deprecating line that comes out when things go wrong one after another. It’s less a real statement about saju than a sigh, close to “well, that’s just my lot in life.”

Polite vs. casual speech, and similar expressions

In casual speech it’s 사주 봤어? (saju bwasseo?); in polite speech, 사주 보셨어요? (saju bosyeosseoyo?). When you ask someone older, the honorific -시- (-si-) attaches to the verb, but the noun itself doesn’t change. That said, the words in the table below differ quite a bit in temperature, so choose carefully.

Expression	Temperature / intensity	Where it’s used
사주 (saju)	Neutral; feels like calculation, a system	New Year, before a job change or a wedding. With anyone
팔자 (palja)	Heavy, mixed with resignation	Laments like “내 팔자야 (nae paljaya)” — “that’s my lot.” Rude when used about others
궁합 (gunghap)	Light or heavy depending on context	Dating and marriage. These days also used jokingly, as in “음식 궁합 (eumsik gunghap)” — food pairings
운세 (unse)	The lightest of all	The “오늘의 운세 (oneurui unse)” — today’s horoscope — in apps and newspapers. No weight to it
점 (jeom)	A broad umbrella term	Covers saju, tarot, and shamanic divination alike

Be especially careful with 팔자 (palja). 팔자가 세다 (paljaga seda) describes a life full of hardship, and aimed at another person it comes close to an insult. It’s safe only when you’re talking about yourself.

Cultural background — four pillars and eight characters

You’ve probably heard the four-syllable phrase 사주팔자 (sajupalja). The first half, 사주 (四柱), is “four pillars”; the second half, 팔자 (八字), is “eight characters.” Since each pillar is made of one heavenly stem character and one earthly branch character, four pillars come to eight characters. So 사주 and 팔자 are really the same thing counted two different ways. That’s also why Chinese renders the concept as 生辰八字.

Korea’s attitude toward saju today is double-edged. Daehangno and Hongdae have saju cafés that add a consultation fee on top of the price of coffee, and you can pull up your full birth chart on a smartphone app for five thousand won. These places are busiest during job-hunting season and at the start of the year. And yet in conversation, “믿는 건 아닌데 (mitneun geon aninde)” — “it’s not that I believe it, but” — always comes first. It’s a language for getting through uncertain times.

Saju shows up often in dramas, too. The scene where an elder opposing a marriage says the couple’s compatibility came out badly, or the scene where the protagonist, at their wits’ end, pushes open the door of a fortune teller’s shop, are old fixtures of Korean drama. Rather than quoting specific lines, here’s the pattern: in these scenes, saju usually serves to push through a decision the character can’t make on their own. If the reading comes out well, they take courage; if it comes out badly, they overturn it with “well, I’ll just work harder.” The reason they went to have their saju read was never to hear an answer — it was to confirm the answer already in their heart.

Today’s quiz

Which of the following uses 사주 in the most awkward way?

나 다음 달에 이직하는데, 사주 한번 보고 결정하려고. I’m changing jobs next month, so I’m going to get my saju read before I decide.
결혼 전에 양가에서 사주랑 궁합을 맞춰 보셨대. I hear both families compared their saju and compatibility before the wedding.
(To a client’s department head you met for the first time today) 부장님, 태어나신 시간이 몇 시예요? 제가 사주 봐 드릴게요. Sir, what time were you born? I’ll read your saju for you.
사주를 보니 나는 늦게 풀리는 편이라더라. According to my saju, things apparently come together late for me.

See the answer

Answer: number 3

The grammar is perfect, but the setting is all wrong. To read someone’s saju you need their birth year, month, day, and hour — and in Korea that’s considered fairly private information. It’s not something to request from someone you met for the first time today, least of all someone senior to you. Numbers 1 and 4 are natural because they’re about the speaker’s own saju, and number 2 is a sentence that really is used within the wedding process.

Definitions and example sentences are from the National Institute of Korean Language’s Basic Korean Dictionary (krdict.korean.go.kr); that portion of this post, including our translations, is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 KR.