| Earthly Branches | |||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 地支 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | Địa Chi | ||||||||||||||||
| Chữ Hán | 地支 | ||||||||||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||||||||||
| Hangul | 지지 | ||||||||||||||||
| Hanja | 地支 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Kanji | 地支 | ||||||||||||||||
| Hiragana | ちし | ||||||||||||||||
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TheEarthly Branches (also called theTerrestrial Branches or the12-cycle[1]) are a system of twelve ordered symbols used throughoutEast Asia. They are indigenous toChina, and are themselvesChinese characters, corresponding to words with no concrete meaning other than the associated branch'sordinal position in the list.
Cultural applications of the Branches include a dating system known as thesexagenary cycle, and their use inChinese astrology. They are associated with the tenHeavenly Stems inChinese calendars, and inTaoist practice.
The twelve Earthly Branches are:
| Earthly Branch | Pinyin | Zodiac | Elements | Yin-Yang | Hours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 子 | zǐ | Rat | Water | Yin | 23:00-01:00 |
| 2 | 丑 | chǒu | Ox | Earth | Yin | 01:00-03:00 |
| 3 | 寅 | yín | Tiger | Wood | Yang | 03:00-05:00 |
| 4 | 卯 | mǎo | Rabbit | Wood | Yin | 05:00-07:00 |
| 5 | 辰 | chén | Dragon | Earth | Yang | 07:00-09:00 |
| 6 | 巳 | sì | Snake | Fire | Yang | 09:00-11:00 |
| 7 | 午 | wǔ | Horse | Fire | Yin | 11:00-13:00 |
| 8 | 未 | wèi | Goat | Earth | Yin | 13:00-15:00 |
| 9 | 申 | shēn | Monkey | Metal | Yang | 15:00-17:00 |
| 10 | 酉 | yǒu | Rooster | Metal | Yin | 17:00-19:00 |
| 11 | 戌 | xū | Dog | Earth | Yang | 19:00-21:00 |
| 12 | 亥 | hài | Pig | Water | Yang | 21:00-23:00 |
The branches each have specific names in the languages of theSinosphere—which includeChinese,Japanese,Korean,Turkic,Vietnamese, andMongolian. Branches are commonly used when counting in a manner similar to howletters are used according to theiralphabetical ordering. In addition to the calendar months, each branch has been associated with several distinct cultural categories, including animals and the hours of the day, with some regional variation.
The Earthly Branches are used with the Heavenly Stems inChinese calendars, and inTaoist practice. Many Chinese calendrical systems have started the new year on the secondnew moon after thewinter solstice.
The earliest attested use of the Earthly Branches and Heavenly Stems is in recording cycles of days.[1] The ten Heavenly Stems provided names for the days of the week during theShang dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1050 BC). The Branches are at least as old as the Stems, with archaeological evidence suggesting they may actually be older.
There are several theories about the origin of the Earthly Branches prior to the advent of the historical record. One theory is that the Earthly Branches were adapted from observations of the planetJupiter (歲星;Suìxīng; 'Year Star'), whoseorbital period is roughly twelve Earth years long. Jonathan Smith has proposed that the first meanings of the earthly branches, predating the Shang, werephases of the moon, with the Heavenly Stems at that point referring to divisions of the ecliptic. After being adopted as a calendar these would have lost their clear lunar reference, permitting their re-purposing for Jupiter stations.[2]
In the context ofChinese cosmology becoming increasingly sophisticated during theWarring States period (c. 475 – 221 BC), the 12-, 10-, and 60-cycles began to be applied to units of time other than days.[1]
Though Chinese has words for the fourcardinal directions, Chinese sailors andastronomers preferred using the 12 directions of the Earthly Branches, analogous to the use ofo'clock for directions by English-speaking pilots. Since twelve points were not enough for sailing, 12 midpoints were added. Instead of combining two adjacent direction names, they assigned new names: for the four diagonal directions, appropriate trigram names ofI Ching were used. For the rest, Heavenly Stems 1–4 and 7–10 were used. According to thefive elements theory, east is assigned to wood, and the Stems of wood are甲 (jiǎ) and乙 (yǐ). Thus, they were assigned clockwise to the two adjacent points of the east.
Mariners likeZheng He (fl. 1405–1433) used 48-point compasses. An additional midpoint was called by a combination of its two closest basic directions, such as丙午 (bǐngwǔ; 172.5°), the midpoint between丙 (bǐng; 165°) and午 (wǔ; 180°).
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