BaZi Reference Library

What Is the 60 Jiazi Cycle?

Learn how ten Stems and twelve Branches combine into a repeating 60-part cycle.

The 60 Jiazi cycle pairs the Ten Heavenly Stems with the Twelve Earthly Branches in sequence. Because 10 and 12 meet again after 60 steps, the valid pairings form a repeating sixty-part cycle beginning with Jia-Zi 甲子.

Years, months, days, and traditional two-hour periods can each be named with a Stem-Branch pair. A BaZi chart records one pair for each of those four time levels, creating the eight characters.

The cycle is a calendrical structure. Saying that 2026 is Bing-Wu 丙午 identifies its position in this sequence: Yang Fire over the Horse Branch. The same pairing last occurred sixty years earlier, but history does not repeat as a guaranteed personal outcome.

The 60 Jiazi is useful for understanding why BaZi is more than twelve zodiac animals. Each animal Branch can pair with five different Stems across the full cycle.