The Gui Mao Pair (癸卯): Jiazi Explained
Gui Mao (癸卯) is the 40th of the sixty Jiazi pairs, the stem-branch combinations that structure the entire Chinese calendar, BaZi charts and Qi Men Dun Jia timing alike. In the current cycle its years are 2023 and 2022, followed by its partner pair Ren Yin (壬寅) completing the same nayin group.
Morning dew on rabbit wood: gui mao is delicate, timely and gone by noon. Use it early.
If that sounds abstract, think of the sixty pairs as the alphabet of Chinese time. Every year, month, day and hour in these systems is written in one of these sixty combinations, so understanding a pair is understanding the vocabulary the whole system speaks.
Gui Mao Quick Facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Position | 40 of 60 |
| Heavenly stem | 癸 (Gui), Water, Yin |
| Earthly branch | 卯 (Mao), Rabbit |
| Branch element | Wood |
| Current-cycle years | 2022 (Water Tiger), 2023 (Water Rabbit) |
| Nayin | Gold Foil Metal (金箔金) |
What the Gui Mao Pair Means: An Outflowing Pair
Classical analysis of a stem-branch pair starts with their elements, and here the stem feeds the branch: Water generates Wood. Energy flows outward from the core into the environment, a generous, outward-facing pairing whose classic caution is over-giving.
This relation is why two pairs can both be called auspicious while feeling completely different in a life. The nourishing pairs suggest support arriving from the environment; the commanding pairs suggest the person taking charge of the environment; the disciplining pairs suggest life itself as the teacher. None of the five relations is good or bad. Each is a style of exchange between a person’s core and their ground.
The Two Years of the Gold Foil Metal Nayin Group
Gui Mao (癸卯) and Ren Yin (壬寅) share the nayin Gold Foil Metal (金箔金): gilded metal: beauty, refinement, value that shines best on a good surface. People born in 2023 carry the Water Rabbit year, and people born in 2022 carry the Water Tiger year. The year-by-year detail, including the Li Chun boundary and the branch interactions, lives on the dedicated year pages, and the full chart method is in the BaZi chart guide.
Year-by-year readings for this pair: BaZi 2022, BaZi 2023.
Because the cycle repeats every sixty years, Gui Mao years also include 1963, 1903, and will return in 2083. The pair is the same; the generations differ, which is a nice reminder that a chart describes energies, not destinities.
Where Jiazi Pairs Appear in Your Chart
Every pillar in your BaZi is a jiazi pair: year, month, day and hour each carry one of these sixty combinations. The day pillar, most important of the four, has a one-in-sixty chance of being Gui Mao, and practitioners meet the pair again in decade luck cycles, annual years and QMDJ charts. If you want to see how the pairs are actually extracted from birth data, the beginner step-by-step guide walks through the whole process in one sitting.
The Rabbit Branch in Gui Mao
The branch carries the zodiac identity of the pair, here the Rabbit, and with it the layer people actually feel in daily life. Every Rabbit year, month, day or hour written with this branch carries the same family of themes: the tendencies, the strengths and the friction points that follow the Rabbit wherever the pair appears in a chart. Readers who want the full Rabbit picture, from branch interactions to 2027 timing, will find it in the zodiac and BaZi references on this site.
How to Find Your Own Jiazi Pair
Any BaZi chart lists the four pillars, and each pillar is one of these sixty pairs. Look up the day pillar, which most software and printed charts mark clearly, and the pair name written beside it is the one to study first. The year pillar pair, like the one this page describes when you were born in 2023, is the background layer; the day pair is the core. Both are worth knowing, and both take under a minute to find with the beginner plotting guide.
Gui Mao FAQ
Which years are Gui Mao years?
In the current cycle, 2023 and 2022. Going back: 1963 and 1962, 1903 and 1902. The pair returns every sixty years, and exact year boundaries follow Li Chun, around February 4, not Chinese New Year; the Chinese New Year dates reference has the exact boundaries.
What does it mean if my day pillar is Gui Mao?
Your core self carries the an outflowing pair signature. In element terms, the stem feeds the branch: Water generates Wood. Energy flows outward from the core into the environment, a generous, outward-facing pairing whose classic caution is over-giving. How that plays out in your life depends on the rest of the chart, which is exactly what a full reading addresses.
What is the nayin of Gui Mao?
Gold Foil Metal (金箔金), shared with Ren Yin. Nayin is the poetic element nickname attached to each pair, a background texture in classical readings rather than the headline.

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