Sexagenary cycle

Uncommon card · No. 112620

The sexagenary cycle, liùshí huājiǎ (六十花甲), also known as the gānzhī (干支) or stems-and-branches, is a cycle of sixty terms used to designate successive years, historically used within Traditional Chinese Acupuncture, Herbology, Sociology and Psychology and publicly for recording of time in China and the rest of the East Asian cultural sphere, as well as in Southeast Asia. Each term in the sexagenary cycle consists of two Chinese characters, the first being one of the ten Heavenly Stems of the Shang-era week and the second being one of the twelve Earthly Branches representing the years of Jupiter's duodecennial orbital cycle. The first term jiǎzǐ (甲子) combines the first heavenly stem with the first earthly branch. The second term yǐchǒu (乙丑) combines the second stem with the second branch. This pattern continues until both cycles conclude simultaneously with guǐhài (癸亥), after which it begins again at jiǎzǐ. This termination at ten and twelve's least common multiple leaves half of the...

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