Korean Zodiac Toy · Free
What's your
Korean zodiac?
Enter your birth year to find your animal (띠 / 십이지) with a warm, Korean-flavored reading — plus who you match with and who you clash with. Deterministic and private: nothing is sent anywhere.
If you were born in January or early February
There are three places the animal changes
"Born in that year, so that animal" is not one rule but three, and which one is used decides the animal for anyone born between the first of January and early February.
The first is the Gregorian new year, which is what most casual usage means. The second is lunar new year, the boundary used traditionally across East Asia. The third is 立春 — the start of spring in the solar-term calendar — and that is where a saju chart changes its year pillar.
The three move apart every year. In 2026, 立春 fell on 4 February and lunar new year on the 17th. In 1985, 立春 on the 4th and lunar new year on the 20th. In 2003 lunar new year came on 1 February — three days *before* 立春 — so they do not even keep the same order.
立春 turns over at an instant, not on a date
立春 is not the date 4 February; it is the moment the sun reaches a particular longitude. So the hour of birth on that day can change the year pillar.
In 2003 it fell at 14:05 on 4 February. Someone born that morning has a 壬午 year pillar — horse; someone born that evening has 癸未 — goat. Same day, same place, different animal. That is why the question "which one am I, born on the 4th?" cannot be answered from the date alone.
Which boundary this page uses
This page uses the Gregorian year, because that is the animal nearly everyone means when they say what they are.
The chart engine on this site changes at 立春. So for a birth date between 1 January and early February, the animal here and the year pillar in your chart can disagree. That is not a fault — they are answering different questions under different rules.
So which is right?
None of them is wrong. The three boundaries exist for different purposes: the Gregorian year for everyday usage, lunar new year for the traditional count, 立春 for building a chart.
Only one thing needs remembering. A chart uses the year pillar as it stands at 立春. If you were born in early February and an animal you have seen elsewhere disagrees with the year pillar here, that boundary is almost always the reason.
Read which boundary the chart engine uses, and the rest of the rules →