Destiny reading

What is Sanmeigaku?

Published Oct 29, 2026

Sanmeigaku is a Japanese method of destiny reading said to have been organised by Takao Gisei in the Shōwa era from Chinese destiny reading. It is built on yin-yang and five-element thought and the eto. It became widely known in Japan with the “tenchūsatsu” boom of the late 1970s (Chinese destiny reading calls the same idea kūbō).

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1.How it differs from Four Pillars

Like Four Pillars of Destiny, Sanmeigaku uses the eto of your date of birth, but as a rule it does not use the hour pillar, reading from three pillars: year, month and day. It is also distinctive in looking at destiny from two sides, the yin chart and the yang chart.

2.The yin chart and the yang chart

Yin chart (insen): the chart of the eto of your year, month and day of birth and their hidden stems. The essence you were born with; the foundation of your destiny.
Yang chart (yōsen): a figure that places the ten main stars and twelve subordinate stars drawn from the chart on a human body. Tendencies of character and behavior, and the flow of energy through your life.

3.Tenchūsatsu

Sanmeigaku’s tenchūsatsu, like the kūbō of Four Pillars, comes from the two branches left over when the sixty eto are counted. There are six groups, Rat–Ox, Tiger–Rabbit, Dragon–Snake, Horse–Goat, Monkey–Rooster and Dog–Pig, and the void comes round for two years in every twelve and two months in every twelve.

Find your void in the “tenchūsatsu” section of the Sanmeigaku reading (Japanese). In the Four Pillars birth chart reading, kūbō appears in the explanation of your yearly fortune.