What is Sukuyō astrology?
Sukuyō astrology goes back to the Sutra of Mansions and Planets (Sukuyōkyō, 759, revised 764), in which the Tang-dynasty monk Amoghavajra gathered astrology from India and the lands to the west. The great teacher Kūkai brought it to Japan in 806, and by the mid-Heian period specialist sukuyō-shi were reading the fortunes of the nobility. Today’s readings, by birth mansion and the Sankyū method, are a modern reworking of that tradition.
How to find your birth mansion
Sukuyō gives you one of the 27 mansions according to the month and day of your birth in the old lunar calendar, and that is your birth mansion (honmeishuku). The first day of each lunar month has a fixed mansion, and the mansions then advance one per day.
| Lunar month | Mansion on the 1st |
|---|---|
| 1st month | Shisshuku (室宿) |
| 2nd month | Keishuku (奎宿) |
| 3rd month | Ishuku (胃宿) |
| 4th month | Hisshuku (畢宿) |
| 5th month | Shinshuku (参宿) |
| 6th month | Kishuku (鬼宿) |
| 7th month | Chōshuku (張宿) |
| 8th month | Kakushuku (角宿) |
| 9th month | Teishuku (氐宿) |
| 10th month | Shinshuku (心宿) |
| 11th month | Toshuku (斗宿) |
| 12th month | Kyoshuku (虚宿) |
If you were born in a leap month, count from the same month’s mansion (a leap 2nd month starts from Keishuku, like the 2nd month).
This does not always match the Moon’s actual astronomical position (the nakshatra of Indian astrology), but it is the method widely used in Japan.
The Sankyū method (compatibility)
Sukuyō judges compatibility by the distance from your mansion to the other person’s, sorting relationships into pairs: Mei · Gō · Tai (life, karma, womb), Ei · Shin (prosperity, intimacy), Yū · Sui (friendship, decline), An · Kai (ease, destruction) and Ki · Sei (danger, achievement). The An–Kai relationship is famous as one in which two people are strongly drawn to each other but easily hurt each other.
Find your birth mansion with the Indian astrology and Sukuyō reading (Japanese), and read about each mansion in the 27 mansions.
Now try a reading for yourself
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