Names across languages
干支
Stem-Branch System
干支
간지
Alternate names: 天干地支; gānzhī; sexagenary designation
Reviewed definition
Stem-Branch System (干支) is a technical term within feng shui and Yijing-related knowledge systems. Specifically, The ordered pairing of ten Heavenly Stems with twelve Earthly Branches. Their least common multiple produces a sixty-unit cycle used to designate years, months, days, hours and related technical data. This library explains it within the calendrical and temporal systems domain and distinguishes historical description, lineage rules, observable spatial data and later symbolic interpretation.
Historical context
The modern meaning of this term accumulated through classical texts, commentaries, regional practice and later systematization. Review used “Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches” for historical, textual or material context; that source does not establish that every later lineage uses the term identically.
Modern-use note
Today, Stem-Branch System may be used in terminology teaching, source indexing, case annotation, compass or landform documentation and comparison of lineage rules. Professional records should state edition, directional reference, scale, date, observations and uncertainty so another reader can trace the reasoning.
現代では、用語教育、文献索引、事例注記、地形・方位資料の説明に利用できる。版、流派、尺度、測定基準、日付と不確実性を明示し、結論だけでなく根拠を追跡できる形で記録する。
현대에는 용어 교육, 문헌 색인, 사례 주석, 지형·방위 자료 설명에 활용할 수 있다. 판본, 유파, 척도, 측정 기준, 날짜와 불확실성을 밝혀 결론뿐 아니라 근거를 추적할 수 있게 기록한다.
Limitations and cross-cultural caution
This term records a cultural, historical or lineage-specific interpretive framework. It must not be presented as established scientific causation or a guarantee of health, wealth, relationships, examinations or investment outcomes. Building, structural, fire, environmental, medical, legal and financial matters require applicable rules, measurements and qualified advice.
Cross-cultural writing should retain 干支 with a transliteration or conventional translation. Japanese “干支”, Korean “간지” and English “Stem-Branch System” may have different local ranges; similar labels do not make methods, historical authority or practical conclusions identical.
Reviewed sources
Citations show what the review relied on. Contextual coverage supports description or tradition, not scientific causation.
Government educational reference for the ten stems, twelve branches and their sixty-pair cycle.