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Saju guide

Samjae: The Three-Year Caution Koreans Talk About Every New Year

Samjae is a three-year span of caution that comes around for every Korean zodiac sign. Learn the four groups, the names of each year, and how saju readers treat it.

Around the turn of each year in Korea, a familiar remark comes up at family meals and among coworkers: "You're in samjae this year, aren't you?" It is usually said lightly, much as an English speaker might blame a bad week on Mercury being in retrograde. Samjae is a folk belief rather than a core part of saju, but it uses the same zodiac animals, and its timing follows a rule simple enough to work out on your fingers.

Is it my turn? The years by sign

Samjae comes round once every twelve years for each zodiac animal and lasts three years. Three animals always go through it together.

For Pig, Rabbit and Goat people the span began in 2025, the Snake year Eulsa, runs through 2026, the Horse year Byeongo, and ends with 2027, the Goat year Jeongmi. Tiger, Horse and Dog people follow directly, starting in 2028, the Monkey year Musin. After 2036 the list starts again from the top.

There is no single official rule on when a samjae year begins. Saju practice turns the year at Ipchun, the solar term around February 4 where the year pillar changes. Many households count from Seollal, the Lunar New Year, instead.

What the word means

Samjae (三災) is written with characters meaning "three" and "calamity." In older usage the three were broad categories of hardship, sometimes listed as disasters of water, fire and wind, and sometimes as war, epidemic and famine. Today the word names the three-year span itself.

Customs grew up around it. One that goes back centuries is to hang a picture of a hawk by the door during a samjae year to keep trouble out. Some families still buy small paper charms for the same purpose. These are cultural practices, kept for comfort and out of habit.

How much weight it carries

Less than the name suggests. Three years out of every twelve are samjae for each sign, so a quarter of everyone's life falls inside one, and it would be odd if all that time leaned the same way. Plenty of people take new jobs, marry or move house during their samjae years. Korean even has a phrase for a samjae that goes well: bok-samjae, roughly "fortunate samjae," the idea being that a period marked by change can suit people who are ready to use it.

Saju readers rarely treat samjae as a major factor either. It is decided by a single character, the year branch, while a saju reading looks at the whole chart, the current ten-year cycle and the incoming year's pillar together. Two Goat people born in different months and on different days can relate to 2027 in very different ways. Readers who mention samjae usually present it as background custom and then turn to the chart. Hongsil works the same way: it has no samjae calculator, and its new-year reading weighs the incoming year against your whole chart, not your animal alone.

The rule behind the years

The twelve animals, called tti in Korean, fall into four groups of three, and each group has its own three samjae years.

The groups come straight from saju. Each is a samhap, a three-branch combination: Monkey, Rat and Dragon form a Water group; Pig, Rabbit and Goat form Wood; Tiger, Horse and Dog form Fire; Snake, Rooster and Ox form Metal.

Samjae starts in the year of the animal that clashes with the first sign listed in each group. The Monkey clashes with the Tiger, so the Monkey group begins samjae in a Tiger year. The Pig clashes with the Snake, so the Pig group begins in a Snake year. From that starting year the span runs three years.

The signs within a group are four years apart. In a family whose members were born four or eight years apart, several people will be in samjae at the same time, which is simply how the arithmetic falls.

Entering, staying, leaving

Each of the three years has its own name.

  1. Deul-samjae, the entering year, when samjae is said to arrive.
  2. Nul-samjae, the staying year, also called muk-samjae, when it is pictured as settling in.
  3. Nal-samjae, the leaving year, when it is said to depart.

People disagree about which of the three matters most. Some say the arrival is strongest, others that the departure gives one last shake. There is no settled answer, which is typical of a custom that has lived in conversation more than in texts.

FAQ

Which animal do I use if I was born in January or early February?

It depends on the convention. Saju changes the year animal at Ipchun, around February 4, so a birth before that moment takes the previous year's animal. Families who go by the lunar calendar switch at Seollal, which falls on a different date each year. If your birthday sits between the two, the two conventions give you different animals, and neither is the official one.

Does samjae apply if I did not grow up with Korean customs?

The rule works for anyone with a zodiac animal, since it depends only on the year of birth. Whether to pay it any attention is a cultural choice. For many Korean families it is a conversation topic around the new year, not a set of obligations.

Do I need a samjae charm?

No. Charms and hawk pictures are customs that some people find comforting. Nothing in the tradition requires them, and many people pass through samjae without doing anything special.

Related

Part of the dotorium saju guide. Saju readings are for fun and reflection, not for making decisions.