| C: | 天干 |
| P: | tiāngān |
| Poj: | thian-kan |
| J: | tin1 gon1 |
| Y: | tīn gōn |
| Hangul: | 천간 |
| Rr: | cheongan |
| Hanja: | 天干 |
| Qn: | thiên can |
| Chuhan: | 天干 |
The ten Heavenly Stems (or Celestial Stems) are a system of ordinals indigenous to China and used throughout East Asia, first attested during the Shang dynasty as the names of the ten days of the week. They were also used in Shang-era rituals in the names of dead family members, who were offered sacrifices on the corresponding day of the Shang week. Stems are no longer used as names for the days of the week, but have acquired many other uses. Most prominently, they have been used in conjunction with the associated set of twelve Earthly Branches in the compound sexagenary cycle, an important feature of historical Chinese calendars.
Some scholars believe the Heavenly Stems, and the associated ten-day week, are connected to a story from Chinese mythology where ten suns appeared in the sky, whose order comprised a ten-day cycle ; the Heavenly Stems are conjectured to be the names for each of these ten suns. They were found in the given names of the kings of the Shang in their temple names. These consisted of a relational term ('father', 'mother', 'grandfather', 'grandmother') which was added to one of the ten Stems—e.g. 'Grandfather Jia'. These names are often found on Shang bronzes designating whom the bronze was honoring (and on which day of the week their rites would have been performed, that day matching the day designated by their name). The sinologist David Keightley, who specialized in ancient Chinese bronzes, believes that the Stems were chosen posthumously through divination.[1] Some historians think the ruling class of the Shang had ten clans, but it is not clear whether their society reflected the myth or vice versa. Their association with the concepts of yin and yang and wuxing developed following the collapse of the Shang.
Jonathan Smith has proposed that the heavenly stems predate the Shang and originally referred to ten asterisms along the ecliptic, of which their oracle bone script characters were drawings; he identifies similarities between these and asterisms in the later Four Images and Twenty-Eight Mansions systems. These would have been used to track the moon's progression along its monthly circuit, in conjunction with the earthly branches referring to its phase.[2]
The literal meanings of the characters were, and are now, roughly as follows.[3] Among the modern meanings, those deriving from the characters' position in the sequence of Heavenly Stems are in italics.
| Heavenly Stem | Meaning | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | Additional | |||
| 1 | 'turtle shell' |
| ||
| 2 | 'fish guts' |
| ||
| 3 | 'fish tail' |
| ||
| 4 | 'nail' (fastener) |
| ||
| 5 | 'halberd' | |||
| 6 | 'thread on a loom' | 'self' | ||
| 7 | 'evening star' (Venus) | 'age' (of a person) | ||
| 8 | 'to offend superiors' |
| ||
| 9 | 'burden' |
| ||
| 10 | 'grass for libation' | |||
The Heavenly Stems remain widely used as ordinals throughout the Sinosphere, similarly to the way the alphabet is used in languages like English.
| Heavenly Stem | Sinitic | Japanese | Korean | Manchu | Vietnamese | Yin and yang (Chinese: 陰陽) | Wuxing (Chinese: 五行) | Wuxing correlations | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | Nanjingnese | Sichuanese | Cantonese | Teochew | Hokkien | Fuzhounese | Shanghainese | Suzhounese | Middle Chinese | Old Chinese | on'yomi | kun'yomi | |||||||||
| Zhuyin | Pinyin | Langjin Pinin | Sichuanese Pinyin | Jyutping | Peng'im | POJ | BUC | Wugniu | Zhengzhang | Romaji | Revised | Möllendorff | |||||||||
| 1 | ㄐㄧㄚˇ | jiǎ | ja⁵ | jia² | gaap³ | gah⁴ | kap | gák | ciaq⁷ | ciaeq⁷ | kˠap |
| こう (kō) | きのえ (kinoe) | 갑 (gap) | (niowanggiyan, "green") | giáp | 陽 (yang) | 木 (wood) | 東 East | |
| 2 | ㄧˇ | yǐ | i⁵ | yi² | jyut⁶ | ig⁴ | it | ék | iq⁷ | iq⁷ | ʔˠiɪt |
| おつ (otsu) | きのと (kinoto) | 을 (eul) | (niohon) | ất | 陰 (yin) | |||
| 3 | ㄅㄧㄥˇ | bǐng | bin² | bin³ | bing² | bian² | péng | bīng | pin⁵ | pin³ | pˠiæŋX |
| へい (hei) | ひのえ (hinoe) | 병 (byeong) | (fulgiyan, "red") | bính | 陽 (yang) | 火 (fire) | 南 South | |
| 4 | ㄉㄧㄥ | dīng | din¹ | din¹ | ding¹ | dêng¹ | teng | dĭng | tin¹ | tin¹ | teŋ |
| てい (tei) | ひのと (hinoto) | 정 (jeong) | (fulahūn) | đinh | 陰 (yin) | |||
| 5 | ㄨˋ | wù | u⁴ | wu⁴ | mou⁶ | bhou⁷ | bō͘ | muô | wu⁶ | vu⁶ | məwH |
| ぼ (bo) | つちのえ (tsuchinoe) | 무 (mu) | (suwayan, "yellow") | mậu | 陽 (yang) | 土 (earth) | 中 Middle | |
| 6 | ㄐㄧˇ | jǐ | ji³ | ji³ | gei² | gi² | kí | gī | ci⁵ | ci³ | kɨX |
| き (ki) | つちのと (tsuchinoto) | 기 (gi) | (sohon) | kỷ | 陰 (yin) | |||
| 7 | ㄍㄥ | gēng | gen¹ | gen¹ | gang¹ | gên¹ | keng | gĕng | kan¹ | ken¹ | kˠæŋ |
| こう (kō) | かのえ (kanoe) | 경 (gyeong) | (šanyan, "white") | canh | 陽 (yang) | 金 (metal) | 西 West | |
| 8 | ㄒㄧㄣ | xīn | sin¹ | xin¹ | san¹ | sing¹ | sin | sĭng | shin¹ | sin¹ | siɪn |
| しん (shin) | かのと (kanoto) | 신 (sin) | (šahūn) | tân | 陰 (yin) | |||
| 9 | ㄖㄣˊ | rén | ren² | ren² | jam⁴ | rim⁶ | lîm | ìng | gnin⁶ | gnin² | ȵiɪm |
| じん (jin) | みずのえ (mizunoe) | 임 (im) | (sahaliyan, "black") | nhâm | 陽 (yang) | 水 (water) | 北 North | |
| 10 | ㄍㄨㄟˇ | guǐ | guei³ | gui⁴ | gwai³ | gui³ | kúi | gúi | gue⁶ | kue³ | kiuɪX |
| き (ki) | みずのと (mizunoto) | 계 (gye) | (sahahūn) | quý | 陰 (yin) | |||