Skip to content

Free calculator · Eastern calendars

Kua Number Calculator

The Kua number places you, in the Eight Mansions school of Feng Shui, in a group (East or West), an element and four good and four bad directions. It comes from the year of birth, counted from Li Chun around 4 February, and depends on sex; the calculator works it out as the UmbraLux app does and shows the number for men and for women.

Date of birth

The calculation runs in your browser. Your birth data is neither sent nor stored; only this device remembers your last entry.

How the Kua number is calculated

Four steps:

  1. 1

    The solar year

    The year begins at Li Chun, when the Sun reaches 315° (3 to 5 February). Born before it, you count to the year before.

  2. 2

    The digit sum

    Add the last two digits of the year and sum them to one digit: 1990 gives 9 + 0 = 9.

  3. 3

    By sex

    For men 10 minus that number, for women the number plus 5 (from 2000: 9 minus, plus 6), summed to one digit again; 0 counts as 9. 5 has no house of its own: men take 2, women 8.

  4. 4

    The directions

    Each Kua number has four good directions (Sheng Qi, Tian Yi, Yan Nian, Fu Wei) and four bad ones (Huo Hai, Wu Gui, Liu Sha, Jue Ming).

Two examples

15 May 1990, after Li Chun (4 February): 9 + 0 = 9. Men: 10 − 9 = 1, Kua 1 (East group, Water; good: Southeast, East, South, North). Women: 9 + 5 = 14 → 5, and 5 becomes 8 for women: Kua 8 (West group, Earth).

20 January 1990 lies before Li Chun and counts to 1989: 8 + 9 = 17 → 8. Men: 10 − 8 = 2, Kua 2; women: 8 + 5 = 13 → 4, Kua 4.

What the Kua number means in Feng Shui

The Eight Mansions school (Ba Zhai) divides people by their Kua number into an East and a West group and advises turning bed, desk and entrance towards the good directions. The good directions of one group are the bad ones of the other.

The calculation follows fixed rules; what the directions mean is the teaching of Feng Shui.

In the library

Questions about the Kua number

Why does the Kua number depend on sex?

That is how the Eight Mansions school counts: from year to year the number goes down for men and up for women. The UmbraLux app does not ask for it, so the calculator shows both numbers.

I was born in January. Which year counts?

The year before: the Feng Shui year begins like the BaZi year at Li Chun around 4 February. Where Li Chun falls on your birthday, the time decides; the calculator then shows both.

Why is there no Kua number 5?

The 5 stands in the centre of the Lo Shu square and has no direction. Where the sum gives 5, men take the Kua number 2 and women the 8.

What are the East and West groups?

The Kua numbers 1, 3, 4 and 9 form the East group, 2, 6, 7 and 8 the West group. The East group's good directions are north, south, east and southeast; the West group's northeast, southwest, west and northwest.

Is my data stored?

No. The calculation runs in your browser; your date is neither sent nor stored. Only your device remembers your last entry, and you can delete it below the form.

Sources

More calculators

All calculators