Kan Kua (☵): the East group and its directions
Kan is Water, and its home direction is north. People with a Kan Kua are in the East group, so all four of their good directions fall among southeast, south, east and north. Eight Mansions holds that life runs more smoothly when you sleep, work and enter the house facing your own good directions; below are all eight directions for Kan and the traditional placement advice.
The eight directions for a Kan Kua
| Rating | Star | Nine-star name | Direction | Trigram there | What the classics say | Traditional use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Sheng Qi (Life Generating) | Tan Lang (Greedy Wolf) | Southeast | Xun | The best direction. The classics tie it to vitality, drive and money: the direction for getting things moving. | Front door, the direction your head points in bed, the way your desk faces |
| Good | Yan Nian (Longevity) | Wu Qu (Military Arts) | South | Li | Very good. Said to bring harmony with people and a steady relationship or marriage. | Master bedroom, living room, wherever a couple spends time together |
| Good | Tian Yi (Heavenly Doctor) | Ju Men (Giant Door) | East | Zhen | Good. The old texts speak of helpful people and a sound body; today it reads best as the place where you rest well. | Bedroom, a quiet corner for resting |
| Good | Fu Wei (Stability) | Fu Bi (the Assistants) | North | Kan | Mildly good. The home direction of your own trigram, linked to calm, self-cultivation and study. | Study, meditation, anywhere you need to focus |
| Bad | Huo Hai (Mishaps) | Lu Cun (Salary Keeper) | West | Dui | Mildly bad. Said to bring petty quarrels and small annoyances. | Storage room, bathroom, clutter |
| Bad | Liu Sha (Six Killings) | Wen Qu (Literary Arts) | Northwest | Qian | Bad. Said to bring tangled relationships and things that keep going wrong. | Bathroom, laundry |
| Bad | Wu Gui (Five Ghosts) | Lian Zhen (Chastity) | Northeast | Gen | Very bad. The classics name accidents, disputes and fire. | Storage, toilet; the old rule puts the stove here to "press down" the bad direction |
| Bad | Jue Ming (Total Loss) | Po Jun (Army Breaker) | Southwest | Kun | The worst direction in the system. | Toilet, storage; not for the master bedroom or the front door |
The other members of the East group are Zhen, Xun and Li. All four trigrams in a group share the same four good directions, just ranked differently.
Which birth years give a Kan Kua
| Sex | Years that give Kan (1930–2040, year changes at the Start of Spring) |
|---|---|
| Male | 1936, 1945, 1954, 1963, 1972, 1981, 1990, 1999, 2008, 2017, 2026, 2035 |
| Female | 1932, 1941, 1950, 1959, 1968, 1977, 1986, 1995, 2004, 2013, 2022, 2031, 2040 |
If you were born in January or early February, before the Start of Spring, use the previous year.
Traditional placement
- Front door and room doors: open toward a good direction, ideally Sheng Qi (southeast) or Yan Nian (south).
- Bed: head pointing to a good direction; the classics usually put Tian Yi (east) or Yan Nian first.
- Desk: face Sheng Qi (southeast) or Fu Wei (north).
- Stove: the old rule is "sit on the bad, face the good": the stove body sits in a bad direction and the burner opening faces a good one.
- Toilet and storage: put them in the bad directions (west, northwest, northeast and southwest) to "press down" what is unlucky there.
Most modern homes have a fixed layout, so in practice you can usually change only the bed, the desk and the furniture. Follow the directions where you easily can; where you can't, let it go, and never trade daylight or a sensible layout for a direction.
Find your Kua number: East group or West group?
Enter your Gregorian birth date and sex to get your Eight Mansions Ming Gua (the year changes at the Start of Spring, around February 4) and the rating of all eight directions. Optionally pick how your home sits to see whether your Kua and the house trigram match. Everything is calculated in your browser.
"Sitting" is the side the building backs onto; "facing" is the side it opens toward. For an apartment, practitioners usually take the main light-facing side or the side with the entrance; schools differ.
Two common misconceptions
A Kan Kua person living in a West-group house is doomed to bad luck.
Eight Mansions does look for a match between person and house, but it also says you can adjust with the bed, room doors and desk. A home that is comfortable and safe matters more than which way it sits.
What if everyone in the family has a different Kua?
The traditional answer is to read the whole house by the main breadwinner's Kua, and let everyone else use their bed and desk direction in their own room.
Other Kua numbers
A straight word: Feng Shui is folk tradition, and light and air come first
Eight Mansions is one school of traditional Feng Shui (others include Flying Stars and San He). It pairs a person with directions, and the old books do not all agree with each other. Use it as one input when you arrange a space, but what makes a home good to live in is daylight, fresh air, sensible circulation and safety. There is no need to renovate because a direction is labeled "bad", and no need to buy remedies or charms. Everything on this site is for reference and entertainment.
Beyond your Kua, read your BaZi chart
Eight Mansions reads directions; BaZi reads a person's Five Elements and Ten Gods. Enter your birth date for a free Four Pillars chart.
Kan Kua FAQ
Is the Kan Kua in the East group or the West group?
Kan belongs to the East group.
What are the good directions for a Kan Kua?
Sheng Qi southeast, Yan Nian south, Tian Yi east and Fu Wei north. The bad ones are Huo Hai west, Liu Sha northwest, Wu Gui northeast and Jue Ming southwest.
Which birth years give a Kan Kua?
Men: … 1999, 2008, 2017, 2026, 2035; women: … 2004, 2013, 2022, 2031, 2040 (the year changes at the Start of Spring; the full list is in the table on this page).