The Four Symbols: where the Dragon, Tiger, Bird and Tortoise are in the sky
Azure Dragon on the left, White Tiger on the right, Vermilion Bird in front and Black Tortoise behind: the pattern turns up in Feng Shui, in temple design and in old battle formations. Its source is the sky. The 28 mansions fall into four groups, the seven mansions of each group were pictured as an animal, and each animal was named for its direction.
The Four Symbols and their mansions
| Symbol | Seven mansions | The picture in the sky | Western constellations | Best seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azure Dragon of the East | Jiao, Kang, Di, Fang, Xin, Wei, Ji | Jiao is the dragon's horn, Xin its heart and Wei its tail; most of the dragon lies in Virgo, Libra and Scorpius | Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius | Summer evenings, the whole dragon high in the south |
| Black Tortoise of the North | Dou, Niu, Nü, Xu, Wei, Shi, Bi | A tortoise entwined with a snake. Mostly faint stars, the hardest of the four to trace | Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pegasus | Autumn evenings |
| White Tiger of the West | Kui, Lou, Wei, Mao, Bi, Zi, Shen | Shen is the tiger's body and Zi its head; Orion is almost entirely taken up by the tiger | Andromeda, Aries, Taurus, Orion | Winter evenings |
| Vermilion Bird of the South | Jing, Gui, Liu, Xing, Zhang, Yi, Zhen | Liu is the beak, Xing the neck, Zhang the crop and Yi the wings, spread along the long body of Hydra | Gemini, Cancer, Hydra, Crater, Corvus | Spring evenings |
Where the directions come from: an equinox evening
The usual explanation: around the spring equinox at dusk, the Vermilion Bird is high in the south, the Azure Dragon is rising in the east, the White Tiger is setting in the west, and the Black Tortoise is below the northern horizon. Here is Taipei at 8 p.m. on the 2027 March equinox, from our sky engine:
| Symbol | Marker star | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Vermilion Bird of the South | Alphard (星宿一 Xing Xiu Yi) | southeast, about 50° up |
| Azure Dragon of the East | Spica (角宿一 Jiao Xiu Yi) | east, about 3° up (very low) |
| White Tiger of the West | Betelgeuse (參宿四 Shen Xiu Si) | southwest, about 55° up |
| Black Tortoise of the North | Sadalmelik (危宿一 Wei Xiu Yi) | below the horizon |
Precession has shifted today's sky by about one mansion since two thousand years ago, but the broad layout still holds: the Bird high in the south, the Dragon just clearing the eastern horizon, the Tiger in the west, the Tortoise out of sight.
"The dragon raises its head" is about the Horn mansion
The second day of the second lunar month is called "the dragon raises its head", usually explained as the Azure Dragon's horn (the mansion Jiao) rising above the eastern horizon after dark at this time of year. In 2027 that day falls on March 9, and our engine puts Spica, Jiao's determinative star, rising in Taipei at about 8:35 p.m. in the east, so an hour or two after dark you can watch the "horn" come up.
Direction and season are not the same thing
When the Four Symbols were matched with the Five Elements, the Azure Dragon of the East became Wood and spring, the Vermilion Bird of the South Fire and summer, the White Tiger of the West Metal and autumn, and the Black Tortoise of the North Water and winter (with Earth in the center). That is the Five Elements' scheme of directions and seasons; see the Five Elements.
In the actual sky each Symbol is at its best a season later: the Dragon's horn only rises in spring, and Fang, Xin and Wei stand high in the south on summer evenings, while the Tiger's Shen is the star of winter nights. So when you read "the Dragon in spring", it means the Dragon starts to appear, not that the whole dragon is up.
Taipei, 2027 March equinox, 8 p.m.. The maps show the sky as you look up: north at the top, east on the left; the center is the zenith and the rim is the horizon. Planets and the Moon are left out because they move from year to year; use the tool on this page to see a given night.
Three common misconceptions
The Azure Dragon is in the east, so you look east to see it.
The Symbols' directions name regions of the sky, not fixed viewing directions. Earth's rotation makes every Symbol rise in the east and set in the west; on summer evenings the Dragon is actually high in the south.
The Four Symbols are just four mythical animals, nothing to do with stars.
The four animals did go on to many uses in architecture, Feng Shui and military lore, but they began as the four groups of mansions. On the Zeng tomb chest lid, a dragon and a tiger flank the names of the 28 mansions.
The Black Tortoise is a turtle.
It is usually drawn as a tortoise entwined with a snake. The northern mansions are mostly faint stars, so the shape is very hard to see in the sky, which is why it is the hardest Symbol to recognize.
Tonight's sky: what is overhead right now
Pick a date, a time and a place to draw the whole sky at that moment, with the Moon, the planets, the bright stars that are up, and the Chinese lunar mansion crossing the meridian due south. Switch between Western constellation lines and Chinese asterisms. Everything is calculated in your browser.
Star catalog: about 1,600 Hipparcos stars brighter than magnitude 5 (compiled from d3-celestial, BSD license). The Moon and planets use simplified formulas accurate to within 0.3°; atmospheric refraction is ignored.
A straight word: this is astronomy, not fortune-telling
These pages are about stars you can actually see: where they are, which season brings them, and what East and West call them. The "mansion of the day" in the Chinese almanac, the twelve signs of Western astrology and the stars of Zi Wei Dou Shu all borrow star names, but they are separate systems of calculation and do not match what is in the sky that night. Everything on this site is for reference and entertainment.
See which Symbol is overhead tonight
Switch the tool to "Chinese asterisms" and the 28 mansions are drawn in gold.
Four Symbols FAQ
What are the Four Symbols?
The Azure Dragon of the East, Black Tortoise of the North, White Tiger of the West and Vermilion Bird of the South, each holding seven of the 28 Lunar Mansions.
Which seven mansions make up the Azure Dragon?
Jiao, Kang, Di, Fang, Xin, Wei and Ji. Jiao is the horn, Xin the heart and Wei the tail, lying roughly across Virgo, Libra and Scorpius.
Does "the dragon raises its head" have to do with stars?
It is usually linked to the Dragon's horn, the mansion Jiao, which rises in the east after dark in early spring. On the 2027 date (March 9), Spica rises in Taipei at about 8:35 p.m..