What Is Ravine Water (Jian Xia Shui)?
In a Nutshell
The NaYin of the Bing Zi and Ding Chou stem-branches: fine ripples ringed by mountains, breaking and parting as they strike the stones — the image of a mountain stream.
Quick facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Stem-branches | Bing Zi, Ding Chou |
| NaYin element | Water |
| Signature image | Fine ripples ringed by mountains, breaking and parting on the stones |
What is Ravine Water?
Ravine Water is one of the thirty NaYin (Melodic Elements) groups of the sexagenary cycle, covering the two stem-branches Bing Zi and Ding Chou. The sixty stem-branches are taken two at a time, in order, forming thirty groups; each group has its own NaYin name, and the Bing Zi–Ding Chou group is called "Ravine Water."
A NaYin's element often differs from the elements of its own stem and branch. Here, the stem Bing is Fire and the branch Zi is Water, while the NaYin is Water — a coincidence with the branch in this group, not a rule. Check the chart rather than assuming.
"Below the ravine" fixes the image: water flowing beneath a mountain stream. The *San Ming Tong Hui* (Book 1, "On the Images Adopted by NaYin") describes it as "fine ripples ringed by mountains, foam surging like snow": a stream that is shallow, clear and endlessly flowing. The original passage is quoted below.
How to look it up: match the stem-branch of your Year Pillar or Day Pillar against the NaYin chart. For example, 1996 was a Bing Zi year and 1997 a Ding Chou year, so anyone born in those years carries Ravine Water as their Year Pillar NaYin; a Bing Zi or Ding Chou Day Pillar works the same way. MoZhu's built-in NaYin lookup tool lists the NaYin of all Four Pillars automatically from a birth time.
The Zi Ping school centers on the Day Master and treats NaYin as auxiliary reference only. Names like Ravine Water are essentially the ancients' evocative nicknames for stem-branch pairs; understanding the imagery helps you read classical texts, but nothing should be inferred from the name alone. This page is for study and reference only.
Classical sources
"Ravine Water: fine ripples ringed by mountains, foam surging like snow at the edges, a current linking north and south, facing the lines of Kan and Li."
Plain words: Ravine Water is the small mountain stream: fine waves winding between hills, white with spray, running north to south.
Source: *San Ming Tong Hui*, Book 1, "On the Images Adopted by NaYin" — original: 涧下水者，山环细浪，雪涌飞端，相连南北之流，对峙坎离之脉。
*For entertainment purposes only.*