Cast & Chart

Animal 9 of 12

Monkey

猴 hóu, branch 申

In the classical sources

巳蛇也，申猴也。火勝金，蛇何不食獼猴？

The branch 巳 is the snake and 申 is the monkey. If fire overcomes metal, why does the snake not eat the macaque?

論衡 · 物勢篇第十四 (Wikisource 論衡/14, traditional script)

About this sign

申 is ninth of the twelve, a metal branch with yang polarity, and the Monkey is its creature. A speaker in the Lunheng uses the monkey for a string of awkward questions about the element scheme. If the monkey is metal and water does not beat metal, the speaker asks, why does the monkey fear the rat?

Wit, curiosity and a taste for pranks are the qualities popular zodiac books hand to the Monkey. They suit the animal and they have no footing in the Han text. There the macaque is a test case, and a rather inconvenient one.

With 巳 it shares a Six Harmonies pairing that also sits inside the Punishment circuit of 寅, 巳 and 申. 子 and 辰 form a water triad with it, 寅 opposes it as its Clash and 亥 is its Harm. Our source for Mutual Breaking names 申 only to leave it out. A Monkey with a taste for puzzles might ask why that speaker kept poking at the scheme, and which of these rules holds up under the same poking.

Traits people associate with it

  • clever
  • playful
  • curious
  • inventive
  • mischievous

The personality traits on this page are modern popular tradition. They are not found in the classical sources, which name the animal alongside its earthly branch and say nothing of the kind about people born in its years.

The five element years

Pairings

Where this text comes from

Wang Chong's Lunheng, chapters 14 and 66, on Wikisource, is the source for the pairing of animals and branches. It is one work, so these are two chapters and not independent witnesses. The relations in the last paragraph follow 五行大義 volume 2 and 三命通會 volumes 2 and 3.

The English here is our own plain wording, not a translation of a single source.