The Rat is the first of the twelve branches
The Rat is someone whose birth-year branch is 子. 子 is the first of the twelve earthly branches, and when the twelve characters are set in a circle it sits directly opposite 午 (the Horse).
The line that the compatibility result shows for a Rat person is: "Quick to notice and quick to secure what matters. First to move in a crisis." This line has nothing to do with the relationship scores and does not affect the scores below.
The twelve zodiac animals at a glance
Each of the other animals is set against the Rat in turn. Only the pairs this service recognises as harmonies are written as relationships; everything else is neutral.
| Other animal | Relationship | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Rat (子) | Same branch | 72 |
| Ox (丑) | Six-Harmony | 90 |
| Tiger (寅) | Neutral | 68 |
| Rabbit (卯) | Neutral | 68 |
| Dragon (辰) | Half triad | 88 |
| Snake (巳) | Neutral | 68 |
| Horse (午) | Clash | 45 |
| Sheep (未) | Discord | 52 |
| Monkey (申) | Half triad | 88 |
| Rooster (酉) | Neutral | 68 |
| Dog (戌) | Neutral | 68 |
| Pig (亥) | Neutral | 68 |
Ox — the pair that attracts (Six-Harmony)
子 and 丑 form a harmony with only two characters. A six-harmony is the good relationship that appears most often in compatibility, and the Rat and the Ox score 90, the highest the Rat can get.
Dragon and Monkey — a half triad that includes the royal branch
申子辰 is one triad group (the water group), and 子 is the royal branch at its centre. Inyeon-Link accepts only pairs that include the royal branch, so the Rat forms a half triad (88) with both the Dragon and the Monkey.
The Monkey and the Dragon together, on the other hand, lack the central character 子, so they are not counted as a harmony and are treated as neutral. Even within one triad group, it is the Rat that makes the half triad.
Horse — the head-on collision (Clash)
子 and 午 sit directly opposite each other on the circle. This service keeps 45 points even for a clash. In traditional myeongri a clash is a collision, not the end of a relationship, and giving a score near the floor would amount to pronouncing a verdict on two people. Even so, it is the lowest score the Rat can receive.
Sheep — the quiet discord (Discord)
子 and 未 sit right next to 午 (the Horse), the clash position, and are traditionally seen as a pair who resent each other yet cannot part. It looks calm on the surface, but the misalignment is believed to last, so it gets 52 — higher than a clash (45) and lower than neutral (68).
The other 6 animals, and the Rat with another Rat
The Tiger, Rabbit, Snake, Rooster, Dog and Pig are neither a harmony, a clash nor a discord with the Rat: they are neutral and score 68. They are the baseline, neither good nor bad.
Two Rat people score 72. It means they resemble each other, not that they attract, so it sits just above neutral.
What share of the final match rate this score takes
There are two places where two people's branches are set side by side.
- Zodiac compatibility looks at the branch of the birth year. It takes 30% of the final match rate.
- Day branch compatibility looks at the branch of the birth day. It takes 20% of the saju compatibility (70%), which is 14% of the final match rate.
For example, when a Rat person meets a Horse person, zodiac compatibility gives a clash. If everything else is equal, the final match rate comes out 6.9 points lower than with a neutral pair. With an Ox person it is a six-harmony, and the rate comes out 6.6 points higher.
Year and day branches can differ. Two Rat people whose day branches are 子 and 午 get the same branch (72) in zodiac compatibility and a clash (45) in day branch compatibility.