The Twelve Branches

The twelve earthly branches are the second series of the Chinese sexagenary cycle, pairing with the ten heavenly stems to number years, months, days and double-hours. The twelve zodiac animals (rat, ox, tiger and the rest), are attached to the branches, but the branches are the older and more fundamental series; the familiar animals are a later mnemonic overlay.

Each branch corresponds to a double-hour of the day, a month of the year, a direction and a phase of the wu xing, making the twelve a basic frame for time and space in Chinese cosmology.