Changes

==The Ten stems (Jik-kan 十干)==

==The Ten stems (Jik-kan 十干)==

===General===

===General===

The ten ''kan'' characters are the yang (陽) and yin (陰) of the five elements of wood, fire, earch, metal, and water. They were particularly used together with the ''shi'' in the sexedecimal cycle.  ''Kô'' through ''bo'' were also sometimes used to designate the night hours from ''inu'' to ''tora''. However, now in Japan their use is mainly limited to indicating rankings, as for academic grades, or for distinguishing parties in a contract (such as, "''Kô'' agrees to pay to ''otsu'' or an agent that ''otsu'' selects..."). In these uses, the Chinese readings are used. The ''kan'' are thus not as cyclical as the ''shi'' are.

The ten ''kan'' characters are the yang (陽) and yin (陰) of the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. They were particularly used together with the ''shi'' in the sexedecimal cycle.  ''Kô'' through ''bo'' were also sometimes used to designate the night hours from ''inu'' to ''tora''. However, now in Japan their use is mainly limited to indicating rankings, as for academic grades, or for distinguishing parties in a contract (such as, "''Kô'' agrees to pay to ''otsu'' or an agent that ''otsu'' selects..."). In these uses, the Chinese readings are used. The ''kan'' are thus not as cyclical as the ''shi'' are.

===Table===

===Table===