The Lo Shu square
A 3 x 3 magic square whose rows sum to 15, the Lo Shu square structures Chinese numerology and serves as the basis for calculating the Kua number.
Personal Feng Shui
Calculate your Kua number and find your lucky directions
The Kua number is a Feng Shui number, from 1 to 9, determined by your birth year and gender. It indicates your group, East or West, and the four favorable directions for sleeping, working or arranging your interior.
Calculating your Kua number takes only a few seconds with our free calculator. Two modes are offered: a simple calculation based on the year, and a precise calculation that takes the Chinese New Year into account for people born in January or February.
- Traditional Ba Zhai formula, distinct for men and women
- Chinese New Year option for an exact result (January-February births)
- East or West group and four detailed lucky directions
Free Calculator
What is my Kua number?
Born in January or February? Use the "With Chinese New Year" tab instead.
If you were born before the Chinese New Year, the previous year is automatically used.
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Your Kua number
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Your four lucky directions:
Understand
What is the Kua number?
Derived from the Ba Zhai ("Eight Mansions") Feng Shui school, the Kua number, also called Ming Gua, connects each person to one of the eight trigrams of the Ba Gua. It is calculated from the lunar birth year and gender, and determines a group, East or West.
Knowing your Kua number allows you to orient your bed, desk or entrance according to your favorable personal directions, and to avoid those considered unfavorable.
Guide to the Kua number
The Lo Shu square
The nine Kua numbers, arranged like the magic square
Each Kua number from 1 to 9 has its trigram, element and character. We have arranged them below as in the Lo Shu square, the magic square at the origin of Feng Shui, where each row, column and diagonal totals 15. A dedicated guide for each number is in preparation.
From Kua number 1 to Kua number 9, each page will detail the associated personality, favorable directions and arrangement advice specific to that number.
East and West Groups
Four lucky directions for each person
The Kua numbers 1, 3, 4 and 9 form the East group; numbers 2, 6, 7 and 8 form the West group. Each group shares four favorable directions: Sheng Chi (prosperity), Tien Yi (health), Nien Yen (relationships) and Fu Wei (personal stability).
Our future practical guides will explain how to use these directions daily: bed orientation to sleep better, desk position to work effectively, opening direction of the front door.
Compatibility
Kua number and love compatibility
Love compatibility by Kua number compares the groups and trigrams of two people: belonging to the same group facilitates harmonizing the living space, while two different groups require some arrangement compromises.
A couple's calculator and a complete guide to compatibility by Kua number are in preparation.
Go further
Concepts related to the Kua number
The Ba Gua
Octagon of the eight trigrams, the Ba Gua associates each Kua number with a direction, an element and a life domain. It is the central tool of traditional Feng Shui.
The Ming Gua
Ming Gua is the traditional name of the Kua number: the "destiny trigram" assigned to each person according to their lunar birth year and gender.
Frequently asked questions
Your questions about calculating the Kua number
How to calculate your Kua number?
Add the digits of your birth year until you get a single-digit number. For a male, subtract this result from 11; for a female, add 4 to it, then reduce again if necessary. If you get 5, it becomes 2 for a male and 8 for a female. Our calculator applies this formula automatically.
Why is the formula different for men and women?
Traditional Ba Zhai assigns trigrams according to a yin cycle and a yang cycle that progress in opposite directions. This is why the same birth year gives a different Kua number depending on gender.
Should I take the Chinese New Year into account?
Yes if you were born in January or early February. The Feng Shui year starts on the Chinese New Year, between January 21 and February 20 depending on the year: a person born before this date must use the previous year. The "With Chinese New Year" tab of our calculator makes this correction for you.
Can the Kua number change during life?
No. The Kua number is set by the birth year and gender: it never changes, unlike the annual energies of Feng Shui which evolve each year.