138
The Binary Titles for the Sexagenary cycle
The list of the sixty combinations given below also includes the full title of the deity, the Spirit of the Year, the Taisui. Each title begins with the two characters from the 10 stems and 12 branches. These are followed by the two characters Tai Sui, and in turn the next two characters are the individual name of the spirit, followed by the final three characters for the Great General. Therefore, the first is Jiazi Taisui Jinbian Da Jiangjun, Jiazi being the first group of the sixty Taisui, followed by his name Jinbian, and finally the title of the Great General. However, the romanisation gives two words only out of the full title. The romanisation therefore only provides the first two [the stem and branch], followed by the personal name.
The iconography of the Sixty varies considerably though the individual images in the two modern sets in Taipei do have very similar features. These range from military, civil and Daoist and Buddhist robes and caps to carrying spears, unsheathed swords, kerchiefs, fruit, small bowls of lustral water, tablets, brush pens, pearls and fans.
The list, apart from the number within the bracket, obtained from the Daoist centre in the Baiyun Guan in Peking, provides sequentially the years of the sexagenary cycle. However, the images of the sixty Taisui in temples seem to be placed haphazardly along the altars. Also, the personal names of the spirits in each temple set can be different or allocated to a different year. A few are the same in every set, for example the first, Jiazi with the personal name of Jinbian, but the majority are different.
The numbers in brackets are the order in which the images of the Taisui are placed in the folk religion temple in Pudong, Shanghai. Thus, the first item gives us:
[the Shanghai number] Jiazi Taisui Jinbian Da Jiangjun Jiazi Jinbian and the years within the Sixty Year Cycle.
[1] 甲子太歲金辨大將軍
[2] 乙丑太歲陳財大將軍
Jiazi
Jin bian
1924 1984
Yichou
Chen cai