Five Elements 五行, Water 水
Lucky colors of the Water element
The original Chinese texts make Water black 黑, in the north and the winter, and not blue
Water in the Five Elements texts
- Direction
- North
- Season
- Winter
Color in the texts
- Element colorblack 黑
Water is black, not blue
Many people know Water as blue. That pairing is a modern extension. The original line in 《素問》 is 北方黑色, the north with black.
For early winter, the 月令 has 衣黑衣 and calls the banner 載玄旂, using 玄 in place of 黑. The name 玄武, which Liu An links to Water, shows 玄 again.
Water creates Wood, and Earth overcomes Water
In the creating cycle, Metal comes before Water in 金生水, and Wood comes after it in 水生木. In the overcoming cycle, 水剋火 has Water over Fire, and 土剋水 has Earth over Water.
壬 is black, 癸 is black-yellow
The yang stem 壬 has 黑, the color of the element. The yin stem 癸 has 驪黃 (lí huáng), a mix of black and yellow, the only two-character color name of the ten stems.
- 壬black 黑Yang stem, true color
- 癸black-yellow 驪黃Yin stem, mixed color
Stem colors are the colors in the text, not lucky colors of the year.
These colors are traditional belief, not a prediction.