What Is Tojeong Bigyeol? Reading Your Year Through 144 Readings
Around the turn of the year in Korea, someone at the lunch table almost always brings up Tojeong Bigyeol. People compare their reading numbers, which months look bright and which call for care, and the conversation soon turns into laughter. This guide explains what Tojeong Bigyeol is, how its three-digit number is found, and how to take the result lightly and usefully.
Where does Tojeong Bigyeol come from?
Tojeong Bigyeol is a New Year fortune passed down under the name of Tojeong Yi Ji-ham, a scholar of the Joseon dynasty. A popular story says he created it to help ordinary people prepare for the year ahead, but it is not clearly known when or by whom the versions we have today were put together. So here we share the origin only as a story that has been handed down.
For a long time families gathered in the first days of the new year to look up their fortune together. Today you can see it on your phone with just a birthday. The form has changed, but it is still a moment to sort out your thoughts before a new year begins.
How are the 144 readings built?
A Tojeong Bigyeol result is a three-digit number. The hundreds digit is called the upper figure, the tens digit the middle figure and the ones digit the lower figure. The upper runs from 1 to 8, the middle from 1 to 6 and the lower from 1 to 3, so 8 times 6 times 3 gives 144 combinations. That is why people speak of the 144 readings, numbered from 111 to 863.
The Tojeong Bigyeol page on Fortune Alley uses the traditional numbers for the year, the month and the day, known in Korean as the taese, wolgeon and iljin numbers.
- Upper figure: your Korean age in the year being read, plus that year's number, divided by 8. The remainder is the figure.
- Middle figure: whether your lunar birth month is a long month (30 days) or a short month (29 days) in that year, plus that month's number, divided by 6.
- Lower figure: your lunar birth date plus the day number for the same date that year, divided by 3.
A remainder of 0 counts as 8, 6 or 3. Because the calculation needs a lunar date, a solar birthday is converted with an open source library built on data from the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute. This also means the same person can get a different reading each year, which is why last year and this year rarely match.
How to read the result
Start with the title of your reading. Names like The First Sun in the Dawn Sky or A Flag on a Windy Hill paint the mood of the year as a picture. The title alone often tells you whether this is a year to begin, to hold steady or to rest and regroup.
Next comes the overall outlook, a few sentences about the year as a whole. It helps to look for both the encouraging lines and the careful ones. A bright year usually hides one note of caution, and a tougher year always mentions what you gain by getting through it.
Use the monthly outlook like a calendar
The monthly outlook gives one line for each of the twelve months. It is far more useful as notes on your yearly planner than as a prediction. If March says watch your words, treat it as a reminder to choose your words a little more carefully before a performance review or a big meeting that month. If July looks good for money, make it the month you check your emergency savings.
A month marked for caution does not mean you have to hide for thirty days. Leaving a bit more room in your schedule and sleeping on big decisions for an extra day is plenty.
Browse other readings too
After you see your own, it is fun to look through the list of all 144 readings. Comparing readings with teammates gives you easy small talk about who is starting fresh this year and who is building up. Readings with the same upper figure often share a similar mood, so reading them side by side is interesting too.
The right mindset
Tojeong Bigyeol is not an answer sheet that settles your year in advance. It is closer to a question that invites you to look at your own heart before the year begins. If you get a bright reading, use it as encouragement to start your plans. If you get a careful one, take it as a nudge to check your daily habits.
For important choices about health, money or your career, trust expert advice and your own judgment first. A fortune is only a small, gentle tool for looking back on those choices. When the new year comes, try reading it alongside the 2027 Korean zodiac forecast and leave yourself a short note for the year ahead.