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Samsalbang 2027 is west,
daejanggunbang is east

Direction · September 2026 · 7 min read

Where are samsalbang and daejanggunbang in 2027?

A quick word on what these are. Both are directions the year asks you to take gently, and neither comes from your personal chart — they apply to everyone in that year alike. The basics are in how to choose a travel direction. What this piece does is show why 2027 produces west and east, right down to the rule.

How is samsalbang worked out?

Samsalbang comes from the samhap group that the year's branch belongs to. The three branches sitting opposite where that group gathers its strength become the samsal. 2027 is a Mi (未) year in the Hae-Myo-Mi group, so the samsal falls on Sin-Yu-Sul (申酉戌), the western branches — hence west.

It's a rule, so it's easy to hold in your head: the cycle returns to the same seat every four years. 2026 was an O year in the In-O-Sul group, giving north; 2027 is a Mi year in Hae-Myo-Mi, giving west. South, east, north, west — one lap every four years.

Why is daejanggunbang the same in 2026 and 2027?

Because daejanggunbang only moves once every three years. Across Sa, O and Mi years it stays put in the east. 2026 is an O year and 2027 a Mi year, both in that same bundle, so both come out east.

So from the eul-sa year of 2025 through the jeong-mi year of 2027, daejanggunbang is east three years running, and it shifts south in the mu-sin year of 2028. Samsalbang moves annually while daejanggunbang moves on a three-year beat, so some years they land on the same side and some years they don't. In 2027 they're west and east — directly opposite.

Do these directions have anything to do with my own chart?

That contrast is the spine of this piece. The yearly directions come from the calendar; yeokma comes from your animal. Samsalbang cycles south, east, north, west year by year, while yeokma is set by samhap group and never moves in your lifetime. That's why they coincide in some years and not others.

For 2027 it works out like this. Tiger, Horse and Dog (yeokma southwest) and Snake, Rooster and Ox (yeokma northwest) share a component with the year's west. The other six, pointing northeast or southeast, don't. All twelve are laid out in one table in yeokma direction by zodiac sign in 2027.

If west is samsalbang, what does that mean for a trip to Korea?

It depends entirely on where you start. Samsalbang is a direction, not a destination — the same Seoul-bound flight can count as west or as northeast depending on the airport you board at.

For readers in Southeast Asia, the news is easy: Seoul sits north-northeast of Singapore (27.8°) and north-northeast of Kuala Lumpur (30.7°), so a 2027 trip to Korea from either city doesn't touch the west at all. Taipei (18.9°) and Hong Kong (33.0°) land in the same band.

The travellers who do meet it are the ones flying from Japan: Seoul is west-northwest of Tokyo (284.3°) and west-northwest of Osaka (295.1°), both carrying a clear westerly component. And from Beijing, Seoul sits east-southeast (102.5°) — on the daejanggun side instead. Same destination, different reading, purely because of where you set out from. Real bearings for every departure city are tabulated in which way is Seoul from your city.

If I still want to take it into account, how?

One thing deserves saying plainly first. Samsalbang has never meant you can't go. What people traditionally avoided in the samsal and daejanggun directions was moving house and breaking ground — relocating, rebuilding, moving a grave, the kind of thing that's hard to undo. It was not about a trip you come home from in a few days.

If you'd still like to factor it in, this much covers it.

• Leave slack in the daysFewer stops per day, more time between them.
• Break long legs into shorter onesPut a stopover in the middle rather than doing one long haul.
• Keep big contracts and decisions off that sideThis is the use closest to what the direction was actually for.
• Keep the day after you land clearNothing major the morning after you get back.

A direction isn't a gate that keeps you home. It's a dial for adjusting your pace.

To line the dates up too, best days to visit Korea in 2027 puts son-eomneun-nal (손 없는 날, the "no-spirit days") alongside the solar terms. And 5htrip compares your candidate destinations across eight directions once you set a departure city.