Five Elements

This page is for the natural philosophy found in East Asian culture. Since they don't appear in Koei's games, this page will not cover the Buddhist/Japanese version of the Five Elements, Panca-dhatavah or Gotai. To see Elements in the Warriors franchises, please see Elements.

Five Elements in their well known formation of respective births and destruction.

The Five Elements, also known as the Five Rotations (五行), are five natural elements found within the natural world. The elements are Wood (木), Fire (火), Water (水), Metal (金), and Earth (土). Known to coexist and cancel one another out, these elements were thought since ancient times to lead to the formation of all life. These elements have also been said to act as a memorization tool for the five astrological planets known by ancient China.

Though prominently known as a Chinese invention, the philosophy has trickled to other parts of East Asia and is found in several practices. It can be found and practiced within traditional Chinese medicine, Taoism, astrology, music, Korean cooking (especially popular for the trademark arrangement of bibimbap), traditional Korean clothing, and so on.

The origin of the concept is fuzzy, but it has been known to have existed since the Western Zhou Dynasty. According to the Guoyu, the order of the elements was named as Earth, Metal, Wood, Fire, and Water. Shujing names the elements with the order Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth and names each elements' traits. Most charts for the Five Elements today are ordered so that each elements' annulments forms a continuous loop, starting with Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. These exchanges are known as the following:

Element	Restrains	Nurtures
Wood	Earth	Fire
Fire	Metal	Earth
Earth	Water	Metal
Metal	Wood	Water
Water	Fire	Wood

Within several Koei games, the Five Elements cycle appears in several titles focusing on East Asian historical or fictional classics. Players are likely going to see these elements incorporated as a natural trait for characters throughout the game, affecting the damage they can deal and receive from attacks. For example, a character with an innate Wood element would suffer more damage from a blow dealt from a Metal elemental attack. On the other hand, Wood characters can deal critical damage to characters affiliated with Earth.

Properties

The chart below lists various properties associated with the Five Elements. It's not a complete list by any means, but it mentions several beliefs attached to the Fire Elements philosophy.

Elements	Wood	Fire	Earth	Metal	Water
Colors	Blue (or Green)	Red	Gold	White	Black
Directions	East	South	Center	West	North
Seasons	Spring	Summer	Transition (Every three months)	Autumn	Winter
Stars (Planets)	Jupitar	Mars	Saturn	Venus	Mercury
Sounds	Mi (角)	Sol (徵)	Do (宮)	Re (商)	La (羽)
Voices	Yell	Speak	Sing	Cry	Moan
Sentiments	Joy	Happiness	Enmity	Rage	Pity
Wills	Passion	Enjoyment, Laughter	Thought, Worry	Grief, Melancholy	Fear, Surprise
Fingers	Ring finger	Middle finger	Index finger	Thumb	Little finger
Senses	Sight	Taste	Speech	Scent	Hearing
Fluids	Tears	Sweat	Saliva	Snot	Spit
Tastes	Sour	Bitter	Sweet	Hot	Salty
Livestock	Dog	Sheep	Oxen	Chicken	Boar
Virtues	Benevolence	Courtesy	Trust	Righteousness	Wisdom
Evils	Wind	Heat	Dampness	Arid, Cold	Vulnerability, Quick-tempered

With Yin-Yang

During the Chinese Warring States period, a practitioner of yin-yang tied the five elements to concepts of yin-yang in an attempt to explain further complex phenomenons. These principles incorporate the Ba qua invented by Fu Xi and assign each element with "heavenly" and "earthly" properties. Yin-yang theories are also responsible for the respective "strengths" and "weaknesses" found within the Five Elements. This version of the Five Elements is found in various yin-yang practices, often including affiliation with the Four Sacred Beasts, celestial stems, and earthly stems.

Japanese onmyōdō primarily focuses on this practice of the Five Elements, incorporating various other deities and thoughts into the cycle. Since the series began roughly based on the mythological foundations for Kyoto, the Harukanaru Toki no Naka de series uses this version of the Five Elements for the Eight Guardians found throughout the games.

Elements	Wood	Fire	Earth	Metal	Water
Celestial Beasts	Azure Dragon	Vermilion Bird	Qilin or Huanglong	White Tiger	Black Tortoise
Dragons	Qinglong	Chilong	Huanglong	Bailong	Heilong
Celestial stems	Jia, Yi	Bing, Ding	Wu, Ji	Geng, Xin	Ren, Gui
Earthly branches	Yin, Mao	Si, Wu	Chen, Wei, Xu, Chou	Shen, You	Hai, Zi
Months (Chinese calendar)	January~March	April~June	none	July~September	October~December
Festivals	Rinri (eat seven herbs for good health)	Spring Purification Festival (prevent diseases)	Dragon Boat Festival (please dragons for plentiful crops)	Magpie Festival (day for newly weds and to pray for fortune in crafts)	Double Yang Festival (protect against dangers and to pay respects to ancestors)
Deities (Shintoism)	Kukunochi	Kagutsuchi	Haniyasu	Kanayamahime	Mizuhanome
Twelve Generals (onmyōdō)	Rikugō, Seiryu	Tousha, Suzaku	Kōchin, Tenkū, Taimo, Kijin	Taionjin, Byakko	Tenkō, Genbu

Gallery

Haruka interpretation

Fengshen Yanyi interpretation

Saiyuki: Journey West interpretation

Abe no Seimei Ban