Who the Rabbit is
The fourth branch (卯, u) — gentleness, grace, and a quiet, durable luck. It belongs to sunrise, due east, and Wood in its open, growing form: not the sapling that splits rock, but the field of grass that covers everything.
The Rabbit is read as kind, diplomatic, and quietly fortunate — the sign that avoids the fight and somehow ends up fine.
The rabbit in the moon
In the West, the moon has a face. In Japan, it has a rabbit — the tsuki no usagi, pounding rice into mochi on the full moon. Look up at the harvest moon in Japan and you are meant to see the Rabbit at its mortar. There is also Inaba no Shirousagi, the white rabbit of Japanese myth who tricks his way across the sea, is punished, and is healed by a kind god. The Rabbit is the sign of softness that endures — gentle, yes, but a survivor.
The Rabbit's nature
Grace under pressure. Rabbit people are associated with tact, sensitivity, and a gift for keeping the peace. The shadow the texts name is avoidance — the conflict never had, the true thing never said, harmony bought at the cost of honesty.
Time, direction, and season
The hour of 5am to 7am — sunrise itself. Direction due east, where the sun clears the horizon. Mid-spring, the equinox: the moment day and night are equal and light begins to win.
Who the Rabbit moves with
Harmony in the Wood trinity with Goat and Boar (亥卯未). Opposition to the Rooster (酉) — sunrise against sunset, east against west.
The Year of the Rabbit
Read as a year of peace, recovery, and quiet growth — a gentler year after the Tiger's storm, favouring diplomacy over force.
The Rabbit is one of the twelve Earthly Branches — the ox, the tiger, the dragon, and the rest.