How the twelve hour signs work
The twelve hour signs split a 24-hour day into twelve blocks of two hours each, running from the Rat hour through the Pig hour. Every block is exactly 120 minutes long. Enter a clock time and the tool returns the matching sign, the clock range of that sign, how much of the block has already passed, and the moment the next sign begins. The lower field works the other way around: pick a sign and read back its clock range.
Sources disagree about when the Rat hour starts. A 23:00 start is the common listing, but a 23:30 start is also used, shifting every boundary by half an hour to account for the gap between standard time and the sun's actual passage overhead. No official source settles the question, so the shift is yours to choose and the tool prints the value it applied on the result line. (As of October 2026)
The animal names and the twelve-way split follow the traditional definition. Fortune telling, horoscope readings and lunar calendar conversion are not covered here. Switching the shift to 30 minutes moves every boundary, so pick the value used by the source you are reading.
Frequently asked questions
Two hours, or 120 minutes. The 1,440 minutes of a day are divided by twelve, so every sign has the same length.
Sources differ. A 23:00 start is the common listing, while a 23:30 start is used when a standard-time shift is applied, so the tool lets you pick the shift and shows which one it used.
No. It only converts between clock times and hour signs. No fortune telling or horoscope judgment is offered.