1913 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Water Ox
Born in 1913? You’re a Water Ox — but only if your birthday falls on February 6, 1913 or later. The Ox year ran from February 6, 1913 through January 25, 1914.
The boundary sits tight this year. Start-of-Spring landed on February 4, just two days before the lunar new year on February 6 — and the animal in question is the one that old custom tied to that exact day, the spring ox. We sort the dates out first.
1913 Chinese Zodiac Sign: The Quick Answer
Still the 1912 zodiac year, which did not close until February 5. A birthday in January or the first days of February 1913 lands here, in Rat, not Ox.
The 1913 zodiac year, stem-branch 癸丑. The far end matters too: a child born in the first weeks of 1914, up to January 25, is still a Water Ox, not yet a Wood Tiger.
1913 at a glance
| Detail | 1913 |
|---|---|
| Zodiac animal | Ox (牛 niú) |
| Element | Water (Yin) |
| Stem-branch | 癸丑 (guǐ chǒu) |
| Exact dates | February 6, 1913 – January 25, 1914 |
| Sign before | Water Rat (until February 5, 1913) |
| Sign after | Wood Tiger (from January 26, 1914) |
| Age in 2026 (if born during calendar year 1913) | 112 or 113 |
| Traditional allies | Snake, Rooster (trine), Rat (six-harmony) |
| Clash sign | Goat |
Born in January or early February 1913?
On the lunar-year convention this page uses — the standard for looking up a birth-year sign — the Ox year runs from February 6, 1913 to January 25, 1914. Anyone born between January 1 and February 5, 1913 is a Water Rat carried over from 1912. The same rule holds at the closing end: a birth in early 1914, up to January 25, still counts as a 1913 Water Ox rather than a Wood Tiger.
The solar boundary sits close this year. Start of Spring (Lìchūn) fell on February 4, 1913, two calendar days before the lunar new year on February 6 — both dates recorded in the Hong Kong Observatory’s 1913 almanac. Many BaZi practitioners take Lìchūn, rather than the lunar new year, as the boundary. February 5 therefore falls clearly in the Water Ox year under the solar convention while remaining a Water Rat under the lunar convention used on this page. A February 4 birth requires the exact birth time and location, because Lìchūn begins at a specific moment during that day. The January–February boundary guide sets both methods side by side.
What a Water Ox actually is
“Ox” fixes the animal; the element fixes the year. The twelve animals and the five elements run on separate wheels, and Water meets Ox only once in every sixty years. 1913 is written 癸丑 (guǐ chǒu), a Yin Water year. The name carries a small tension: the stem 癸 is water, the branch 丑 belongs to earth, and in the five-element cycle earth dams water. So the year’s water sits against the earth beneath it — a holding relation rather than a flowing one, stem and branch braced against each other instead of one feeding the next.
In folklore the Ox is the plodder that finishes: patient, dependable, slow to complain, the animal that took second place in the Great Race only because the Rat rode across the river on its back and hopped off at the line. Water is said to soften the Ox’s proverbial stubbornness — the same steadiness, but readier to bend and more reflective than a plain Ox. Read that as the sketch tradition offers, not a finding about anyone. Plenty of people born in 1913 fit none of it.
The ox that opens spring
Of the twelve animals, the Ox is the one bound by custom to the very term that sets this year’s boundary. In many parts of China, Start of Spring — Lìchūn — was traditionally marked by 鞭春牛 (biān chūn niú), the whipping of the spring ox. An ox figure, often modelled in clay or paper, was ceremonially struck to mark the opening of the plowing season and to carry hopes for a good harvest (Xinhua; The World of Chinese).
So the solar term that decides whether an early-February 1913 birth reads as Ox or Rat is also the day the farming year was handed, by custom, to the ox. For a Water Ox year that opened just two days after Lìchūn, the overlap is hard to miss. It is a folk practice rather than a rule about the year, but it is the kind of tie that makes the Ox sit differently against the calendar than the other eleven signs.
The pillar 1913 shares with 1973
The stem-branch of 1913, 癸丑, is one of the sixty combinations on the sexagenary cycle, and it comes round on a fixed sixty-year beat:
| Water Ox year | Age in 2026 for calendar-year births |
|---|---|
| 1853 | A nineteenth-century cohort; no longer living |
| 1913 | 112 or 113 years old |
| 1973 | 52 or 53 years old |
A person born during the 1973 Water Ox year carries the same 癸丑 pillar as someone born during the 1913 Water Ox year — the same stem and branch, one full sixty-year turn apart. Their ages and their lives are entirely different, but their place in the cycle is identical. The Water Ox element page follows what that pairing is traditionally held to mean.
Traditional Ox pairings
In the traditional groupings, the Ox forms a three-harmony trine with the Snake and Rooster, pairs with the Rat in six-harmony, and stands opposite the Goat in the clash. These animal relationships are fixed, and the Water element does not change them; the Ox compatibility guide works through each pairing in full.
The years on either side
| Year | Sign | Zodiac dates |
|---|---|---|
| 1912 | Water Rat | Feb 18, 1912 – Feb 5, 1913 |
| 1913 | Water Ox | Feb 6, 1913 – Jan 25, 1914 |
| 1914 | Wood Tiger | from Jan 26, 1914 |
Notice how the opening date drifts: February 18 in 1912, February 6 in 1913, January 26 in 1914. The lunar new year wanders across a band of several weeks from one year to the next, which is exactly why a plain birth-year lookup slips so easily around January and early February. Both neighbours have their own pages — the 1912 Water Rat before it and the 1914 Wood Tiger after — and the Ox animal guide follows the five elements through every Ox year.
1913 Chinese zodiac: common questions
What is the Chinese zodiac sign for 1913?
1913 is an Ox year — the Water Ox — for anyone born on or after February 6, 1913.
What are the exact 1913 Water Ox dates?
February 6, 1913 to January 25, 1914. Anything earlier in 1913 belongs to the Water Rat year of 1912.
What element is 1913 in the Chinese zodiac?
Water. The full stem-branch name is 癸丑 (guǐ chǒu), a Yin Water year.
Is everyone born in 1913 a Water Ox?
No. Births from January 1 to February 5, 1913 fall in the previous Water Rat year. And someone born in early 1914, up to January 25, is still a 1913 Water Ox.
How does Start of Spring affect the 1913 boundary?
Start of Spring fell on February 4, 1913, while the lunar new year began on February 6. February 5 counts as Water Ox under the solar convention but remains Water Rat under the lunar convention used on this page. A February 4 birth requires the exact time and location, because Lìchūn begins at a specific moment during that day.
What years share the 1913 Water Ox pillar?
The 癸丑 Water Ox pillar returns every sixty years: 1853, 1913 and 1973. A person born during the 1973 Water Ox year shares the exact stem-branch with someone born during the 1913 Water Ox year.
How old is someone born in 1913 in 2026?
112 or 113 in 2026, depending on whether their birthday has passed.
Looking this up for someone born in 1913?
A public page stops at the shared facts. If what brought you here is a grandparent’s or great-grandparent’s record — a date in an old register, a name on a family tree you are trying to fill in — two things carry a birth year further than a page like this can:
Where to go next
Editorial note
The calendar side of this page — the February 6, 1913 start, the January 25, 1914 close, the February 4 Start of Spring, and the 癸丑 (guǐ chǒu) stem-branch — can be checked against the Hong Kong Observatory almanac or any sexagenary table. The spring-ox custom is documented folk practice, cited above. Everything touching character, compatibility and fortune is symbolic tradition, shared for cultural interest. It is not a prediction, and it is not medical, financial or relationship advice.