The years · 49 of 60
壬子 — Rén zǐ. Water above, the Rat beneath.
In BaZi the year turns at Li Chun (立春), the solar term that opens spring, computed from the sun's position rather than the calendar's round number. The Water Rat year runs from 5 February 1972 to 3 February 1973. Born in January or early February 1972? Your year animal is almost certainly the one before — check 1971. Many sites get this wrong by assuming 1 January; the date above is computed, and the engine that computed it also resolves the timezone your birthplace was actually keeping.
The Rat returns every twelve years (1960, 1984), but the full 壬子 pillar only every sixty (2032). The same sixty names mark the days as well: there is a 壬子 day every sixty days.
The year pillar is the part of a chart most people know, and the part that says least. Compute all four pillars, in your browser, with nothing sent anywhere.