Bōshu (芒種): Grain in Ear
The time to sow grains with awns, such as rice and barley.
| Year | Date and time (Japan Standard Time) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Jun 5, 2025 (Thu) 18:57 |
| 2026 | Jun 6, 2026 (Sat) 0:48 |
| 2027 | Jun 6, 2027 (Sun) 6:26 |
Times are found from the sun's apparent longitude (Japan Standard Time).
What Bōshu means
Bōshu is a setsu (節, “joint”) term: in the eto calendar the Horse month begins on this day. In Four Pillars and Nine Star Ki, the month's eto and star change at Bōshu.
Customs and seasonal food around Bōshu
Rice-planting season, and the rainy season usually begins. In season: ume plums and sweetfish.
The 72 kō of Bōshu
Each solar term is divided again into three periods of about five days, the 72 kō (七十二候, “microseasons”). The names here follow the 1874 Ryakuhon-reki almanac. The first person to adapt the Chinese names to Japan's own climate was the astronomer Shibukawa Harumi, in the Jōkyō calendar of 1685.
| Kō | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 蟷螂生 | Praying mantises hatch |
| 2nd | 腐草為螢 | Rotting grass becomes fireflies |
| 3rd | 梅子黄 | Plums turn yellow |
1st kō: Praying mantises hatch (蟷螂生)
Mantises hatch from their eggs, a name shared with the Senmyō calendar. Dozens of tiny mantises emerge from the foamy egg cases laid last autumn. Bōshu is the time to sow awned grains, rice planting is in full swing, and the rainy season approaches.
2nd kō: Rotting grass becomes fireflies (腐草為螢)
The name comes from the old belief that decaying grass turned into fireflies. In the Senmyō calendar this belonged to Taisho; in Japan it is in Bōshu. In reality, fireflies start to glow over the grass by the water, and firefly-watching is a classic scene of the rainy season.
3rd kō: Plums turn yellow (梅子黄)
Ume plums ripen and turn yellow, a kō found only in Japan. One theory says the rainy season is called tsuyu, written “plum rain”, because it comes when plums ripen. Green plums become plum wine and syrup, ripe ones become umeboshi, and many households do their “plum work” now.