Kokū (穀雨): Grain Rain
Spring rain falls to moisten the fields and grow the grain.
| Year | Date and time (Japan Standard Time) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Apr 20, 2025 (Sun) 4:56 |
| 2026 | Apr 20, 2026 (Mon) 10:39 |
| 2027 | Apr 20, 2027 (Tue) 16:18 |
Times are found from the sun's apparent longitude (Japan Standard Time).
What Kokū means
Kokū is a chūki (中気, “middle”) term and falls in the middle of the Dragon month. In the old lunisolar calendar, the month containing Kokū was the 3rd month.
Customs and seasonal food around Kokū
Tea picking begins ahead of hachijū-hachiya, the 88th night after Risshun. In season: new tea and short-neck clams.
The 72 kō of Kokū
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 | 葭始生 | Reeds start to sprout |
| 2nd | 霜止出苗 | Last frost, rice seedlings grow |
| 3rd | 牡丹華 | Peonies bloom |
1st kō: Reeds start to sprout (葭始生)
Reeds begin to sprout by the water. Because ashi (reed) sounds like “bad”, it is also called yoshi (“good”). The Senmyō calendar had “duckweed begins to grow” here. Reeds were used for blinds and thatch. Kokuu is the time of rain that moistens the fields.
2nd kō: Last frost, rice seedlings grow (霜止出苗)
Frosts end and rice seedlings grow in the nursery beds, a kō found only in Japan. The saying “the parting frost of the 88th night” marks the last frost around 88 days after Risshun. New tea picked around this time is considered lucky.
3rd kō: Peonies bloom (牡丹華)
Tree peonies open their large, glamorous flowers. Called the “king of a hundred flowers”, the peony came from China long ago. The Senmyō calendar had “the hoopoe alights on the mulberry” here. The last kō of spring: Golden Week holidays begin and farmers get busy preparing for rice planting.