Taisho (大暑): Major Heat

What Taisho means

Taisho is a chūki (中気, “middle”) term and falls in the middle of the Goat month. In the old lunisolar calendar, the month containing Taisho was the 6th month.

Customs and seasonal food around Taisho

The summer doyō and the Day of the Ox, when Japanese people eat eel. In season: eel, peaches and bitter melon.

The 72 kō of Taisho

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.

1st kō: Paulownias start to bear fruit (桐始結花)

Paulownia trees begin to set fruit after their early-summer flowers. The Senmyō calendar had “paulownias bloom” around Seimei; Japan placed it in Taisho. Paulownia wood was prized for chests and geta sandals, and families once planted a paulownia when a daughter was born.

2nd kō: Damp earth, humid heat (土潤溽暑)

The ground is damp and the air steamy, a name shared with the Senmyō calendar. The hottest time of the year, when sprinkling water on the street, bamboo blinds and wind chimes come back into their own. Watermelon, cucumbers and tomatoes are in season.

3rd kō: Great rains sometimes fall (大雨時行)

Heavy summer rain falls from time to time, a name shared with the Senmyō calendar. Thunderheads build and evening showers come. Fireworks and summer festivals are held everywhere; watch out for sudden storms and flooding.

See all 24 solar terms and 72 kō, or today’s calendar.