Usui (雨水): Rain Water
Snow turns to rain and ice melts into water. Traditionally a sign to start preparing the fields.
| Year | Date and time (Japan Standard Time) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Feb 18, 2025 (Tue) 19:06 |
| 2026 | Feb 19, 2026 (Thu) 0:52 |
| 2027 | Feb 19, 2027 (Fri) 6:33 |
Times are found from the sun's apparent longitude (Japan Standard Time).
What Usui means
Usui is a chūki (中気, “middle”) term and falls in the middle of the Tiger month. In the old lunisolar calendar, the month containing Usui was the 1st month.
Customs and seasonal food around Usui
In recent years people say that setting out Hina dolls on Usui brings good marriages. In season: icefish and clams.
The 72 kō of Usui
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 | 土脉潤起 | Rain moistens the soil |
| 2nd | 霞始靆 | Mist starts to linger |
| 3rd | 草木萌動 | Grass and trees sprout |
1st kō: Rain moistens the soil (土脉潤起)
Cold snow turns to warm spring rain and the earth softens. The Senmyō calendar had “otters lay out the fish they catch” here. Farmers start thinking about their fields, and preparations for the Doll Festival begin.
2nd kō: Mist starts to linger (霞始靆)
Spring haze begins to trail across the land and the mountains look softly blurred. The Senmyō calendar had “wild geese arrive” here. Japanese traditionally call this kind of haze kasumi in spring and kiri in autumn, and a hazy moon at night is oborozuki.
3rd kō: Grass and trees sprout (草木萌動)
Plants start to bud, a name shared with the Senmyō calendar. Young shoots peep out of the winter ground and the tips of branches swell. Bitter spring flavors such as butterbur buds and rapeseed shoots appear, and the Doll Festival on 3 March draws near.