The traditional chinese calendar divides a year into 24 solar terms.[1]

Yushui
Chinese name
Chinese雨水
Literal meaningrain water
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetvũ thủy
Chữ Hán雨水
Korean name
Hangul우수
Hanja雨水
Japanese name
Kanji雨水
Hiraganaうすい
Solar term
Term Longitude Dates
Lichun 315° 4–5 February
Yushui 330° 18–19 February
Jingzhe 345° 5–6 March
Chunfen 20–21 March
Qingming 15° 4–5 April
Guyu 30° 20–21 April
Lixia 45° 5–6 May
Xiaoman 60° 21–22 May
Mangzhong 75° 5–6 June
Xiazhi 90° 21–22 June
Xiaoshu 105° 7–8 July
Dashu 120° 22–23 July
Liqiu 135° 7–8 August
Chushu 150° 23–24 August
Bailu 165° 7–8 September
Qiufen 180° 23–24 September
Hanlu 195° 8–9 October
Shuangjiang 210° 23–24 October
Lidong 225° 7–8 November
Xiaoxue 240° 22–23 November
Daxue 255° 7–8 December
Dongzhi 270° 21–22 December
Xiaohan 285° 5–6 January
Dahan 300° 20–21 January

Yǔshuǐ / 雨水, Usui, Usu, or Vũ thủy, literally meaning rain water, is the second solar term.

It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 330° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 345°. It more often refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 330°.

In the gregorian calendar, it usually begins around 18 February (19 February of / in east Asia time) and ends around 5 March.

Pentads edit

Each solar term can be divided into three pentads (候), first (初候), second (次候) and last (末候) ones.

In Yushui each pentad includes :

in China,
  • first pentad / 獺祭魚 : 'otters make offerings of fish'. As fish begin to swim upstream, they are hunted by otters, which are believed to offer the fish to heaven ;
  • second pentad / 鴻雁來 : 'the wild geese arrive'. Wild geese begin to make their northward migration, following the onset of spring ;
  • last pentad / 草木萌動 : 'trees and grass put forth shoots' ;
in Japan,
  • first pentad / 土脉潤起 ;
  • second pentad / 霞始靆 ;
  • last pentad / 草木萠動.

Date and time edit

Date and time (UTC)
Year Begin End
辛巳 2001-02-18 14:27 2001-03-05 12:32
壬午 2002-02-18 20:13 2002-03-05 18:27
癸未 2003-02-19 02:00 2003-03-06 00:04
甲申 2004-02-19 07:50 2004-03-05 05:55
乙酉 2005-02-18 13:31 2005-03-05 11:45
丙戌 2006-02-18 19:25 2006-03-05 17:28
丁亥 2007-02-19 01:08 2007-03-05 23:18
戊子 2008-02-19 06:49 2008-03-05 04:58
己丑 2009-02-18 12:46 2009-03-05 10:47
庚寅 2010-02-18 18:35 2010-03-05 16:46
辛卯 2011-02-19 00:25 2011-03-05 22:29
壬辰 2012-02-19 06:17 2012-03-05 04:21
癸巳 2013-02-18 12:01 2013-03-05 10:14
甲午 2014-02-18 17:59 2014-03-05 16:02
乙未 2015-02-18 23:49 2015-03-05 21:55
丙申 2016-02-19 05:33 2016-03-05 03:43
丁酉 2017-02-18 11:31 2017-03-05 09:32
戊戌 2018-02-18 17:18 2018-03-05 15:28
己亥 2019-02-18 23:05 2019-03-05 21:12
庚子 2020-02-19 04:55 2020-03-05 02:56
Source : JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris System

References edit

  1. ^ Zhang, Peiyu; Hunag, Hongfeng (1994). "The Twenty-four Solar Terms of the Chinese Calendar and the Calculation for Them". Purple Mountain Observatory.
Preceded by
Lichun (立春)
Solar term (節氣) Succeeded by
Jingzhe (驚蟄)