72 Japanese Micro Seasons 2027: Dates, Names and English Meanings

Updated November 14, 2026

Japan's traditional calendar divides the year into 72 micro seasons, each about five days long and named after a small sign of nature, such as "First cherry blossoms" or "Wild geese return". They are called kō (候). This page lists all 72 for 2027 with the Japanese name, the romaji, an English translation and the date each one starts. If you want to know how the system works and which one a birthday falls in, read Japan's 72 microseasons: which one were you born in? first.

Which time zone are the dates in?

The start dates in the main table are Japan calendar days, in Japan Standard Time (JST, UTC+9). Each micro season begins on the day, in Japan, that contains the moment the Sun reaches the right position on its path. That moment is a precise instant, so in UTC it can fall on the previous date. For 27 of the 72 micro seasons the UTC date is one day earlier than the Japan date. The 24 solar terms in the second table give both the Japan time and UTC, so you can convert exactly.

Dates also move from year to year. Compared with 2026, 53 of the 72 start on the same date and 19 start one day later; none start one day earlier. The length of a micro season is 4.90 days at the shortest and 5.24 days at the longest in 2027. Of the 72, 63 last five days, 7 last six days and 2 last four days (counting calendar days).

The 72 micro seasons of 2027

Number 1 is the first micro season of the traditional year, which starts at Risshun (Feb 4 in 2027). Because the table follows the calendar year, it starts with numbers 66 to 72 of the previous cycle and ends with number 65.

The names and readings follow the list used in Japan since its 1755 revision. The English names are plain-language translations of our own, so you may see different wording on other sites. The romaji follows the kana spelling, not the pronunciation.

The 24 solar terms in 2027

Every third micro season is the first of a new solar term, or sekki: the year divides into 24 solar terms of about 15 days, and each is split into three micro seasons. The times below are the exact instants, in Japan time and in UTC.

The four equinox and solstice terms (Shunbun, Geshi, Shūbun and Tōji) are the astronomical equinoxes and solstices. Risshun, Rikka, Risshū and Rittō, the starts of the seasons, correspond to the midpoints used in the Wheel of the Year 2027.

A 2027 micro seasons calendar to print or keep on screen

We make a 2027 Japanese Microseasons Calendar that shows the 72 micro seasons and 24 solar terms with their dates in Japan time and English names, together with the moon phase for each day. It is a PDF file for printing or keeping on a screen. If you only want the moon, the 2027 moon phase calendar has the daily phases and the times in UTC. For the moon dates in a table, see 2027 moon phase calendar: new moon and full moon dates.

To find the micro season of your own birthday, along with the Moon and the star map for that day, use the free night sky on the day you were born preview.

About this article

The start of each solar term is the instant the Sun's apparent ecliptic longitude reaches a multiple of 15°, and the start of each micro season is the instant it reaches a multiple of 5°. The moments are calculated with Swiss Ephemeris, a widely used library for computing the positions of the Sun and Moon, and the date is the day in Japan Standard Time that contains the moment. We checked each solar term against a separate calculation of the Sun's longitude. The Japanese names come from the list in use since 1755.

The English text of this article was written with AI assistance. The dates and times in the tables are calculated by our software, not generated by AI. The English names of the microseasons and solar terms are our own plain-language translations.