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Gogu means spring rain falls to enrich the grain. As the last term of spring, farming moves into full swing.
Gogu, around April 20, means "grain rain." This rain was believed essential for a good harvest that year.
Rain grows frequent and warmth rises, so rice seeds are soaked and seedbeds prepared. Sap runs highest in the trees and was often collected now.
Croaker caught around Gogu was prized as a delicacy, and people drank birch and other tree saps. Folk belief even held that couples kept apart to save the energy of the seeds.
Gogu (Grain Rain) begins when the Sun reaches 30° of ecliptic longitude and is the last of spring's six terms. · First pentad, 萍始生 — duckweed first appears on the water. · Second pentad, 鳴鳩拂其羽 — the calling dove shakes out and flaps its feathers. · Third pentad, 戴勝降于桑 — the hoopoe (戴勝, 'the bird wearing a crest') alights on the mulberry tree. The three signs move from water to sky to tree, showing spring spreading into every corner. Because mulberry trees are putting out new leaves at Gogu, traditional commentary sometimes read the third pentad as a signal that silkworm season was near. The hoopoe is known in Korea too as a bird that arrives in spring to breed, which makes Gogu's last pentad one of the easier ones to confirm here. And once paddies fill with water and ponds warm around Gogu, spreading duckweed becomes a familiar sight in the Korean countryside as well.
Gogu is when dureup (angelica-tree shoots) are at their most plentiful, and mountain greens such as chamnamul and chwinamul come up in earnest. Spring littleneck clams (bajirak) are said to be plump and at their best until about now, so be generous with them in kalguksu noodle soup or doenjang stew. From late April, during Gogu, pine pollen (songhwa-garu) starts to drift. When a yellow film builds up on window frames, balcony rails and parked cars, that season has arrived, and it pays to choose your days for hanging laundry outside. True to its name, Gogu brings some days of spring rain, so check the forecast and do big loads on a dry, clear morning. If you forage for wild greens on a Gogu hike, remember that some are easily confused with poisonous look-alikes.
A Korean proverb warns, 'If Gogu is dry, the earth dries three ja deep.' A ja is a traditional unit of a little over 30 centimetres, so the saying exaggerates a Gogu drought that parches not just the surface but the ground far below. It arose because rice seed is soaked and seedbeds prepared around Gogu; without rain, seedlings could not be raised on time and the whole year's farming was at risk. That is why rain at Gogu was welcome above all other spring rain.
| Year | Begins at |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Apr 19, 23:00 |
| 2025 | Apr 20, 04:56 |
| 2026 this year | Apr 20, 10:39 |
| 2027 | Apr 20, 16:18 |
| 2028 | Apr 19, 22:10 |
Grain Rain is a jungi (中氣) rather than a jeol (節), so the Four Pillars month pillar does not change here. It marks the middle of a season.
Taking Grain Rain alone: it fell at Apr 20, 04:56 in 2025 and at Apr 20, 10:39 in 2026 — roughly 5.7 hours later. The date jumps back a day in 2028 because that is a leap year, so February 29 falls before the term begins.
By longitude, Grain Rain sits at 30° and the next term Start of Summer at 45° — about 15 days apart.
Prime time to prepare rice seeds and seedlings
Enjoy the season's first green tea
Manage humidity and mold against frequent rain
Wrap up seasonal health care
Adjacent terms:
Explore related fortunes
Grain Rain is the 6th of the 24 solar terms, falling around April 20. Spring rain nourishes the grain. Seedbeds are made and farming begins in earnest.
Gogu means spring rain falls to enrich the grain. As the last term of spring, farming moves into full swing.
Prime time to prepare rice seeds and seedlings Enjoy the season's first green tea Manage humidity and mold against frequent rain Wrap up seasonal health care