Crow-dipper sprouts

What Is Hangeshō?

Hangeshō is one of the zassetsu (supplementary seasonal markers) of the Japanese calendar, falling on the 11th day counting from the summer solstice (generally around 2 July). Long regarded as a turning point in farm work, it has been valued in rural communities across Japan as a guidepost for agriculture—"finish the rice planting by Hangeshō." It is not a festival of any particular region but a seasonal marker handed down throughout Japan in connection with the life of farming.

Origins and Meaning

The name "Hangeshō" is said to derive either from its being the time when the medicinal herb karasubishaku (known in Chinese as hange) sprouts, or from its being the time when the plant hangeshō (lizard's tail) turns its leaves white. As one of the zassetsu that supplement the twenty-four solar terms—alongside Setsubun, the equinoctial weeks, hachijūhachiya, nyūbai, and doyō—it has been deeply rooted in the lives and agricultural calendar of the Japanese people. Around this time, the end of the rainy season is near, and as a guidepost for the completion of rice planting, it has been regarded as an important dividing day for farming households.

Customs Remaining in Various Regions

Various customs of Hangeshō remain by region. In the Kansai region, the custom of eating tako (octopus) is widely known, expressing gratitude for the labor of rice planting and the wish that the rice take firm root like an octopus's legs. In Fukui Prefecture there is a custom of eating grilled mackerel (hangeshō saba), and in some areas of Kagawa Prefecture people eat udon. In some regions, sayings such as "poisonous vapors fall from the heavens" or "put a lid on the well" remained during the Hangeshō period, and the custom of resting from farm work to rest the body was also seen in various places.

Its Place in the Seasons and Calendar

Hangeshō falls in the interval after the summer solstice and before the arrival of full summer, and its season is classified as summer. In the shichijūni-kō (72 micro-seasons), it appears as "Hangeshōzu," a term expressing the changes of nature at this time. As a seasonal turning point in the shift from the rainy season to high summer, and as an important division of the agricultural calendar, it retains its traces even today in food culture and folk sayings.

Hangeshō in Daily Life

Today, its meaning as a guidepost for farm work is fading, but through the food cultures of various regions (octopus, grilled mackerel, udon, and so on), Hangeshō is still cherished as a piece of everyday wisdom for sensing the seasons. Octopus appearing in supermarkets around this time and grilled mackerel being served in Fukui are food customs rooted in the regions and handed down to the present. It is a richly evocative calendar day that conveys to this day Japan's deep sense of the seasons and the farming culture that has walked alongside nature.

How the Date Is Determined

The old method of counting eleven days from the summer solstice and the present method based on solar longitude both point to roughly 2 July, though in some years the date falls on 1 July. Other zassetsu are fixed in the same manner—nyūbai at 80 degrees, doyō at 27, 117, 207 and 297 degrees—and Hangeshō is published among them in the almanac each year. Because the date is not fixed, checking the almanac released by the observatory's calendar office is the surest way to know when Hangeshō falls in a given year.

"Hange Hansaku" and Days of Abstention

Hangeshō has long marked a pause in the busiest stretch of the farming year. Wordplay phrases such as hange hansaku and hange hanmō—"half of Hange, half a crop"—were handed down in many regions as a warning that a household failing to finish transplanting by this day would reap only half a harvest. Seen from the other side, Hangeshō was also the rest at last arriving in a season of unbroken labor. In some areas the days from Hangeshō were treated as a period of ritual abstention, when people kept away from the fields and let their bodies recover. Sayings that poisonous vapors fall from the heavens, that a lid should be put on the well, or that vegetables gathered in this period must not be eaten are also read as practical wisdom: a way of forcing farm work to stop so that exhaustion could heal.

Following the Festive Foods

The Kansai custom of eating octopus is explained through a wish that the roots of the newly planted rice take hold in every direction, firm as an octopus's legs. In Kagawa Prefecture people eat udon at Hangeshō, and in 1980 the second of July was designated "Udon Day." The hangeshō saba of Fukui Prefecture, centered on the city of Ōno, is the custom of eating a whole mackerel skewered and grilled, and in fiscal 2021 it was certified by the Agency for Cultural Affairs as a "100-Year Food." As for its beginnings, the city of Ōno explains that while there is a tradition that the domain lord encouraged eating grilled mackerel to ward off summer fatigue, or distributed it himself, no historical documents confirming this have been found. What is documented is that in the sixth month of 1854, Nojiri Gen'emon of Yokomakura village handed out "grilled mackerel money" to the farmers he had hired for the rice planting, suggesting the custom was already established by then. In Nara Prefecture, households make hangeshō mochi, pounded from crushed wheat mixed with glutinous rice. In the Nara Basin the wheat harvest ends and the rice planting settles down around Hangeshō, and because the cakes are eaten at sanaburi—the rite of sending off and thanking the god of the paddy—they are also called sanaburi mochi or simply "wheat cakes." The wheat gives them a clean, less sticky bite.

Practical Information

• Date: Around 2 July each year, the day the sun reaches 100 degrees of celestial longitude. In some years the date is 1 July, so please confirm with the almanac of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan's calendar office.
• Place: There is no particular venue. Hangeshō is a calendar day observed throughout Japan, not a festival with a rite site or procession.
• How to take part: Tasting the regional festive foods is the most common way to mark the day. Octopus appears in Kansai supermarkets around this time, and fish shops around Ōno in Fukui Prefecture set out freshly grilled hangeshō saba. In Nara, hangeshō mochi can be bought at confectioners, and some farming households still pound their own.
• Admission: A calendar day itself costs nothing.
• Inquiries: As a calendar day with no organizer, there is no single point of contact. The National Astronomical Observatory publishes the date, and local government tourism and cultural affairs divisions provide information on the regional foods.

Around the Area

If you would like to taste the food culture of Hangeshō while traveling, the city of Ōno in Fukui Prefecture makes an easy destination. The castle-town streetscape below Echizen Ōno Castle remains, and on the day of Hangeshō the smoke and fragrance of grilling mackerel drift from fish shops and supermarkets across the city, a sight that has become part of the season. The city has also held events such as a "Hangeshō mackerel shopping walk." In the Nara Basin, the food culture built on wheat grown in double cropping survives not only in hangeshō mochi but in Miwa sōmen and shikishiki, so a visit can be combined with a tour of local dishes. In Kagawa Prefecture, udon shops around the prefecture sometimes hold events timed to 2 July. Because Hangeshō is a turning point in daily life rather than a festival, it suits a way of traveling that senses the season through local food rather than watching a spectacle.

Related Information

Hangeshō is one of the zassetsu, alongside Setsubun, the equinoctial weeks, hachijūhachiya, nyūbai, doyō and nihyakutōka. These are calendar days peculiar to Japan, established to capture shifts of season that the twenty-four solar terms alone could not express, and they developed in close connection with farm work. In the seventy-two micro-seasons, Hangeshō corresponds to the final phase of the summer solstice, "Hange shōzu." A related observance of the same period is sanaburi, the celebration of the end of transplanting found in many regions; the hangeshō mochi of Nara belongs to that same current.

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