Xiaoshu (小暑): Minor Heat, the Rainy Season and the 未 Month

Xiaoshu (小暑, Minor Heat) comes when the sun reaches longitude 105°. As a jie term it opens the 未 (Goat) month, and in Korea it usually falls in the thick of the rainy season, when the air is heavy and the real heat is still gathering.

Dates and the new month

haru places Xiaoshu at 10:57 KST on 7 July 2026 and at 16:37 KST on 7 July 2027. From that minute the month branch turns from 午 to 未. In 2026 the new month pillar is 乙未. In 2027 something neat happens: the year pillar is 丁未 and the month that opens is also 丁未, so for about a month the year and the month carry exactly the same pair of characters.

The 未 month at a glance
Item	Value
Xiaoshu 2026 / 2027 (KST)	2026-07-07 10:57 / 2027-07-07 16:37
Sun longitude	105°
Month pillar 2026 / 2027	乙未 / 丁未
未 element	Earth (yin branch)
未 hours of the day	13:00-15:00
Traditional lunar month	6th
Hidden stems in 未	丁 9 days · 乙 3 days · 己 18 days

Heat that is still 'small'

暑 means summer heat and 小 means small or lesser. The name does not say it is cool; it says the great heat has not yet arrived. The tradition pairs it with Dashu, Major Heat, two weeks later.

The branch 未 is Earth, not Fire. Classical theory places a damp, heavy Earth phase between summer and autumn, and the hidden stems show the handover: a little 丁 Fire left over from summer, a trace of 乙 Wood, then 18 days of 己 Earth. Many people find that 'damp and heavy' matches how a monsoon July feels.

Nature: the monsoon in full

Across Korea and central China, early July is usually the heart of the rainy front: long grey days, sudden downpours, and nights that barely cool. Lotus ponds come into flower. The almanac's three pentads:

溫風至 - warm winds arrive
蟋蟀居壁 - crickets shelter in the walls
鷹始鷙 - young hawks begin to hunt

Korean custom: counting the boknal

The three 'dog days', 복날, are counted with the sixty-day cycle, not the month calendar. Chobok is the third 庚 day after Xiazhi, jungbok the fourth, and malbok the first 庚 day after Liqiu. Because a 庚 day comes every ten days, chobok often lands close to Xiaoshu. On boknal many families eat samgyetang, a whole young chicken simmered with rice, garlic and jujube, in the spirit of 이열치열, meeting heat with heat.

Seasonal food

Watermelon, Korean melon (참외), cucumbers and new corn fill the market. In haru's recipe book the 未 month still counts as summer. A mung bean porridge (mung_bean) and the chilled cucumber and seaweed soup (cucumber_seaweed) are both tagged cool in nature, which is how the tradition balances a sticky day.

Habits for a damp week

Yangsheng for Xiaoshu focuses on staying light and dry:

The 未 hour (13:00-15:00) is a good time for a short rest with eyes closed after lunch.
Open windows when the rain pauses and let rooms air out.
Go easy on iced drinks; the tradition prefers cool food over very cold food.
Choose gentle movement indoors, such as stretching, on the wettest days.

A line of poetry

Yang Wanli (楊萬里), Song dynasty, 'Leaving Jingci Temple at Dawn to See Off Lin Zifang' (曉出淨慈寺送林子方), written of West Lake in the sixth month: 「接天蓮葉無窮碧，映日荷花別樣紅。」 - 'Lotus leaves meet the sky in endless green; lotus flowers in the sun are a red like no other.'

Questions

Why is the 2027 未 month special?

Its month pillar 丁未 is identical to the 2027 year pillar 丁未. The tradition simply notes the repetition; it is a calendar curiosity.

Is chobok always on Xiaoshu?

No. Chobok is counted by 庚 days after Xiazhi, so it moves each year. It often falls within a week or two of Xiaoshu.

Why is 未 called Earth if it is midsummer?

In five-element theory each season ends with an Earth branch. 未 closes summer, so it holds Earth with some leftover Fire.

Recipes for this season

Abalone Rice Porridge (Jeonbokjuk) and the Water ElementKorean abalone porridge in 40 minutes: 2 abalone, 1 cup of rice, 6 cups of water. Why the tradition reads it as an even, all-season Water dish.Garlic Chive Pancake (Buchujeon): a Spring Wood DishCrisp garlic chive pancake in 20 minutes with 1 cup of pancake mix and 1 egg. A warm Wood dish the tradition pairs with spring and summer.Chilled Cucumber Seaweed Soup and Black Bean RiceA 15-minute chilled seaweed and cucumber soup with black bean rice: a cool, Water-element summer meal and how the five-element tradition reads it.Braised Tofu with Kelp: a Water and Earth Side DishTofu braised in kelp broth and soy sauce in 20 minutes. An even, year-round side dish the tradition reads as Water and Earth together.Mung Bean Porridge (Nokdu-juk): a Cool Summer BowlKorean mung bean porridge in 50 minutes: hulled mung beans simmered 30 minutes, then rice for 20 more. Why the tradition reads it as cool.Sweet Potato and Corn Rice: an Everyday Earth BowlRice cooked with cubed sweet potato and corn kernels in 35 minutes. A yellow, gently sweet Earth dish that the tradition reads as even.