A solar marker and its names
Li Chun is the solar term at 315° solar longitude. HKO translates its seasonal label as Spring Commences; NAOJ lists the Japanese reading Risshun for 立春. The name identifies a point in the seasonal calendar, not a measurement of the weather at an individual birthplace.
Different language readings of the term do not make all traditions using it interchangeable. Keep the astronomical marker, the local calendar date and the interpretive school as distinct parts of an explanation.
Hong Kong Observatory ·24 solar terms ↗NAOJ ·24 solar terms and Japanese seasonal names ↗
Three different boundary questions
The Chinese calendar comparison asks separately which lunar year contains the local date, which lunar year contains the China-reference date, and which solar year is selected by the Li Chun boundary. These are different questions, so differing year labels can be a consistent result.
The BaZi explorer uses its declared solar-year method. The Nine Star annual tool has its own supported boundary choices. A fixed February 4 rule and the calculated 315° instant must not be described as the same boundary, even when they happen to give the same annual label.
The birthday’s date alone can support a local civil-date calendar lookup. It cannot select an exact solar-boundary instant without the time information that the moment-based calculation requires. The date-only report therefore keeps those unavailable results explicit.
Check a result near the boundary
Choose the intended reference before interpreting the annual identity. Record the entered date, time, timezone and any repeated-clock occurrence. Then inspect the selected reference and source instant in the receipt.
Compare the same instant under the supported references. If a result changes, identify which boundary or date basis changed; do not silently rewrite the saved report to remove the disagreement. Save a new calculation when intentionally changing conventions.
A calendar boundary chooses a label within a method. It does not by itself establish a favorable year, an event forecast or agreement between different interpretive traditions.
Word origin · etymology
Mandarin Lìchūn and Japanese Risshun: readings of 立春.
The shared calendrical name is translated Beginning of Spring or Spring Commences. NAOJ records the Japanese reading りっしゅん. These are different language readings of a seasonal term, not evidence that all associated divination methods share identical rules.
NAOJ · Calendar terminology, 24 solar terms ↗Hong Kong Observatory: The 24 Solar Terms ↗
How we know · epistemology
Astronomical marker and boundary choice
Astronomy fixes the 315° instant; local time conversion supplies its civil date. An annual divination method may instead use a fixed February 4 boundary. Retain that distinction, and do not treat this seasonal label as a local-weather observation.
NAOJ · Calendar terminology, 24 solar terms ↗Blooming Grove Studio · Nine Star Ki lessons 1–3 ↗
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Sources & provenance
Use the citations beside each section to distinguish a calculation convention, a historical teaching and an editorial example.