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Ipdong 2026, the Start of Winter
— November 7 at 18:52 KST, when Saju enters the Gihae month

2026-10-30 · Mutal Unnie editorial team

When is Ipdong 2026, and at what time exactly?

Ipdong (立冬, “Start of Winter”) falls on Saturday, November 7, 2026 at 18:52 Korea Standard Time (KST, UTC+9), which is 09:52 UTC. It's the moment the sun reaches 225° of ecliptic longitude, and in the calendar of 24 solar terms it marks the start of winter. Calendars print it as a single day, but in Saju that minute-level time is the line that divides one month from the next.

The times in the table are calculated by the Mutal Unnie engine (tools/engine.js). Soseol follows the value published by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI); for Daeseol, KASI lists 11:53, one minute off the engine. Ipdong 2027 lands a day later, at 00:38 on November 8, because a year isn't a neat 365 days, so solar-term times drift a little from year to year. Every 2027 term is listed to the minute in The 24 Solar Terms of 2027.

If you're converting from UTC: in November London runs on GMT, which equals UTC, so Ipdong arrives at 9:52 a.m. on November 7. New York is back on Eastern Standard Time (UTC−5) after US daylight saving ends on November 1, so it's 4:52 a.m. there, and Sydney, on daylight saving time (UTC+11), sees it at 8:52 p.m. These conversions only tell you when the moment happens where you are; the Saju calculation itself is checked against the KST entry time.

Source: KASI astronomical information service (in Korean), solar-term values compared with Mutal Unnie engine calculations (KST).

What changes in my Saju after Ipdong?

Your month pillar changes. At the moment of Ipdong the Musul (戊戌) month, the Dog month, ends and the Gihae (己亥) month, the Pig month, begins. Saju months don't turn on the 1st of a calendar month or on a lunar new moon; they turn at the entry time of each jeol (節), the twelve solar terms that open a month. Ipdong 2026 falls on the 28th day of the 9th lunar month, so a lunar calendar still says “month 9” while Saju has already stepped into the first month of winter.

Some things stay exactly where they were. The year pillar changes at Ipchun (立春), so it remains Byeong-o (丙午) until 10:46 KST on February 4, 2027 (01:46 UTC), and the zodiac animal is still the Horse. The day pillar changes every day regardless of solar terms; the day of Ipdong itself is an Eul-yu (乙酉) day.

For monthly luck, the Gihae month runs from the evening of November 7 to the late morning of December 7 (KST). Gihae pairs the Heavenly Stem Gi Earth (己土) with the Earthly Branch Hae Water (亥水), and you read the month by how those two characters relate to your Day Master. The reading steps are in How to read monthly luck, and a Day Master–by–Day Master summary is in the 2026 year-end fortune.

Born on November 7, 2026? Does the exact time change the month pillar?

On the same date, a birth before 18:52 KST gets a Musul month pillar and a birth after it gets a Gihae month pillar. The year and day pillars are identical, so a difference of a few minutes can change exactly two of the eight characters.

With Mutal Unnie's default hour boundaries, both times fall in the Yu (酉) hour (17:00–18:59), so even the hour pillar is the same. Yet the month branch is the anchor for the season and for the chart's overall structure, its chart pattern (格局), so the reading starts from a different place: Sul (戌), the dry earth at the end of autumn, or Hae (亥), the first water of winter. Daeun, the 10-year luck cycle, is calculated from the distance between the birth time and the neighbouring solar-term entries, so a birth right next to the boundary can even change the age at which Daeun begins.

If you or your child were born near the boundary, check the birth record down to the minute and confirm the month pillar with the manseryeok calculator. It also helps to remember that apps can differ by about a minute on entry times.

Born outside Korea? Convert the moment of birth to KST before comparing it with the entry time. A baby born in London at 10:00 a.m. on November 7, 2026 was born at 19:00 KST, after Ipdong, so the month pillar is Gihae. This step only matters if the birth falls within about a day of a solar-term entry; the rest of the input rules are in Korean Saju vs. Chinese BaZi vs. Japanese Shichū Suimei.

What is Hae (亥) Water, and why is it tied to winter?

Hae (亥) is the twelfth Earthly Branch; its element is Water, and it governs the first month of winter, called maengdong (孟冬, “early winter”). Hae, Ja and Chuk make up the three winter months, and Hae is the one that opens the door. Its zodiac animal is the Pig.

The Heavenly Stems tucked inside a branch are called hidden stems (jijanggan 支藏干). Hae holds Mu (戊), Gap (甲) and Im (壬), and its main hidden stem is Im Water. On the surface it's water, but with Gap Wood inside, tradition also reads Hae as the place where the Hae-Myo-Mi Three Harmony begins, the place where Wood is born. Above ground everything seems to stop, while the roots quietly prepare for the next spring. Hidden stems and the other core terms are defined one line each in the Saju Glossary.

Old texts summed up the year as “spring gives birth, summer grows, autumn harvests, winter stores” (春生夏長秋收冬藏). So the Hae month is often read as a time for sorting and storing what you've gathered rather than starting something big. Charts born in winter are seen as cold and damp, and climate-balancing (johu 調候) looks first for Fire to warm them; that idea has its own article, Reading Saju by birth season.

Reading this in Australia, New Zealand or South America? There, November is late spring. The Saju month still changes at Ipdong, because solar terms are defined by the sun's position on the ecliptic, the same moment for the whole planet. Some practitioners argue that southern-hemisphere charts should have their seasons flipped; the Mutal Unnie engine doesn't flip them, and the johu article lays out both views.

What are the traditional Ipdong customs in Korea?

The best-known Ipdong customs are kimjang (김장, making the winter's kimchi), chigyemi (雉鷄米), a meal served to village elders, and reading the coming winter from the weather on Ipdong. All three grew out of getting food and people ready before the cold set in.

Ipdong was traditionally treated as the start of kimjang season, when families made enough kimchi to last the winter. Today the timing varies with region and each year's temperatures, so many households pick the day by the forecast rather than the solar term. Kimjang, the making and sharing of kimchi, was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013. Chigyemi was a custom of inviting the village elders for food around Ipdong, Dongji and the last night of the lunar year; its name combines pheasant (雉), chicken (鷄) and rice (米).

A folk saying also holds that a cold Ipdong means a cold winter. Enjoy it as old-time wisdom, and plan your actual winter prep around the weather forecast. November 22 is Kimchi Day (김치의 날), an official commemorative day in Korea, and in 2026 it falls on the same day as Soseol, which makes it an easy date to remember if you're joining a kimjang.

The same solar term is shared across East Asia. In Mandarin it's Lìdōng, and in northern China eating dumplings on that day is a familiar custom.

What's worth doing in the first month of winter?

The Hae month is read as a month for storing and sorting, so it suits wrapping up the year and settling into a winter rhythm better than launching big new plans. Below are Mutal Unnie's suggestions for turning the traditional reading into daily habits. They're not a promise of better luck, just a way to make the end of the year less hectic.

1. Put the rest of the year on one pageSplit it into “until Daeseol on December 7” and “until Dongji on December 22,” then list appointments, deadlines and family events.
2. Sort what stalledDivide the things you started this year and paused into what you'll finish now and what moves to next year.
3. Keep a steady bedtimeThe days are getting shorter, so aim for the same bedtime and stay warm. If you feel unwell, talk to a medical professional; the Five Elements are not a diagnosis.
4. Pin dates for winter choresWhether it's kimjang, swapping in winter clothes or holiday plans, choosing the weekend now takes the pressure off later.
5. Leave one line about your moodA short note each day for a month lets you look back on your own winter rhythm around Dongji.

Dongji isn't a day when the Saju month changes, but as the shortest day of the year it carries plenty of customs of its own. Its time and the red bean porridge tradition are in Dongji 2026.

How can I check Ipdong and this month's rhythm on Mutal Unnie?

The free web tools let you check right away, with no sign-up. Today's Iljin shows the stem-branch pair and lunar date for any day, and the manseryeok calculator shows the month pillar for a birth before or after Ipdong, with optional corrections for daylight saving time and Korea's former standard times.

The app calculates your chart from the clock time you enter, treated as Korea time (KST). The one-line rhythm for the day, adding events and D-day countdowns are free. If you add a kimjang day or year-end plans as events and unlock Full Care (35 Bok), you get an evening-before briefing at 8 p.m. and a day-of guide at 7 a.m. by default. Logging your mood in the journal lets you look back over the whole Gihae month afterwards.

Start with today's rhythm

Available on iPhone and Android. Daily rhythm cards and adding events are free. Check the cost before opening a paid reading. Store availability and app language support depend on the listing.