one-fifth of the night; watch of the night
Historical Chinese and Japanese time unit dividing the night into five equal watches, each roughly two hours. Used in classical contexts and fixed expressions like 五更.
See also: 五更
In old China, the night was divided into five watches.
「五更」という言葉は、夜明け前の最後の更を指す。
The term 五更 refers to the last watch before dawn.
renewal; update; replacement; renovation; breaking (a record)
rehabilitation; turning over a new leaf · rebirth; regeneration; reorganization · revival; resuscitation; coming back to life
personnel change; reshuffle; shake-up; dismissal and replacement
menopause; climacteric
correction; revision; rectification
renewal; revision; update
changing clothes; change of clothes · lady court attendant
the five night watches; fifth watch of the night (approx. 3am to 5am)
first watch of the night; 8-10pm
third watch of the night (approx. 11pm to 1am)
middle watch; midnight to 2am watch
second watch of the night (approx. 9pm to 11pm)
first watch of the night (approx. 7pm to 9pm)
fourth watch of the night (approx. 1am to 3am)
exchange; replacement; substitution
second accession of the same emperor
From Chinese 更 (gēng), a historical time unit dividing the night into five watches. The reading こう is the Sino-Japanese on'yomi.