Rice， as a globally important staple food crop， is highly vulnerable to drought stress， which adversely impacts its growth and yield. Therefore， identifying rice drought tolerance genes is of great significance for breeding drought-tolerant varieties. In this study， we found that the expression of JMJ715， a gene belonging to the rice JmjC family， is induced under drought stress. Transgenic experiments revealed that knockout mutants of JMJ715 in the japonica rice variety Sasanishiki （wild-type） exhibited increased sensitivity to drought stress， showing significantly lower survival rates after rewatering and reduced relative water content under stress conditions. Subcellular localization confirmed that JMJ715 is localized in the nucleus. Promoter analysis revealed the presence of cis-regulatory elements associated with light， hormone， stress responses in the JMJ715 promoter region. Quantitative Real-time PCR results showed that JMJ715 is expressed in various tissues of Sasanishiki， with the highest expression levels observed in panicles and roots. Transcriptome sequencing following drought stress treatment identified 17 known drought-responsive genes， including OsASR5 and OsNR2， among the significantly differentially expressed genes. Agronomic trait investigation under normal conditions showed that JMJ715 knockout mutants had significantly increased panicle number， grain number per panicle and grain yield per plant compared to the wild-type， while no significant differences were observed in seed setting rate， 1000-grain weight， or grain shape. In contrast， under drought stress conditions， the knockout mutants exhibited significantly reduced yield components， such as the panicle number， grain number per panicle， and grain yield per plant. Collectively， these findings revealed that JMJ715 is involved in regulating rice drought tolerance and influences panicle number， grain number per panicle and grain yield per plant under normal growth conditions.