The harvest moon has significance in many places around the world, including Japan, where the moon is a staple of poetic imagery. Called o-tsukimi, the Moon Viewing Festival, it's held on the 15th night of the 8th lunar month, giving it another name, juugo-ya. This is why some people go to the trouble of piling exactly 15 "tsukimi-dango" dumplings on an offering plate.
People go outside to view the moon, enjoy the comforting silvery light, and maybe try to get a picture of it with their dumplings and susuki pampas grass decorations. Another treat for this night is green kusamochi, made with yomogi herb.
An image of a rabbit pounding mochi is frequently seen in o-tsukimi decorations. There is an old folk tale about the man in the moon, a God, coming down to earth in the form of a poor man. He came upon a fox, a monkey and a rabbit and asked them for food, as you do. The Monkey ran off and came back with fruit, the fox scampered off and and brought back a fish, but the rabbit came back with only grass.
The rabbit, not wanting to disappoint, had the man build a fire, then threw himself upon to it to offer himself as food. The old beggar was touched, and brought his new friend back with him to the moon, where he pounds mochi.
The image on this post is chalkboard art by my BIL.
If you take a picture of the moon and pampas grass from Kyoto tonight, or have dumplings, or dare write poetry, feel free to post about it in this Kyoto subreddit.
Today is also the last day of the middle season of the 15th Solar term, Hakuro, White dew on grass. In this season, black and white wagtail birds sing. Tomorrow is the beginning of the 45th microseason, when swallows begin migrating south.
by KyotoGaijin
4 comments
[How to make tsukimi dango](https://youtu.be/8-KVA4o8DtE)
There’s a map below that shows how well it can be seen where you live.
https://weathernews.jp/s/topics/202409/160165/
Thanks for always posting these interesting things. I was looking at some rice fields this morning on my bicycle ride thinking about the last post about micro seasons and how the heads are hanging now. I wonder how global warming is changing each microsesson. Today still feels mid summer and not, and most of my vegetables died in the intense heat so nothing much to harvest …
As the moon becomes FULL at precisely 11:34AM Wednesday the 18th in Kyoto; I imagine some can celebrate tomorrow, too. But the events in Kyoto were scheduled for today and previous days, not tomorrow. Hmmm.