or , meaning, "''moon-viewing"'', are Japanese festivals honoring the autumn moon, a variant of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The celebration of the

full moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180°). This means ...

typically takes place on the 15th day of the eighth month of the traditional

Japanese calendar Japanese calendar types have included a range of official and unofficial systems. At present, Japan uses the Gregorian calendar together with year designations stating the year of the reign of the current Emperor. The written form starts with t ...

, known as ; the

waxing moon Concerning the lunar month of ~29.53 days as viewed from Earth, the lunar phase or Moon phase is the shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion, which can be expressed quantitatively using areas or angles, or described qualitatively using the t ...

is celebrated on the 13th day of the ninth month, known as . These days normally fall in September and October of the modern solar calendar. The tradition dates to the

Heian era The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

, and is now so popular in Japan that some people repeat the activities for several evenings following the appearance of the full moon during the eighth lunisolar month. Tsukimi traditions include displaying

decorations Decoration may refer to: * Decorative arts * A house painter and decorator's craft * An act or object intended to increase the beauty of a person, room, etc. * An award that is a token of recognition to the recipient intended for wearing Other ...

made from

Japanese pampas grass ''Miscanthus sinensis'', the eulalia or Chinese silver grass, is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, native to eastern Asia throughout most of China, Japan, Taiwan and Korea. Description It is an herbaceous perennial g ...

(''susuki'') and eating rice dumplings called ''Tsukimi

dango is a Japanese dumpling made from rice flour mixed with uruchi rice flour and glutinous rice flour. It is different from the method of making mochi, which is made after steaming glutinous rice. ''Dango'' is usually finished round shaped, three ...

'' in order to celebrate the beauty of the Moon. Seasonal produce are also displayed as offerings to the Moon. Sweet potatoes are offered to the full moon, while beans or chestnuts are offered to the waxing moon the following month. The alternate names of the celebrations, ''Imomeigetsu'' (meaning "potato harvest moon") and ''Mamemeigetsu'' (meaning "bean harvest moon") or ''Kurimeigetsu'' (meaning "chestnut harvest moon") are derived from these offerings.

History

Tsukimi refers to the Japanese tradition of holding parties to view the

harvest moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic coordinate system, ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon opp ...

. The custom is thought to have originated with Japanese aristocrats during the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

; influenced by the Chinese custom of Mid-Autumn Festival, they would gather to recite

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

under the full moon of the eighth month of the solar calendar, known as the . On the evening of the full moon, it is traditional to gather in a place where the Moon can be seen clearly, decorate the scene with Japanese pampas grass, and to serve white rice dumplings (known as ''Tsukimi dango''),

taro Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Afri ...

edamame is a preparation of immature soybeans in the pod, found in cuisines with origins in East Asia. The pods are boiled or steamed and may be served with salt or other condiments. In Japan, they are usually blanched in 4% salt water for 5 minut ...

, chestnuts and other seasonal foods, plus

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

as offerings to the Moon in order to pray for an abundant harvest. These dishes are known collectively as . Due to the ubiquity of sweet potato or taro among these dishes, the tradition is known as or "Potato harvest moon" in some parts of Japan. From 862 until 1683, the Japanese calendar was arranged so that the full moon fell on the 13th day of each month. In 1684, however, the calendar was altered so that the new moon fell on the first day of each month, moving the full moon two days later, to the 15th day of the month. While some people in Edo (present-day

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

) shifted their Tsukimi activities to the 15th day of the month, others continued to observe the festival on the 13th day. Furthermore, there were various regional observances in some parts of Japan on the 17th day of the month, as well as Buddhist observances on the 23rd or the 26th day, all of which were used as pretexts for often late-night parties during the autumn throughout the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

. This custom was brought to a swift end during the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

. Festivals dedicated to the Moon have a long history in Japan. During the

elements of the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

Mid-Autumn Festival were introduced to Japan. Members of the aristocratic class would hold moon-viewing events aboard boats in order to view the Moon's reflection on the surface of the water. The writing of

waka Waka may refer to: Culture and language * Waka (canoe), a Polynesian word for canoe; especially, canoes of the Māori of New Zealand ** Waka ama, a Polynesian outrigger canoe ** Waka hourua, a Polynesian ocean-going canoe ** Waka taua, a Māori w ...

poetry was also an element of such mid-autumn Moon viewing festivities. There are specific terms in Japanese to refer to occasions when the Moon is not visible on the traditional mid-autumn evening, including and . Even when the Moon is not visible, however, Tsukimi parties are held. A Unicode emoji exists for Tsukimi, featuring pampas grass, dango and the Moon.

Related foods

It is traditional to serve Tsukimi

and seasonal produce offerings during Tsukimi, as described above. In addition, there are several other dishes associated with Tsukimi. Boiled soba or

udon Udon ( or ) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. It is a comfort food for many Japanese people. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a hot soup as with a mild broth called ...

noodles topped with

nori Nori is a dried edible seaweed used in Japanese cuisine, made from species of the red algae genus '' Pyropia'', including ''P. yezonesis'' and '' P. tenera''. It has a strong and distinctive flavor, and is often used to wrap rolls of sushi or ...

and raw egg, then covered with broth are known as ''Tsukimi soba'' or ''Tsukimi udon''. In Kitakyushu an egg served atop

yaki udon is a Japanese stir-fried dish consisting of thick, smooth, white udon noodles mixed with a soy-based sauce, meat (usually pork), and vegetables. It is similar to yakisoba, which involves a similar stir-frying technique using ramen-style wheat ...

is known as ''Tenmado'', another name for Tsukimi in the local dialect. Similarly when a raw quail egg is used to top sushi, like battleship sushi gunkanzushi or a handroll temaki it is referred to as tsukimi style. At some fast food restaurants in Japan a special Fall Menu is offered during September and October featuring

fried egg A fried egg, also known as sunny-side up is a cooked dish made from one or more eggs which are removed from their shells and placed into a frying pan and fried. They are traditionally eaten for breakfast in many countries but may also be ser ...

sandwiches known as ''Tsukimi burgers''.

References

External links

*{{Commonscat-inline, Tsukimi
Moon Viewing Festival in Osaka
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Sumiyoshi taisha , also known as Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine, is a Shinto shrine in Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is the main shrine of all the Sumiyoshi shrines in Japan. However, the oldest shrine that enshrines the Sumiyoshi sanjin, the thr ...

Autumn events in Japan Harvest festivals Lunar observation September observances October observances Observances in Japan Moon in culture

History

Related foods

See also

References

External links