It's called Tsukimi or O Tsukimi, and it's spelled like this: 月見 (the first one's "moon" and the second one's "see"). In English, we translates it all literal-like as Moon Viewing. Tsukimi is the celebration of the harvest moon (and/or full moon -- I'll get back to that further on) in the middle of autumn (or fall, whichever you prefer to call it). The celebration takes place in autumn (or fall) because the mid-autumn harvest moon (called jūgoya or 十五夜) is the best one to look at, traditionally speaking. Get ready for a lot of "also's" and "I dunno/am not sure's".
First up, here's a Japanese language video (with subtitles), for those of you who want to practice their Japanese and/or want a movie. It's one of the places I used for this post. (I just might subscribe to them too).
All finished? Okay, here we go!
History
Word has it that going to look at the full moon started in, you guessed it, Heian times (the Heian period, or 平安時代, lasted from 794 AD to 1185 or 1192) -- a tradition that came from China. The first known time Tsukimi was celebrated (by the elite) was August 15th, 909 AD. In Kyoto, of course.
I don't know how long it lasted, but among the elite, the Tsukimi tradition was to go boating, and watching the moon's reflection on the water, or their sake (aka drinking) cups (sakazuki). And make up poems. There was also a Tsukimi feast, where there'd be music and making poems. Hmm, maybe my sources were rewording the same thing.
I don't know how long it lasted, but among the elite, the Tsukimi tradition was to go boating, and watching the moon's reflection on the water, or their sake (aka drinking) cups (sakazuki). And make up poems. There was also a Tsukimi feast, where there'd be music and making poems. Hmm, maybe my sources were rewording the same thing.
Time passed. Offerings to the moon on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month began in the Muromachi period (室町時代, it lasted from 1392 AD until 1573). This is the same period that meigatsu (it's supposed to mean "bright moon", and it might be spelled 名月) began to be a word. You'll see why I mentioned "meigetsu" in jus' a li'l bit.
More time passed. In the Edo period (1600 AD to 1868), Tsukimi was something that everyone celebrated, where people offered things like tsukimi dango (rice flour dumplings possibly filled with anko), sake, green soybeans, fruits that were in season and chestnuts to the moon. A commonly said thing is that a tradition on Tsukimi is praying for a good harvest (one place said it was about being thankful for the harvest, kinda thing.) On the 26th, people would get together to eat and drink, watch the moon rise and make poetry -- and there were also public entertainers, like story tellers. So Tsukimi, through time had switched from an upper class thing to a harvest festival. Now for some more I dunno-ing. A conflicting account has it that Tsukimi actually started out as a harvest festival, on account of farmers using the moon as a guide. So it was an instance of trickle up instead of trickle down. (... Sigh, and the internet was supposed to make knowledge more accessible.)
But getting back to the topic, the festival is not just known as Tsukimi. In this one book, the author says in the area where he used to live (in Japan), harvest time doesn't happen around August 15th (it happens later). So when that date rolls around, along with other offerings, people use edamame (green soybeans) as the principal offering to the moon. They call August 15th, "mame meigetsu" on account of the edamame. The author also says that in other areas Tsukimi changes, so if chestnuts (kuri or 栗) are the most common thing produced then it's called kuri meigetsu.
At any rate, Tsukimi isn't really a harvest festival anymore. More of what's done today is eating the foods associated with Tsukimi. ...There's also the tradition of having a Tsukimi get together/party. That still goes on. And on a related note, I've also read that Tsukimi is also about the fall landscape, including the bugs, as well as commemorating that the rice harvest is significant to people's lives.
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| Extreme Tsukimi! Actually, he doesn't seem that concerned. ( I left the picture that big so you could see his face.) |
So, uh, I guess now would be a good time to talk about when Tsukimi is, huh. Yeah...
When Is Tsukimi?
That is an incredibly good question. Apparently, the traditional date on which Tsukimi falls is the 15th day of the 8th month of the traditional Japanese lunar calendar. When is that in the Gregorian calendar? I have no idea. I mean, there are places that talk about August 15th (the full moon on this day, by the way, is called chūshū no meigetsu or 中秋の名月) as being a lunar date -- with an explanation that in the Gregorian calendar that means around September 15th. Then there's also a tradition of moon viewing on September 13th of the lunar calendar (a day called jūsan-ya, "13th night"). But that's not all!
It's also out there that Tsukimi is on the full moon wherever it falls between September 15th through the 20th -- which, it must be said, sort of matches up with the above paragraph. For those interested, in 2015 the full moon in September happens on the 27th, and in September 2016, the full moon is the 16th. But for 2017, September's full moon happens on the 6th (by the way, in the US, 2017's gonna have a solar eclipse that you can see across the US, particularly in western Kentucky).
It's also out there that Tsukimi is on the full moon wherever it falls between September 15th through the 20th -- which, it must be said, sort of matches up with the above paragraph. For those interested, in 2015 the full moon in September happens on the 27th, and in September 2016, the full moon is the 16th. But for 2017, September's full moon happens on the 6th (by the way, in the US, 2017's gonna have a solar eclipse that you can see across the US, particularly in western Kentucky).
I've also seen it that Tsukimi, within the context of the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, takes place near the autumnal equinox. It can take place anywhere from late September into the beginning of October.
But I've also read that in the Edo period (江戸時代) Tsukimi wasn't exactly one day. It tended to be celebrated most often on the 13th, 15th, and 26th day of the lunar eighth month. The 15th day's night was called Hazuki jūgoya or jūgoya (as I'd seen elsewhere) -- it was thought to be the clearest of all nights for the whole year... But I've also seen (as those of you who watched the above video have also seen) that you should go moon viewing on both August 15th and September 13th, because otherwise I guess you bring bad luck on yourself.
Here's the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) take on it all. It says -- in direct contradiction to what The Free Dictionary has to say about the term, I might add -- that "harvest moon":
"...indicates the moon on the night 15 days after the moon passes new phase..."
(I'm just gonna assume this means 15 days after the new moon.) NAOJ then says that the full moon comes after the harvest moon, though the number of days between the two moons differs by year.
It gives examples, including this one: 2016's harvest moon was September 15, but it's full moon was the 17th. Which obviously brings up the question, "Why does NASA say the full moon was the 16th?" I'm just gonna chalk it up to Japan being 14-ish hours ahead of the U.S. (On the East Coast, at least). Or it's a type-o.
So, I dunno, pick a day, pick two, it depends. You've got options. Why not celebrate each day?
Here's the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) take on it all. It says -- in direct contradiction to what The Free Dictionary has to say about the term, I might add -- that "harvest moon":
"...indicates the moon on the night 15 days after the moon passes new phase..."
(I'm just gonna assume this means 15 days after the new moon.) NAOJ then says that the full moon comes after the harvest moon, though the number of days between the two moons differs by year.
It gives examples, including this one: 2016's harvest moon was September 15, but it's full moon was the 17th. Which obviously brings up the question, "Why does NASA say the full moon was the 16th?" I'm just gonna chalk it up to Japan being 14-ish hours ahead of the U.S. (On the East Coast, at least). Or it's a type-o.
So, I dunno, pick a day, pick two, it depends. You've got options. Why not celebrate each day?
Plant Offerings
Part of what's offered up to the moon, traditionally, other than food, are various plants (one place referred to there being seven different kinds of plants. Examples include bush clover (hagi or 萩), Chinese bellflower (Kikyō or 桔梗), arrowroot, Japanese pampas grass/eulalia (susuki or ススキ), agueweed, fringed pink and patrinia palmata. One place called the aforementioned plants "aki no han". Another book doesn't mention all these plants but does include chrysanthemum (kiku or 菊) and says it's the most common one, up there with susuki and Chinese bellflower.
Here's a really long video of Japanese pampas (miscanthus) grass:
There's a tradition of picking some and putting it in a vase next to the food offerings, which themselves are put next to a window where you can see the moon.
Food
First I'll tell you what I know about making the offerings. You set all the food and grasses up facing south so that you and the moon god (Amaterasu's brother) can eat together. Or, you set it all in a prominent viewing place -- one source called the whole set up an altar. Sources differ, obviously.
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One food made for Tsukimi is tsukimi dango (月見団子), which (at least these days) seem to be balls of rice flour, sugar (and I'm assuming here) water that are steamed -- and may or may not have anko in it. There's a place that says you can spread skinless anko over the outside of tsukimi dango (but doesn't mention filling the dango with anko). It also says that you don't skewer tsukimi dango, and that the tsukimi dango's history starts in China. As to presentation, I've seen pictures where the dango are piled into a pyramid and then set in a low, possibly square, container that's been lined with what looks like parchment paper. The paper is set into the container so that it's corners rise above the container's walls.
And, speaking of tsukimi dango, according to the author I talked about up in the history section says there's a variant where a thumbprint impression is made in the dango, and this version's called heso mochi, and that it's those that are served with the fruits and such for offerings (I have no idea if this is just for where he lived though...) I wonder if that's the wood stand/sanbō thing I heard from a video that they're put into (see my refs below for the link or under my first paragraph above.)
There's a tradition of eating them after the moon viewing is over (I don't know how long that lasts). Apparently eating them is supposed to give you good health and make you happy.
But it's not just Tsukimi dango, really. There's also, as I said, seasonal stuff, associated with Tsukimi (and/or I guess autumn?) like chestnuts (kuri or 栗), taro (里芋), pears (nashi or 梨), green soybeans (edamame or 枝豆), grapes (budō or 葡萄) and persimmons (kaki or 柿). Things that ripen at the end of summer, or so I understand it. There's also sake (酒 or お酒 if you wanna be polite).
But let's talk about eggs for a moment. The phrase "tsukimi tamago" means fried egg. Seems that sunny-side up in Japan is actually harvest-moon side up. For instance....
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| Tsukimi Tamago alt. spelling. |
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| Tsukimi Tamago. |
There's Tsukimi udon/soba. This is where you take udon or soba noodles, add a hot broth and put a raw egg on top to poach (you can get kits for it). These two things seem to be sold in restaurants, at least in noodle shops. I say seem because I haven't found a book or website that's actually said that yet, or at least as firmly as I would like.
Restaurants get in on the Tsukimi thing too. For example, there's Tsukimi burgers, a seasonal item at McDonald's (and I think maybe other fast food places). With McDonald's version at least, the Tsukimi burger involves a bun, some bacon, a poached/fried egg, the hamburger itself and a mayonnaise/ketchup sauce (though I've heard it's like thousand island dressing without the pickle). There are also variants thereof, including one with cheese. Tsukimi burgers are sold before and/or during "Tsukimi season". I assume that means the month the moon is in, or August/September/October in general?
Here's a short video on McDonald's cheese Tsukimi burger:
And here's a longer video on Tsukimi burgers by the same two people. It also talks about another McDonald's burger I didn't know existed (but I guess it's only in Japan), the shrimp fillet. And, just so's ya know, there's one profanity in it around 2:22.
Below is my (truly massive) list of places I used for this post, plus or minus one or two I unthinkingly got rid of and don't remember what they were.
References
References
NASA Eclipse Website (I used this for the full moon dates)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hellbrunn Timeline of Art History: Muromachi Period (1392–1573)
Let's travel around Japan: Japanese noodle
YouTube: "Japanese Holidays - Tsukimi"; Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com; 2014
NAOJ: The Harvest Moon
And, yes, they are a mish-mash of different places, some of which are more academically reputable than others. But it's nice to see you down here. :)
Let's travel around Japan: Japanese noodle
YouTube: "Japanese Holidays - Tsukimi"; Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com; 2014
NAOJ: The Harvest Moon
And, yes, they are a mish-mash of different places, some of which are more academically reputable than others. But it's nice to see you down here. :)
