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Moon Viewing in Japan

Tsukimi or Otsukimi Celebration

Beginning in 862 during the Heian Period (794 - 1185) in Japan, the calendar was arranged so that the full moon fell on the 13th day of each month. Influenced by Chinese practice, it became traditional for Japanese aristocrats to gather on the 13th day of the 8th month at a place where the full moon could be clearly seen to appreciate its beauty. 

This print by Nishimura Shigenaga (1697 – 1756) illustrating such a celebration was produced in 1726. Shigenaga taught himself art. He had no known master and worked in a variety of styles and subjects.

Sometimes, groups would view the full moon from boats as illustrated in this ukiyo-e print by Tori Kiyonaga (1752 - 1815). Kiyonaga was known for his kabuki prints and bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful people). He eventually became head of the Tori school of art.

The Japanese calendar was changed in 1683 so that the new moon fell on the 1st day of each month, moving the full moon to the 15th day. Some people continued to celebrate the moon on the 13th day, though it was still waxing, while others moved the full-moon celebration to the 15th day. Soon, excuses arose to celebrate moon viewing to other dates in that general time period. The celebration continues today in the September/October time frame under the Western calendar which was adopted in 1873. This year, tsukimi officially occurs on September 29. 

Tsukimi celebrations often involve decorating moon-viewing places with pampas grass, serving tsukimi dango (special rice dumplings) and other special foods, drinking sake, and reciting waka (Japanese poetry); all in hopes for bountiful harvests.

Tsukimi dango are the stacked, white, spherical objects shown below. In this instance, there are 15 of them, corresponding with the traditional 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Sometimes the top tsukimi dango is colored yellow.

Sometimes, rabbits are part of the display in honor of the rabbit in the moon pounding rice into mochi (rice cakes) that Japanese folklore sees instead of the man in the moon that Westerners often imagine.

Fukuda Chiyo-ni (1703 - 1775)

Numerous Japanese poems have been written about the moon. One of them is the haiku featured in this week's haiga painting subject, Pampas Grass and Bush Clover. Chiyo-ni was one of the few highly respected female haiku poets of the Edo Period, Known as Chiyo most of her life, the "ni" suffix was added to her name when she became a nun at age 52, though she lived in her home rather than in a temple. Her status allowed her to receive male visitors, other poets, without the customary restrictions usually placed on women in that era. Once at a gathering of haiku poets in Kyōto, she wrote the best poem of the event in honor of the full moon without mentioning it.

This evening!

Since the crescent moon

I’ve been waiting.

Though Matsuo Bashō (1644 – 1694) passed away before Chiyo-ni was born, she was a great admirer of his poetry.

The haiku of Chiyo-ni's I use in this week's haiga is:

Pampas Grass (ohana or susuki)

Both pampas grass and bush clover are among the traditional Seven Flowers of Autumn in Japan, all admired since the Heian Period without needing, like pampas grass, to be associated with a special celebration.

The pampas grass of Japan, sometimes called Japanese silver grass, is a different species from the South American variety known in the Western world, though the two are similar in appearance.

Its appearance in the wild can be quite striking.

The Sengokuhara Japanese Pampas Grass Field near Hakone is a popular flower tourist destination in the fall.

Examples of Japanese artwork featuring the moon and pampas grass aren't hard to find. This 6-fold byōbu titled Autumn Grasses, one of a pair, was done by an unknown artist from the Hasegawa school in the first half of the 17th century.

This print was produced by Ohara Koson (1877 – 1945), a prominent shin-hanga (new prints) artist.

The early 20th century shin-hanga movement was an attempt to restore traditional Japanese subjects, values, and techniques to Japanese art, much of which was abandoned when Japan opened to the world at the end of the Edo Period and artists rushed to explore the new techniques they were suddenly exposed to.

Bush Clover (hagi)

Hagi Matsuri (Bush Clover Festival) is another annual celebration for flowers held in the autumn. The photo below is from a tunnel of bush clover at Mukojima-Hyakkaen Gardens in Tōkyō.

An annual bush clover celebration at Kyōto's Nashinoki Shrine was held on September 23 - 25. The festival featured traditional activities and demonstrations such as ikebana flower arranging, dance performances, music with traditional instruments, archery (Kyūdō) demonstrations, and Kyōgen, comical plays or skits originally developed for brief interludes been acts of the much more serious Nō plays.

Bush clover (hagi) is a member of the pea family.

The sparrows and bush clover ukiyo-e print below, produced sometime in the 1830s, is by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 - 1858) who is most famous for his landscapes.