, (sometimes written as Otsukimi) literally
moon-viewing, refers to Japanese festivals honoring the autumn moon. The celebration of the
full moonFull moon is a lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. More precisely, a full moon occurs when the geocentric apparent longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180 degrees; the Moon is then in opposition with the Sun...
typically takes place on the 15th day of the eighth month of the traditional Japanese
lunisolar calendarA lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year. If the solar year is defined as a tropical year then a lunisolar calendar will give an indication of the season; if it is taken as a sidereal year then the calendar will...
; the
waxing moonA lunar phase or phase of the moon refers to the appearance of the illuminated portion of the Moon as seen by an observer, usually on Earth. The lunar phases vary cyclically as the Moon orbits the Earth, according to the changing relative positions of the Earth, Moon and Sun...
is celebrated on the 13th day of the ninth month. These days normally fall in September and October of the modern
solar calendarA solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicate the position of the earth on its revolution around the sun .-Tropical solar calendars:...
.
The Tsukimi custom was originally borrowed from the
ChineseChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
Mid-Autumn FestivalThe Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, Zhongqiu Festival, or in Chinese, Zhongqiujie , is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people and Vietnamese people , dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty...
. The tradition 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 made from
Japanese pampas grassMiscanthus sinensis Miscanthus sinensis Miscanthus sinensis (Chinese silver grass, Eulalia grass, Maiden grass, Zebra grass, Porcupine Grass; syn. Eulalia japonica Trin., Miscanthus sinensis f. glaber Honda, Miscanthus sinensis var. gracillimus Hitchc., Miscanthus sinensis var. variegatus Beal,...
(
susuki) and eating rice dumplings called
Tsukimi dangois a Japanese dumpling made from mochiko , related to mochi. It is often served with green tea.Dango are eaten year-round, but the different varieties are traditionally eaten in given seasons. Three to four dango are often served on a skewer...
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 (literally "potato harvest moon") and
Mamemeigetsu ("bean harvest moon") or
Kurimeigetsu ("chestnut harvest moon") are derived from these offerings.
History
Tsukimi refers to the Japanese tradition of holding parties to view the
harvest moonThe harvest moon is the moon at or about the period of fullness that is nearest to the autumnal equinox. The Harvest moon is often mistaken for the modern day Hunter's moon.-History:...
. The custom is thought to have originated with Japanese aristocrats during the
Heian periodThe is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyoto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Confucianism and other Chinese influences were at their height...
, who would gather to recite poetry under the full moon of the eighth month of the
lunisolar calendarA lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year. If the solar year is defined as a tropical year then a lunisolar calendar will give an indication of the season; if it is taken as a sidereal year then the calendar will...
, known as the "Mid-Autumn Moon." Since ancient times, Japanese people have described the eighth lunisolar month (corresponding to September on the contemporary
Gregorian calendarThe Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas...
) as the best time for looking at the moon, since the relative positions of the earth, sun, and moon cause the moon to appear especially bright. 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),
taroTaro is a tropical plant grown primarily as a vegetable food for its edible corm, and secondarily as a leaf vegetable. It is considered a staple in Oceanic cultures. It is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants...
,
edamameis a preparation of baby soybeans in the pod commonly found in Japan, China and Korea. The pods are boiled in water together with condiments such as salt, and served whole....
,
chestnutChestnut is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The Chestnut belongs to the same Fagaceae family as the Oak and Beech...
s and other seasonal foods, plus
sakeSake or saké is a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice.This beverage is called sake in English, but in Japanese, sake or o-sake refers to alcoholic drinks in general. The Japanese term for this specific beverage is Nihonshu , meaning "Japanese sake".Sake is also referred to in English as...
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 moonIn astronomical terminology, the phrase new moon is the lunar phase that occurs when the Moon, in its monthly orbital motion around Earth, lies between Earth and the Sun, and is therefore in conjunction with the Sun as seen from Earth...
fell on the 1st day of each month, moving the full moon two days later, to the 15th day of the month. While some people in
Edo, literally: bay-door, "estuary", ), also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
(present-day
Tokyo, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
) 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 periodThe , or , is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1868 and is the premodern era. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period ended with the Meiji Restoration, the...
. This custom was brought to a swift end during the
Meiji periodThe , or Meiji era denotes the period in Japanese history during the 45-year reign of the Meiji Emperor . During this time, Japan began its modernization and rose to world power status...
.
Festivals dedicated to the moon have a long history in Japan, dating as far back as the
Jomon periodThe is the time in Japanese prehistory from about 14,000 BCE to 400 BCE.The term "Jōmon" means "cord-patterned" in Japanese. This refers to the markings made on clay vessels and figures using sticks with cords wrapped around them which are characteristic of the Jōmon people.-Incipient and initial...
. During the
Heian periodThe is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyoto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Confucianism and other Chinese influences were at their height...
elements of the
ChineseChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
Mid-Autumn FestivalThe Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, Zhongqiu Festival, or in Chinese, Zhongqiujie , is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people and Vietnamese people , dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty...
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
tanka* Tanka, a genre of Japanese poetry * Tanka prose, one species of the Japanese literary genre, combines tanka poems and prose.* Thangka, a pictorial representation in Tibetan Buddhism...
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 in not visible on the traditional mid-autumn evening, including Mugetsu (無月 literally: no-moon) and Ugetsu (雨月 rain-moon). Even when the moon is not visible, however, Tsukimi parties are held.
Tsukimi related foods
It is traditional to serve Tsukimi
dangois a Japanese dumpling made from mochiko , related to mochi. It is often served with green tea.Dango are eaten year-round, but the different varieties are traditionally eaten in given seasons. Three to four dango are often served on a skewer...
and seasonal produce offerings during Tsukimi, as described above. In addition, there are several other dishes associated with Tsukimi.
Boiled
sobais a type of thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour. It is served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth as a noodle soup. Moreover, it is common in Japan to refer to any thin noodle as soba in contrast to udon which are thick noodles made from wheat...
or
udonis a type of thick wheat-flour noodle popular in Japanese cuisine.Udon is usually served hot as noodle soup in a mildly flavoured broth, in its simplest form as kake udon, served in kakejiru made of dashi, soy sauce , and mirin. It is usually topped with thinly chopped scallions...
noodles topped with
noriis the Japanese name for various edible seaweed species of the red alga Porphyra including most notably P. yezoensis and P. tenera, sometimes called laver . The term nori is also commonly used to refer to the food products created from these "sea vegetables", similar to the Korean gim...
and raw egg, then covered with broth are known as
Tsukimi soba or
Tsukimi udon. In Kitakyushu an egg served atop
yaki udonYakiudon are thick, smooth, white Japanese noodles eaten with a special sauce, meat and vegetables. It is simple to make and a popular dish in Japan. See Yakisoba....
is known as
Tenmado, another name for Tsukimi in the local dialect.
At some fast food restaurants in Japan a special Fall Menu is offered during September and October featuring
fried eggFried eggs are traditionally eaten for breakfast in English-speaking countries, but may be eaten at other times of the day in other cultures.A fried egg is constructed by taking an egg and frying it....
sandwiches known as
Tsukimi burgers.