or , meaning, "''moon-viewing"'', are Japanese festivals honoring the autumn moon, a variant of the

Mid-Autumn Festival The Mid-Autumn Festival (for other names, see § Etymology) is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid- ...

. The celebration of the full moon 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 Japanese era name, year of the reign of the current Emperor. The written f ...

, known as ; the waxing moon 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 A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicates the season or almost equivalently the apparent position of the Sun relative to the stars. The Gregorian calendar, widely accepted as a standard in the world, is an example of a 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 Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

, 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 made from Japanese pampas grass (''susuki'') and eating rice dumplings called ''Tsukimi

dango is a Japanese dumpling made with regular rice flour and glutinous rice flour. They are usually made in round shapes, and three to five pieces are served on a skewer, which is called . The pieces are eaten with sugar, syrup, red bean paste, a ...

'' in order to celebrate the beauty of the Moon. Seasonal produce are also displayed as offerings to the Moon.

Sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of ...

es 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 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 Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

; influenced by the Chinese custom of

, they would gather to recite

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

under the full moon of the eighth month of the

, 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, stems and Petiole (botany), petioles. Taro corms are a ...

edamame is an East Asian dish prepared with immature soybeans in their pods, which are boiled or steamed, and may be served with salt or other condiments. The dish has become popular across the world because it is rich in vitamins, dietary fiber, and i ...

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

s and other seasonal foods, plus

sake Sake, , or saki, 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 indeed any East Asi ...

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." 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 In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. ...

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 Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

(present-day

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

) 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 , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. This custom was brought to a swift end during the

Meiji period The was 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 colonizatio ...

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

elements of the Chinese

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 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 An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis; , ) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram, or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of modern emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from type ...

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 Soba ( or , "buckwheat") are Japanese noodles made primarily from buckwheat flour, with a small amount of wheat flour mixed in. It has an ashen brown color, and a slightly grainy texture. The noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sau ...

udon Udon ( or ) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a soup as with a mild broth called made from dashi, soy sauce, and mirin. It is usual ...

noodles topped with

nori Nori is a dried edible seaweed used in Japanese cuisine, usually made from species of the red algae genus ''Pyropia'', including ''P. yezoensis'' and ''Pyropia tenera, P. tenera''. It has a strong and distinctive flavor, and is generally made in ...

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

Kitakyushu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fuk ...

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 is a traditional Japanese dish made with , typically seasoned with sugar and salt, and combined with a variety of , such as seafood, vegetables, or meat: raw seafood is the most common, although some may be cooked. While sushi comes in n ...

'' it is referred to as tsukimi style. At some Japanese fast food restaurants, a special Fall Menu is offered during September and October featuring

fried egg A fried egg is a cooked dish made from one or more eggs which are removed from their shells and placed into a frying pan and cooked. They are traditionally eaten for breakfast or brunch in many countries but may also be served at other times o ...

sandwiches known as ''Tsukimi burgers''.

References

External links

{{Commonscat, 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. It gives its name to a style of shrine architecture known as '' Sumiyoshi-zukuri''. ...

O-Tsukimi or Moon-Viewing Events in the United States
Autumn equinox Autumn in Japan Festivals in Japan Harvest festivals Heian period Lunar observation Mid-Autumn Festival Moon in culture October observances September observances

History

Related foods

See also

References

External links