O-Tsukimi

O-Tsukimi, The Autumn Moon-viewing Festival. 

(28^th, 29^th, 30^th September 2012).

O-Tsukimi, or the Moon viewing festival, is the traditional Japanese festival, which honors the last full moon before the autumnal equinox, (and corresponds with our “Harvest Moon”).

The festival dates from the Heian period, (794-1185), a period when Buddhism, Taoism and the cultural influence of the Chinese Tang dynasty was at its height. The aristocrats of Japans cultural elite would gather to recite poetry, listen to music, eat specialties, and drink tea under the full moon. 

It is said that every year at the Moon-viewing festival a retired imperial prince would sit patiently on the polished bamboo floor of the veranda of the Katsura Imperial Villa, waiting for the moon’s reflection to shimmer across the pond in the garden. When the reflection of the moon appeared on the surface of the lake he would lift his sake cup to catch the reflection of the moon in the cup and this would bring him good luck in the next year.........

The Autumn Moon

The moon appears in every season, it is true,

But surely it's best in fall.

In autumn, mountains loom and water runs clear.

A brilliant disk floats across the infinite sky,

And there is no sense of light and darkness,

For everything is permeated with its presence.

The boundless sky above, the autumn chill on my face.

I take my precious staff and wander about the hills.

Not a speck of the world's dust anywhere,

Just the brilliant beams of moonlight.

I hope others, too, are gazing on this moon tonight,

And that it's illuminating all kinds of people.

Autumn after autumn, the moonlight comes and goes;

Human beings will gaze upon it for eternity.

The sermons of Buddha, the preaching of Eno,

Surely occurred under the same kind of moon.

I contemplate the moon through the night,

As the stream settles, and white dew descends.

Which wayfarer will bask in the moonlight longest?

Whose home will drink up the most moonbeams?

Ryokan (1758-1831)

Source: Stevens. J, (1993) Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf (Zen Poems of Ryokan) Shambala Publications Inc London (page 30).

Photo by courtesy of: http://mattsko.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/the-full-moon-in-japanese-art/