A Note about the Mid-Autumn Moon

中秋の名月

Last night was the moon festival —and this year I enjoyed it at the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena. There were three musical ensembles (Shanghai Jazz, classical, and Chinese folk musicians) playing beautifully as children placed glowing lanterns onto the waters of the pond— below a gigantic moon lantern. Everyone I saw looked so happy, and as Ishmael says in Moby Dick, I felt the flood gates of the wonder-world flung open!

I’ve written a lot about the moon in these pages, so this year I just wanted to share a thought about Genji and a poem I love.

About Genji: I finally learned that Murasaki Shikibu began writing the Tale of Genji as she gazed at the harvest moon from Ishiayama temple on the shores of Lake Biwa. She was helped, it is said, by Kannon, Boddhisatva of compassion and wisdom. I will be getting back to my re-reading of the Tale this month. But I just love it that she started writing during the time of the mid-autumn moon.

And here is a poem I have loved since grad school.

久方の月の桂も秋はなほもみじすればやてりまさるらむ　　ただみね

Might it be because

The cinnabar tree on the moon

changes colors in autumn

that the autumn moon shines so brightly—Tadamine

Don’t you love the image of trees on the moon changing colors in autumn causing the moon to glow orange at this time of year?

In Tochigi, where we lived, many people had osmanthus trees and it is a big trigger for Japan memories for me. In Hong Kong, I always bought dried osmanthus flowers to add to my oolong tea. I still love the fragrance so much.

桂 Katsura

1. osmanthus; sweet osmanthus

2. cassia; Chinese cinnamon quotations ▼

3. true cinnamon; Saigon cinnamon; Indonesian cinnamon

4. laurel; bay laurel

5. of or relating to Guilin, Guangxi, or the region of the Gui River

6. a surname

Posts about the moon and October

The Mid-Autumn Moon

A few other poems about autumn

Kannazuki 神無月