The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival 2022

中秋の名月

名月を取ってくれろと泣く子かな　一茶
Grab it, cried the child, pointing up at the full moon- Issa

It is the evening of the mid-autumn moon festival, when a substantial portion of the world's population collectively turns their eyes upwards toward the night sky. This happens in great waves across the time zones—from east to west.

From Japan to California…

The appreciation of the mid-autumn moon is a custom dating back at least to Han dynasty China-- probably even earlier. Indeed, for at least 2000 years now, it has been the full moon of the Eighth Month (approximately present-day September) which has been considered the most beautiful moon of the year.

In Japan, the custom of moon-viewing was adopted from China during the early Heian times, when moon-viewing parties were a celebrated part of court life. Aristocrats would drink rice wine and float around on their dragon-boats on man-made ponds as they gazed at the moon—perhaps composing poetry and snacking on mooncakes.

I was surprised to learn that the Japanese have two moon-viewing festivals. In addition to the Chinese-originated mid-Autumn moon of the Eighth Month (mid September in the modern calendar), called Jugoya (十五夜) or “the fifth night,” the Japanese do it all over again-- with a slight twist-- in the Ninth Month, in October, when nights are colder, and the moon even brighter.

The custom started when Emperor Daigo, who reigned from 897-930, decided that he preferred the late Autumn moon. And, from that time onward, it came to pass that Japan celebrated the autumn moon twice: once during the spectacular full moon of the Eight Month, and then again when the moon was not quite full on the 13th Night of the Ninth Month. This second moon viewing was known as The Thirteenth Night (十三夜, Jūsan'ya)

It's hard to say why the Emperor preferred the three-quarter moon over the full moon of the previous month, but perhaps the appeal has something to do with the Japanese aesthetic preference for the slightly imperfect over the perfect. Or maybe it is due to the ancient Taoist idea that the perfectly full moon is already in a state of decline.

We always drank cocoa for the second one so my son liked to call the moon of the ninth month the "Cocoa Moon.”

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*Although a central focus of tea ceremony and Japanese aesthetics in general, the ethical aspect of beauty 美徳 is not a Japanese predilection alone, as it can be found in many cultures. From Plato to Indian aesthetics. This below by documentary filmmaker Benoy K. Behl about the murals of Alchi:

In the Indian philosophy of aesthetics, it is believed that the ecstasy we experience on seeing something truly beautiful, whether it be in nature or in art, is akin to Brahmananda itself, which is the final bliss of salvation. The moment of the experience of beauty is one of the highest states, in which man senses his kinship with the whole of creation: a state in which the soul shakes off its material attachments and feels the bliss of unity with the divine. Thus, the ecstatic response to beauty was seen as a glimpse of the realization of truth itself. This philosophy was most fully developed in Kashmir. In the 10th century, around the time of Rinchen Zangpo's visit to the valley, the great aesthetician-philosopher of India, Abhinavgupta, lived in Kashmir. In that period, Shaivism and Vajrayana Buddhism in Kashmir were deeply permeated by the philosophy of aesthetics. The surviving art of the trans-Himalayan monasteries brings us some of the most sublime manifestations of this philosophic outlook.