#rabbit moon

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I made Tsukimi Soba noodles for my father and me and he didn’t understand the story with the rabbit on the moon, so I’m gonna try to explain it hahaha.. Here it goes: 

One night, the Man on the Moon came down to earth disguised as a beggar. He chanced upon a Fox, a Monkey, and a Rabbit and asked for some food. The Fox brought him fish from a stream, and the Monkey brought fruit from the trees, but the Rabbit could only offer grass. So he told the beggar to build a fire, and when it was built, threw himself onto the flames to offer himself to the Man. Amazed by the Rabbit's generosity, the beggar transformed back into the Man on the Moon and pulled the Rabbit from the fire. To honor the Rabbit's kindness, the Man on the Moon carried the Rabbit back to the moon to live with him. Now, if you look at the full moon, you can see the outline of the Rabbit pounding mochi on the moon.

Tsukimi means moon-viewing in Japanese and has been celebrated every September since the Heian period (794-1185). According to the lunar calendar, the moon is most beautiful around September 15th when it is at its fullest and nearest to the Autumnal equinox. Therefore this moon is also called harvest moon! In 2023, Tsukimi will be celebrated on the 29th of September, so how do people celebrate this special day and what’s its origin?

Tsukimi has been celebrated for a long time. The festival is said to be celebrated first during the Nara period (710-794) but it wasn’t until the Heian period (794-1185) that it became popular among aristocrats who would admire the moon’s reflection in the water and read 短歌 tanka poetry under the moonlight.

It was a rabbit moon and Wren could see it because she was a very good witch.

It loomed over the sky, a terrifying presence that no one else seemed to notice. Its singular eye was the crescent of the moon and its large nose disguised itself as a constellation, faint and almost unnoticeable if not for the way it twitched and wiggled.

Wren had at first thought her eyes were playing tricks on her when she noticed, but she had seen that constellation nose twitch, drawing attention to the fine light of hair that she had never noticed before.

Of course, this was not the first time that she had seen the rabbit moon, just the first time she’d seen it while drunk.

She blamed the intoxication for the bravery she had to ask, “Rabbit moon, rabbit moon, why do you stare at us so?”

She couldn’t be blamed for startling so badly that she almost fell over.

“Because you scurry and wiggle very nicely,” the rabbit moon replied, voice soft and deep like a velvet evening.

Being a witch, Wren did not startle for long. She took another long drink of her whisky and blinked at the rabbit moon. She didn’t make herself flinch when that large moon eye turned to her.

“I see you so often, dear rabbit moon,” Wren said. “I hope you aren’t too lonely?”

“I am alone,” the rabbit moon said. “But I am not lonely, because I see you.”

The witch smiled at the rabbit moon and toasted it with her cup.

“You can always talk to me if you want,” she told it. “If ever you feel the need to.”

Wren the witch went to bed, half convinced it was an alcohol induced hallucination.

Rabbit Moon: A Novel