An expectant audience, faced towards the east
Gagaku performance to accompany the moon
Ah, the joys of living in Kyoto! Not a week passes without a special event of some sort, and most weeks there are several.
Yesterday was the night of the September full moon, or harvest moon, by tradition the most beautiful of the year. The custom of moon-viewing parties is said to have been introduced from China in the eighth or ninth century, with aristocrats staying up all night to drink saké and write poems. Now there are festivals at several shrines and temples. My local shrine, which just happens to be a World Heritage Site, holds events from 5.30 to around 8.30, by which time the moon has risen above the eastern hills to emerge triumphantly over the tall trees of Tadasu Wood. There must have been some six to eight hundred people inside the shrine compound, and it was still only half full with plenty of room to walk around – which just goes to show how large the major shrines are. Despite the relatively small population, they built on a huge scale in the past to show the splendour of the kami.
Full moon rising
Here was all the elegance and grace of Heian-era Kyoto, with beauitfully attired gagaku musicians, stately kagura dancers, koto players, and a tea ceremony served by miko. The eerie sound of the shakuhachi accompanies the ascent of the moon god, and sat in the compound watching the magical appearance of the shining orb through the layered banks of clouds one is reminded of the wonder of life and how strongly earlier generations were attuned to the movements of the sky. Shinto places much emphasis on the sun goddess, but the dark mysteries of the moon are no less worthy of celebration.
You always find something intriguing at Shinto festivals. In this case I was startled when after a gagaku rendition of otherworldly spirituality, a group of koto players played something oddly familiar – Holst’s Jupiter! Hardly traditional, you might say, and a bizarre upstaging of the moon though no one else seemed to find it incongruous. I also noticed a woman producing rabbits out of a basket. Not a magician, she told me, but she’d come along because it was the year of the rabbit and she kept a troupe of twenty at home. I couldn’t help wondering what she’d be bringing next year!
Offerings include Mitarashi dango (the local sweet soy 'dumplings')
Elegantly attired gagaku musicians
Anyone for tea?
It's the year of the rabbit!
Thank you for this post. Most wonderful. Here in Brooklyn NY, we had a great moonrise last night, but no formalities to accompany it. I watched it with joy and thought about the goings-on in Kyoto, which I’d read about yesterday on another site. Are there moon-viewing ceremonies in Kyoto for next month’s moon? I’ll be visiting and would love to attend.
Hi Gerry…
There are no special events for next month’s moon as the autumn/harvest moon is considered the biggest and most beautiful of the year. Of course, you can always arrange your own
event. All you need is saké and one special person! Finding a good location is important… an elevated position, one away from street lights, one where the moonlight reflects off water or appears through trees
such as bamboo are all likely to stimulate the senses and weave a poetic effect… Saigyo wrote a lot of good poems about the moon and moonlight. Enjoy!!