Tea utensils, tea ceremony tools, matcha tea bowl, moon viewing, blue background, rabbit in the moonlight, made by Higashiyama Miyama

Hello, this is Imaya Shizukaen.

Today we will introduce the Matcha Tea Bowl "Rabbit on a Moonlit Night" made by Higashiyama Miyama.

Please take a look.

Harvest Moon (the 15th night of the month/Moon viewing)
It means "the moon that rises in the middle of autumn".
So when is the "middle of autumn"?
This means that the middle of autumn is August, and the harvest moon occurs in the middle of August, around the 15th.
Since the current Gregorian calendar is one to two months behind the lunar calendar, the fifteenth night of the full moon is considered to be "the day when the full moon appears between September 7th and October 8th."

Moon viewing customs and offerings
Although it seems to vary depending on the region, it is customary to make offerings during the moon viewing festival.
Each offering has a meaning. Here are some of them.

・Japanese silver grass
One of the seven autumn herbs.
They began offering the flowers as offerings because the white pampas grass resembles ears of rice and is believed to ward off evil spirits.
・Moon viewing dumplings
The round dumplings resemble the moon and are said to express gratitude.
On the fifteenth night of the lunar month, there are 15 dumplings, which are piled up like a pyramid and offered.
This is because the topmost dumpling was thought to be a bridge to the spirit world.
・Crops
They offered freshly harvested crops such as taro, chestnuts, and edamame to give thanks for the good harvest.
It is particularly common to offer taro as an offering, and the Mid-Autumn Moon is also known as the Taro Moon.

Customs
Not only offerings, but unique customs are also passed down in each region.
The most common is the "moon viewing thief."
This means that you can freely take offerings only during the moon viewing festival.
Example: In some parts of Nagasaki Prefecture, it is called "Mandakana" and children are free to take the offerings.
In Senboku District, Akita Prefecture, this is called "kataashi gomen," and it is apparently permissible to step into someone else's house with one foot and take an offering.
Both of them take this to mean that the moon has eaten the offering and are happy.

[Higashiyama Deep Mountains]
Born in Kyoto in 1971 (Showa 46)
Graduated from Kyoto Prefectural Pottery Vocational Training School in 1987
Studied under Kisui Murata
1998 (Heisei 10) Opened kiln at Higashiyama Gojo Castle

Size: Approx. diameter 12.2 x height 8cm
Author: Higashiyama Miyama
Box Paper box

Here are some tools for moon viewing → Please click to view.