The full moon on the fifteenth night of the eighth lunar month is specially called “Chushu no Meigetsu” which literally means the great full moon of the Mid-Autumn and fell on September 19th this year. People traditionally enjoy viewing this fifteenth night moon which is thought to be the most beautiful full moon of the entire year in the clear autumn night sky.

Combined with the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, the harvest festival of taros or Satoimo in ancient Japan was thought to have been changed into the custom of viewing “Chushu no Meigetsu”.

The weather last night was luckily good in most regions of Japan and we had a good view of the fifteenth night moon. But it could be often invisible depending on the weather condition. Even in the case of bad weather on the fifteenth night, people in old times had expected and waited for the moon in the day that followed.

The moon you will see tonight on the sixteenth night is called Izayoi, which is a noun formed from the old verb “Izayou” which means “hesitate” or “waver.” People looking up at the sky and waiting for the moon had felt as if the moon would be hesitating to appear, because the sixteenth night moon rises about half an hour later than the fifteenth night moon. And the special names of the moon go on further as follows.

• Tachimachi no Tsuki (the 17th): The moon coming out while standing and waiting.
• Imachi no Tsuki (the 18th): The moon coming out while sitting and waiting.
• Nemachi no Tsuki (the 19th):  The moon coming out while sleeping and waiting.
• Fukemachi no Tsuki (the 20th): The moon coming out while waiting late at night.

Izayoi
– Fumiyaen –

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Although “autumn” has come according to the calendar, it is still the hottest period of the year and various “summer” festivals are held in Shinto shrines around the country.

A portable shrine or Mikoshi, in which a divine spirit is temporarily transferred, parades through the city in many cases.

The taste of the summer festival is often incorporated into the tea ceremony, so that guests can feel the season. The hanging scroll of Kami (Shinto God), which reminds guests of shrines or summer festivals, is a typical example.

Shinto God
– Fumiyaen –

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To cool oneself in such hot weather, Sensu folding fans have been used since long ago. Folding fans are also used in traditional Japanese plays such as Kabuki and Noh, and they were used even as weapons (iron fans) in the ancient times.

The folding fan was invented in Japan in the beginning of the Heian period (794-1192) as a memo to write words or poems. The Japanese folding fan with a piece of paper on a single side was brought into China by a Zen monk in the Kamakura period (1185-1333), and it was reimported to Japan with the style that pieces of paper pasted on both sides in the Muromachi period (1336-1573).

Sensu folding fans should be carried by all guests coming to the tea ceremony. Guests place the fans in front of their knees when greeting the host of the ceremony or other guests, and when looking at the hanging scroll and the Chabana flower.

In the tea ceremony, Sensu folding fan represents a border line between a host and a group of guests, or between guests. Each guest abases oneself by setting a border line between oneself and another person with a folding fan in order to show respect.

It is not allowed to unfold a folding fan before, during or after the tea ceremony. So there is no chance to use it as an actual fan in the tea room, even if it is a hot day.

Sensu folding fan
– Fumiyaen –

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Japan is an island country surrounded by the sea on all sides. The sea provides us with many benefits and a variety of scenery of sea has been made into poems and painted in pictures.

One of the popular patterns that feature the sea is Seigaiha (Sei – blue, Gai – sea, Ha – waves). It is a pattern of semicircle shapes in three layers, repeated like waves, and depicts the calm state of the sea.

The pattern of Seigaiha was made in Sassanian Persia (226-651) and brought to Japan along the Silk Road. The Japanese name of “Seigaiha” was derived from a program of the court music (Gagaku) named Seigaiha in which the dress with this pattern was used.

There is another pattern which is commonly seen in the utensils or the fabrics for the tea ceremony, called Tsubo-Tsubo, which features some rounded earthenware pots (Tsubo). Since this has been a special pattern for the tea schools, you are allowed to use it only after you have practiced a lot and received your own “tea name” from the head of your tea school.

Tsubo-Tsubo was designed by Sen no Soutan (1578-1658) who is a historical figure in the tea ceremony and the grandson of Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591). Soutan was inspired by the unglazed pots, which were sold in front of Fushimi Inari shrine that he believed in.

The pattern of “Seigaiha Tsubo-Tsubo” is a combination of Seigaiha, which is one of the most famous patterns featuring sea in Japan, and Tsubo-Tsubo, which is a special pattern especially for the tea ceremony and the tea schools. The design of the pots floating calmly on water has been valued as good omen and used in various tea ceremony utensils.

Seigaiha Tsubo-Tsubo
– Fumiyaen –

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Tanabata or the Star Festival originates from the legend of a weaver princess Orihime and a cowherd prince Hikoboshi. They were in love with each other, but Orihime’s father Tentei found fault with them and separated them on opposite sides of the Milky Way. Since then this loving couple is allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month.

You can watch the Milky Way between the Lyre’s Vega which represents Orihime and the Eagle’s Altair which represents Hikoboshi in the clear sky on the moonless summer night.

Tanabata Festival is celebrated in East Asia and varies by country. In Japan people write their wishes on strips of paper called Tanzaku and hang them on bamboo branches.

Although Tanzaku are known as strips of thin paper used mainly for Tanabata Festival today, actually the narrow and fancy cardboard, on which Japanese poems (Tanka or Haiku) are written, are also a kind of Tanzaku.

In the tea ceremony, Tanzaku which features a seasonal word or poem is decorated in the tea room to entertain guests.

Tanabata Tanzaku
– Fumiyaen –

It is about the time when yellow flowers of ground cherries or Hozuki bloom. Flowering Hozuki indicates that the season of the ground cherry fairs or Hozuki-ichi is coming soon.

Hozuki-ichi is one of the early summer features in Japan and the potted ground cherries which are ripening and turning red are displayed for sale in the precincts of temples or shrines. In Sensoji temple in Tokyo, it is said that people who make a pilgrimage at the day of Hozuki-ichi would have 46,000 days worth of merit.

In the old times children used to play with Hozuki by inflating a fruit in one’s mouth and making a sound. This play is said to be the origin of the word “Hozuki” – cheeks (Ho) pushing out (Tsuki).

Summer Solstice
– Fumiyaen –

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In most regions of Japan, the rainy season has set in. The rainy and humid weather continues for more than a month.

There is a flower which flourishes in the humid climate and feasts our eyes in the depressing rainy season – Ajisai or hydrangea.

Hydrangea is native to southern and eastern Asia. There are about 150 kinds of hydrangea in Japan and about 500 kinds in foreign countries.

The flowers of Japanese hydrangea were originally blue. After Japan ended its national isolation and opened the country to the world in the middle of the 19th Century, some European people who had come to Japan took Japanese hydrangea home with them.

When they planted Japanese blue hydrangea in Europe, some of them became pink or red. The color of the flowers is affected by soil pH. It is blue when the soil is acid, but it is red when the soil is alkaline.

Thanks to the selective bleeding of Japanese hydrangea in foreign countries, we can enjoy various colorful hydrangea which have been reimported.

Hydrangea White
– Fumiyaen –

Hydrangea Black
– Fumiyaen –

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It is about the time to gather Sansai or the edible wild plants grown in mountains. One of the most popular Sansai is bracken (Warabi), which is boiled and eaten with soy sauce dressing, or fried as Tempura.

A popular summer dessert “Warabi-mochi” was made from the starch of bracken (Warabi) roots. Warabi-mochi was first made in the 1560s for the tea ceremony and is still often served in the modern tea ceremony in summer because its cool appearance is suitable for the hot season.

The bracken-root starch is very expensive, because it takes a lot of time and care to produce it and only 70 grams (0.15 lbs) of starch can be extracted from 10 kg (22 lbs) of the bracken roots. Therefore, most Warabi-mochi are made from the starch of sweet potatoes, tapioca or arrowroot (Kudzu) as substitute for the bracken-root starch today.

Warabi Futaoki
– Fumiyaen –

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Most manners of the tea ceremony had been made based on the tea-making procedure with Furo, before Ro was derived from Furo and introduced into the tea ceremony.

Today, Furo is used from May, or the time when Japanese roses (Yamabuki) bloom, to October, or the time when Citrus junos (Yuzu) ripen.

With this change of equipment to make fire from Ro to Furo in May, some utensils are also switched for summer use, such as the smaller kettles (Kama) that can be set in Furo and the wooden incense containers (Kogo) instead of the ceramic ones.

The tea ceremony in May is specifically called Shoburo which means the first Furo, and a host elaborates the Shoburo ceremony with the taste of early summer, so that guests can enjoy the tea-making procedure with Furo for the first time in a half-year.

Clay Furo
– Fumiyaen –

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May 5th is a national holiday called Children’s Day or Boys’ Festival to pray for the healthy growth of boys. Most families with young boys celebrate the day by putting up carp-shaped streamers (Koinobori) or displaying ornamental helmets (Kabuto).

The 5th day of the 5th month that consists of two fives was considered to be a bad omen and the events to purge noxious vapors had been held in ancient China. That idea was introduced to Japan and sweet flags has been used to drive evil spirits away.

In the Kamakura period (1185-1333), the start of Samurai-based society, it became the event for Samurai or their successors (boys) to pray their success in life, because the word for “sweet flag” was pronounced same as the word for “martial spirit” (both are pronounced “Shobu” in Japanese).

Displaying a helmet, which is considered to be the symbol to protect one’s life, implies protecting boys from accidents or diseases today.

Kabuto lid rest
– Fumiyaen –

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