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.
Nowadays people celebrate tsukimi with their loved ones, watching the moon and enjoying mochi or tsukimi dango. Other popular tsukimi foods are chestnuts, pumpkin, soba and udon. The room is usually decorated with susuki, Japanese pampas grass or silver grass. Men believes that the silver grass will protect the house from evil.