Harvest Moon

Meigisu

Meigitsu 名月 — bright moon, full moon, in Autumn we call Harvest Moon. September, the acorns are falling, there is dew in the grass once again, it is cooler, and the world is experiencing its last Super Moon until 2037. Is the moon locking up the summer heat? We hope.

Zansho 残暑 — the heat lingers on
Summer is over
its heat sent to the Harvest Moon,
let’s enjoy the coolness

夏かけて名月暑き涼み哉
natsu kakete meigetsu atsuki suzumi kana
Matsuo Basho, Autumn 1693

natsu kakete (natsu, summer; kakete, over; meaning thank God, ‘summer is over’) meigetsu (harvest moon, full moon) atsuki (heat, hot) suzumi (beat the heat, cooling off) kana (expressing hope)

Summer is Over

Zansho, 残暑. And still, the heat lingers on.

Gabi Greve, in her excellent website on all things Basho, notes that this haiku was written “on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of 1693”. It was Matsuo Basho’s last harvest moon. Tired and not feeling well, Basho was ready for a break from teaching, visitors, and family (he had been caring for his nephew who was ill).

Note. Full moons in the Japanese lunar calendar had occurred on the 13th day. In 1684, the Japanese lunar calendar was shifted so that the new moon fell on the first day of each month, moving the full moon to the 15th day of the month. On a western calendar, this is bumped to September, Friday, September 29th, to be precise.

Extra:

Just for fun, check out Ruth Etting singing Shine on Harvest Moon

Shine on Harvest Moon, Ruth Etting, 1931

September 15th

Sadame Naki

The weather is unpredictable and life is uncertain.

From May to September, Matsuo Basho and his traveling companion Sora headed off on a journey into Japan’s northern interior. First through the interior, then to the east coast, then down the Mogami River to the west coast. Finally, arriving in Tsuruga in September. Basho might have wanted to celebrate the beautiful Harvest Moon with friends but it rained.

On the 14th of September, it was clear, on the 15th, as the innkeeper at Tsuruga predicted, it rained.

On this night of the Harvest Moon
the weather in the West is
unpredictable

名月や北国日和定めなき
meigetsu ya hokkoku biyori sadame naki
Matsuo Basho

Note. In Japan, full moons, or new moons, occur on the 15th of the lunar month.

Basho writes. “I was expecting a Harvest Moon tonight, but it rained. The weather in the north is unpredictable.”

meigetsu (Harvest Moon, full moon) ya (emphasis) hokkoku (literally ‘north country,’ it actually refers to Hokuriku region along Japan’s western coast) biyori (weather) sadame (sadame has several meanings, fated, decisions, fate) naki (negative), sadame naki implies an unpredictability in one’s fate.

Whether one calls it sadame naki, uncertainty, unpredictability, it is all the same. Life is uncertain. The only certainty, as the innkeeper suggests, is that the weather is uncertain, and bound to change. As Basho has come to celebrate his journey and its ending, it will surely rain.

From Izayoi Nikki (13th century):

sadame naki
inochi wa shiranu
tabi naredo

life itself is unknown and what lies ahead on this journey is uncertain
tr. by Edwin O. Reischauer, from Izayoi Nikki, The Trip, Commencement of the Journey on the 16th day of the 10th month, 1277

This journey in Izayio Nikki (1277-1280, republished in Basho’s lifetime) commenced near Lake Biwa and Otsu, where Basho would be buried. Source: Jstor Collection

One might enjoy reading a more complete description of Basho’s visit to Tsuruga at the WKDMatsuoBasho website.

P.S. Though weathermen predict it, the weather in Kansas is reliably unpredictable. It is September with highs reaching 99 degrees. No rain for three weeks.

Moon Viewing

It is September. Children all over the world are amazed at the big orange harvest moon that rises over the horizon.

Megitsu and Shangye

Before Netflix and HBO, there was Moon Viewing. Shangyue in Chinese and Meigitsu in Japanese. Moon Viewing typically took place once a month when the moon was full. In China, a full moon took place on the first day of the month. In Japan full moons occurred on the 13th of the lunar month, until, in 1684, this was changed to the 15th. This is perhaps what made the Ides of March so ominous for Julius Caesar.

A Harvest Moon in Japan took place during the eighth lunar month, the ninth month, or September, by modern reckoning. Spectacular, since the harvest was in, or coming in, and people flocked to the fields to enjoy their favorite beverage while watching the greatest show in heaven. The Milky Way taking a back seat at this time.

Matsuo Basho began at least ten haiku with Meigitsu, often adding a ni, no, wa, or ya for emphasis. To me, a full moon is indescribable. It is a moment, a feeling. And you have got to be there to be in the moment.

Maybe that is the point of the following haiku:

Harvest Moon
All through the night
Round and round the pond.

名月や池をめぐりて夜もすがら
meigetsu ya ike o megurite yomosugara
Matsuo Basho, Autumn 1686

[meigetsu (full moon, harvest moon) ya (expressing awe) ike (pond) o (particle that may indicate down by, or around) megurite (around) yomosugara (all night long, all through the night)]

In 1685, Basho began his wandering years, but he was back in Edo, in Fukagawa, in his cottage, near a pond, for the fall of 1686. That fall Basho wrote the above haiku, as well as his famous frog-pond-splash haiku.

Maybe, just maybe, a frog was croaking and keeping Basho awake all night long.