Autumn is for Rabbits | ZENOAQ [Nippon Zenyaku Kogyo Co., Ltd.]

In the West we often hear about the "man in the moon", but in Japan the shadows and patterns on the face of the moon have long been seen as "rabbits on the moon". These rabbits on the moon, usually two, are supposedly pounding glutinous rice to make rice cakes.

The moon itself is a very important theme during the autum??n season in Japan. There are two "moon viewing nights" during September and October when people set up special offerings to the moon. The offering consist of a bundle of susuki(silver grass) and a plate of dango, or round rice cakes. In fact these rice cakes are called tsukimi - dango, or "moon viewing rice cakes". And here we come back to those "moon rabbits". The rabbits in the moon are making these moon viewing rice cakes for the moon viewing festivities. When you find rabbit motifs on pottery, fans etc. in Japan oftentimes there will be rabbits, silver grass, and the moon.

During the autumn season, everywhere you go in Japan, you will find the rabbits, silver grass, and moon theme depicted over and over again. Legend says that rabbits gather on a hilltop under the full moon and dance around together. There is a very old children's song called "Rabbit Dance" that every kindergartener knows depicting this scene. If you visit Japan in the autumn and see rabbits everywhere this is the reason why. The autumn moon and rabbits are inseparable.

But the rabbits themselves are also a very popular theme for Japanese artists and designers. There are several popular folktales where a rabbit is the main character. One of these is KachiKachi Yama (Mount kachikachi) about a rabbit that takes revenge on an evil badger after he kills a kind old woman. The tale is somewhat violent for the rabbit as a means of revenge first sets fire to a pile of firewood that the badger is carrying on his back down the mountain. The rabbit then pretends to be the healer and offers the badger a pot full of hot mustard as an ointment for his burns! Finally the rabbit invites the badger out for a fishing trip and offers him a boat made of dried mud. Needless to say, the badger drowns as his boat goes under once on the water, clever, but ruthless, is our bunny. The other famous tale is that of the white Rabbit of Inaba. In this story the white rabbit wanting to cross over a body of water fools the sharks into believing that he is counting the members of their clan for their sake. The sharks all line up obediently all the way from one shore to the other and enables the rabbit to reach his destination. Hopping off the last shark the white rabbit makes a snide remark about how easily fools can be used to one's advantage. But alas the last shark manages to get a hold of the rabbit's fur and tears it off. As the rabbit writhes in pain along comes Prince ?kuni a famous figure in Japanese myth and takes pity on the creature.

He instructs the rabbit to bathe and then roll around on a pile of cattails.

The white rabbit does as told and lo and behold his fluffy fur is back to normal again! The rabbit thanks Prince ?kuni and swears never to lie to or take advantage of others again ------ that's where our tale ends but knowing the white rabbit for what he is it is easy to imagine him revealing "crossed fingers" as the Prince walks away or for him to whisper "---- or not!" under his breath.

In any event the rabbit is quite a popular character in Japan. If and when you are in Japan take a look at the traditional stationary, dishes, what - have - you and see how many rabbits you encounter!

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