Seeing the moon moves me to melancholy; I feel as though autumn has come for me alone, although I know this not to be so. (Ōe no Chisato [c.850–c.905] Kokin wakashu [Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems] compiled c.905)
The Moon and Japan
The moon can be seen faintly against the blue sky as the sun goes down. The waxing and waning of the moon have long appealed to the sensibility of the people of Japan—a full moon shining in a pitch-black sky ushering in dreams, or a hazy moon, partly hidden behind the clouds, inspiring numerous melancholic poems. The moon has become an intrinsic part of Japanese sentiment.
Seeing the moon moves me to melancholy; I feel as though autumn has come for me alone, although I know this not to be so. (Ōe no Chisato [c.850–c.905] Kokin wakashu [Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems] compiled c.905)
Since ancient times the moon has been looked upon as something divine. The Taketori Monogatari [Tale of the Bamboo Cutter] is a fairytale written in the tenth century and is the oldest story in the world. It is about a princess who appears from inside a stalk of bamboo as a baby. A bamboo farmer and his wife raised her to adulthood when she returns to her home on the moon. It is a lovely story that exemplifies the majestic moon.
The moon-viewing festival, Tsukimi, is a refined custom that takes place on the night of a full moon in the middle of autumn. Starting during the Heian period (794–1185), people continue to observe this tradition. People love the image of a moon reflected in the water's surface or a cup of sake for its romantic connotations. They say that the moon possesses a poetic fascination that is missing from the sun. The patterns on the moon's surface suggest different things to different cultures, but in Japan, they are believed to depict a hare pounding rice in a mortar to make rice cake. It is a charming idea that stirs the imagination.
Often people decorated their sliding doors and folding screens in their homes with pictures painted over silver or gold leaf. In olden times, before the advent of electricity, the folding screens reflected the moonlight falling on the tatami mats, providing a faint illumination inside the room. In his essay, 'In Praise of Shadows' (1933), the famous author, Tanizaki Junichirō (1886–1965), wrote: 'Darkness is an indispensable element of the beauty of lacquerware,' expressing the fact that candlelight at night heightens the elegance of lacquer.
This exhibition focuses on works that use the moon as their theme. We hope that it will turn people's thoughts to the moon, which provided a valuable light to brighten the nights in Japanese culture and served as a source of endless poetical inspiration.
-Shoko Aono
