The Dewdrop World

Everything I have ever heard about Chrysanthemums (重陽の節句）

from the Peony Archives (re-uploaded: 09-09-09)

I have to admit, it took me a long time to really understand chrysanthemums. Compared to all the colorful flowers of spring, chrysanthemums had always left me somehow under-whelmed. That is, until I really started looking at them.

Because I am stuck again in ancient calendar time; and because according to the ancient calendar, today happens to be the Chrysanthemum Festival, I will tell you everything I know about chrysanthemums.

The Chrysanthemum Festival-- also known as the Choyo no sekku 重陽の節句 (known as "the double nines" for you all on the Continent) occurs on the Ninth Day of the Ninth Month (during the Time of White Dewdrops). Choyo no sekku marks the final festival of what is known as the Five Seasonal Festivals (go sekku 五節句) of the old lunar calendar, following the Seven Grasses Festival (or jinjitsu, falling on the Seventh Day of the First Month), the Peach Blossom Festival (or Girl’s Day, falling on the Third Day of the Third Month), the Iris Festival (or Boy’s Day, falling on the Fifth Day of the Fifth Month) and the Star Festival (or Tanabata, falling on the Seventh Day of the Seventh Month.) All five of these festivals have their origins in China and were festivals marking the major changes in the seasons.

According to i ching philosophy, the doubling up of the odd, or yang numbers 1,3,5,7,9 was seen as auspicious, so that in Japan at least we have major holidays occurring on January 1st, March 3rd, May 5th, July 7th and September 9th. These "double yang" holidays were days of both celebration as well as purification and abstinence. Like so much else from China, the five festivals were adopted from the Continent by the Heian Period aristocracy; only over time being transformed according to Japanese tastes.

In ancient China, the ninth day of the Ninth Month was considered to be the seasonal marker of the “first chill of Autumn.” It was thought to be particularly potent because of the belief that the number nine, being the highest odd number (yang) from one to ten was especially lucky, and therefore this day with its “two nines” (that is, Ninth Day of the Ninth Month) was considered to be the ultimate in propitiousness.

Like the phases of the moon, the ancient Taoist philosophers taught that everything in the universe was in a constant state of vacillation. Everything therefore was either in a stage of waxing or waning so that at that very moment when something appeared to reach perfect fullness, its waning had in reality already begun. In this way, things which appear to our human eyes to be perfectly complete or full are in fact already in decline. Due to this belief, the number nine was preferred to the number ten (since 10 was already-- according to this way of looking at things-- already in a state of decline).

In much the same way that the number 10,000 indicated countless or endless numbers, the number nine signified “the largest” or “the greatest.” It was believed that there were nine heavens above reflecting the nine provinces comprising the ancient empire below, and this was further reflected in the Nine Gates and Nine Imperial Decorations of the Chinese Imperial Palace. The number nine therefore signified, "All under Heaven." It was also thought to express virtue or virtuous actions, so that when people bowed repeatedly or made offerings at formal occasions or at temples, this was known as the “nine bows” (九頓首) or the “nine offerings” (九献). This, too, eventually filtered into Japanese thought, and the “nine bows” of ancient China came to be known in the Japanese phrase sanbai-kyuhai (三拝九拝) which means to “bow repeatedly.” The “nine offerings” became the rational behind the Japanese ceremonial partaking of the “three times three exchange of nuptial cups of rice wine” (三三九度) which is still one of the main rituals performed in a traditional Shinto-style wedding ceremony in Japan today.

Nine, by the way, has always been my favorite number.

In ancient China on this day people climbed hills, had picnics outdoors and long life was prayed for by drinking chrysanthemum wine. Wang Wei, in the mid-eighth century, wrote of feeling very homesick spending the festival alone in a faraway place:

Remembering My Brothers in Shandong on the Double-Ninth Festival:
  Alone, a stranger in a distant province-
  At festivals I’m homesick through and through.
  In my mind’s eye, my brothers climb the mountain,
  Each carrying dogwood- but there’s one too few
   trans. Vikram Seth

“Dogwood” is how Seth translates the Japanese word for shuyu-- a Chinese type of citrus plant (related to the Japanese pepper tree, sanshou 山椒, cf. Kojien 562) which was placed in bags, called shuyu-no-fukoro. These bags were hung in homes and carried around on that day in the belief that the magical plant had the power to purify, scaring away evil demons-- much like the effect of garlic on vampires. Because of this practice, the day was also known as the “Dogwood Festival” (shuyu-setsuKojien 1241.) This custom spread to the Japanese aristocrats of the Heian Period, and these shuyu-no-fukuro 茱萸袋 were put up on the Ninth Day of the Ninth Month replacing the “medicinal bags” (kusuri-dama 薬玉) hung in rooms (especially rooms where people slept) beginning on the Iris Festival on May Fifth.

Chrysanthemum wine has been prepared and consumed in China, at least since the Han Dynasty (206BCE- 220CE) as both a cure against sickness and aging, as well as for reasons of purification similar to that of dogwood described above.  Beautifully cultivated chrysanthemums were displayed and admired on this day, and the flower, in addition to being known as one of the “four gentlemen blossoms” (四君子）in the company of orchids, bamboo and plum blossoms, has long been associated with longevity due to the fact that the flowers bloom so magnificently just when the rest of nature seems to be giving up and dying (Kojien 1685.) In Chinese, the flowers’s name, ju(菊) is phonetically associated with the word for “nine” (jiu) and is identical with the word for “long time” (jiu) so that this symbol for long life was firmly associated with the Ninth Month from very ancient times. This belief was early on transported to Japan:

消えぬべき
露のいのちと
思わずは
久しき菊に
かかりやはせぬ

Rather than dwell
on the dewdrops
which only fade away
Why not instead align yourself
with the long-lived chrysanthemums?
-Izumi Shikibu Nikki

The flower was often used as a metaphor in poems written- to the Emperor, for example- wishing long life or a long reign. In both China and Japan, the Ninth Month was known as the “Chrysanthemum Month”. In Japan, however, this is only a secondary name, as the month is mainly known as the “Long Month,” (Nagatsuki 長月), or “Nights Growing Longer Month” (Yonagatsuki 夜長月).

The chrysanthemum, which eventually became not only associated with the Emperor of Japan, but, along with cherry blossoms, became symbolic of the Japanese people themselves, is believed to have been native, not to Japan, but to China. There is no mention of the flower in all of the Manyoshu and it is assumed to have arrived in Japan only in the late Nara to early Heian Period, valued at that time for its medicinal qualities. By the mid-Heian Period, it was cultivated and appreciated at Court and among the aristocracy. “Chrysanthemum Flower Contests” (菊の花合わせ）with poetry matches and banquets (菊花の宴）were held, and in relation to the world described in The Tale of Genji, Ivan Morris describes the festival in this way:

The emperor and his Court inspect the chrysanthemums in the palace gardens. Afterward there is a banquet. Poems are composed and the guests drink wine  in which chrysanthemums have been steeped. After a performance of dances, Palace Girls present small white trout to His Majesty, and later the guests are
served dishes of white trout.

 Lady Sei Shonagon, in her Pillow Book, describes the Heian custom of covering the court chrysanthemums on the eve of the festival with cloth and allowing the perfume of the flowers to mix in with the autumn dew, seeping in overnight so that the next morning they could be rubbed over one’s face and body to prevent aging and premature death. And, Murasaki Shikibu records in her diary that:

On the ninth of the ninth month Lady Hyobu brought me floss-silk damp with chrysanthemum dew.
‘Here,’ she said. ‘Her Excellency sent it especially for you. She said you were to
use it carefully to wipe old age away!’

The Festival is also briefly described in The Tale of Genji:

Early in the Ninth Month came the chrysanthemum festival. As always, the festive  bouquets were wrapped in cotton to catch the magic dew

(Collecting dewdrops-- Why does that continue to fascinate me?)

The Heian Period was a time of huge admiration for anything Chinese- from literature to clothes to flowers. The aristocrats of the day associated Chinese things with the height of elegance, and the chrysanthemum festival was part of this cultural milieu.

 It wasn’t until the Edo Period that chrysanthemum-viewing and the Chrysanthemum Festival became truly popular with all classes of people, and by this time many new types of chrysanthemums had been introduced so that chrysanthemum-viewing became part of the yearly calendar of events of the common people. While aristocratic families continued the custom of drinking chrysanthemum wine on this day, common people prepared and enjoyed chestnut rice, giving chestnuts, which had recently been harvested, to friends and relatives. Because the Ninth Month of the old lunar calendar coincided with the time of year when the harvest work had been recently completed, over time Autumn Festivals in celebration of the harvest came to be held around the time of Chrysanthemum Festival so that the original meaning of the Chrysanthemum Festival became blurred over time.

Then by the Meiji Period, with the introduction of the new Western solar calendar, the significance of these “double nines” had all but completely been lost, except that it was still reflected in customs surrounding certain harvest festivals called “o-kunichi” (the ninth day お九日) or “o-kunchi.” These harvest festivals were traditionally held across Japan in the Ninth Month (lunar or solar) on the Ninth Day (either the 9th, 19th or 29th.) Also because of the month-long gap created by the introduction of the Solar calendar, Chrysanthemums are in fact no longer in bloom during the Ninth Month thereby further obscuring the original meaning of the festival.

早く咲け９日も近し菊の花
芭蕉

Hurry up and blossoms
-Chrysanthemum flowers-
The Ninth Day is drawing near
-Basho

In spite of the fact that chrysanthemums are no longer in bloom during the Ninth Month, The Chrysanthemum Festival is still celebrated on the Ninth Day of the Ninth Month by the Imperial family, as well as being indirectly celebrated in the Tea Ceremony where the festival is evoked at the “chrysanthemum tea gatherings” (菊の茶) held in September. At these tea gatherings, much like when the cherry blossoms bloom in spring, tea utencils which have names associated with the flower are used and appreciated; tea kettles or incense containers shaped in forms reminiscent of chrysanthemums are used, and of course the flower is used to decorate the alcove in the tea room. Outside the court or the world of tea, this is the least commonly celebrated festival of The Five Seasonal Festivals-- which is a shame since it is a day both rich in beauty and philosophy.

In the end, I too have fallen under the charms of the lofty chrysanthemum. Perhaps that's because I too would like to partake in the flower's secrets of everlasting beauty. While my favorite flower of all, the peony dies a dramatic-- and yes, unsettling-- death (all her flowers falling at once) chrysanthemums just seem to dry out in a beautifully preserved state. They are, in fact, beautiful till the end. And, its true, when the last chrysanthemum has died, no more flowers will bloom till the start of spring the following year. They are the last to bloom. Stubbornly holding off winter with their sheer act of will. You really cannot help but admire them, can you?

the autumn moon お月様の仁徳

 

名月を取ってくれろと泣く子かな　一茶
Grab it, cried the child, pointing up at the full moon- Issa

On Friday night, a substantial portion of the world's population will in waves collectively turn their eyes up toward the moon.

Yes, the Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋節 is upon us again.

The appreciation of the mid-autumn moon is a custom dating back at least to Han dynasty China-- probably even earlier. Indeed, for at least 2000 years now, it has been the full moon of the Eighth Month (approximately present-day September) which has been considered the most beautiful moon of the year.

In Japan, the custom of moon-viewing was adopted from China during the early Heian times and fantastic moon-viewing parties were a celebrated part of court life from these early times, where aristocrats would drink plenty of rice wine-- and floating lazily on their dragon boats, would drift around man-made ponds gazing at the moon (some perhaps composing poetry and snacking on mooncakes).

K-sensei-- who also loves this time of year-- sent me an essay he had written the other day for a local newspaper in which he writes,

秋の長夜、お月さまを仰ぐたび、日本人に生まれてよかったと思う。稲田をわたる秋風を淋しくて、どうにも身にしみるが、コオロギが競って鳴くころのお月さまなんとも味わいがある。
"On long autumn nights, gazing up in awe at the moon, I feel glad to have been born Japanese. On those nights, as the sad, lonely autumn wind blows across the rice fields and the sound of the singing crickets seems to penetrate me, I feel something deeply meaningful as I look at the moon."

He tells me that many Japanese people feel something along the lines of aesthetic and spiritual awe when they gaze at the moon. K-sensei, in the grand tradition of nihonjin-ron, then goes on to compare the Japanese experience of moon-viewing with that of the West. 

In the West, he explains, the full moon has long been associated with insomnia and insanity. The night of the full moon was a night to ward oneself against evil or lunacy. We see this aspect of the Western tradition perhaps in our word "lunatic," which, of course, comes from "luna." Indeed, the full moon has long been associated we are told with everything from vampires to excessive dog bites. (Cat Power and the Moon)

In contrast,

東洋人の心の中に月は、あくまでやさしさと純粋さを映し出すもの、人間の良心を引き出してくれるあいじょうのようなものを持つ。西瓜畑の泥棒がお月さんがじっと見ているので、恥入って西瓜を盗むことなく退散した話がある。
"The moon that lives in the hearts of those in the East, if anything, possesses a kindness and purity which has the ability of bringing out the best in humans. There is a story of a thief in a watermelon field. The moon shining down on the thief made him feel so ashamed about what he was about to commit that he left the field unable to touch even one watermelon."

The moon, then, is like a brilliant mirror reflecting back the purist and most beautiful parts of our hearts. It is another instance of the Japanese belief in the power of beauty.

Finally, K-sensei writes,

また中国では、お月さまを玉兎とも形容した。そこから、兎が住み餅をうくというコミカルな発想に結びつく。そうしたイマジュネーションは、東洋人のつきに対する思いの表れであり私たちの心をどんな平和にしてくれることか。
"The Chinese believe that a jade hare  (玉兎) is pounding mochi rice cakes (In China, medicine to help the sick) up on the moon. This comical story of a rabbit pounding rice cakes has long been associated with moon viewing, and this type of imaginative story-telling about the moon is an expression of the way in which the moon lives in the hearts of the people of the East. Images such as this, unfold within our hearts a feeling of peacefulness and happiness." 

**

One of my favorite anecdotes about the moon is one everyone has probably heard before --- when the great Natsume Soseki, who was still in English teacher at the time, was advising one of his pupils on the translation of "I love you" firmly declared that, "I love you" should be translated into Japanese not as 我君ヲ愛ス but as, "Isn't the moon beautiful?"  「月が綺麗ですね」といいなさい。Yes...

illustration from here 

(This is an old post from Tang Dynasty Times--- friends sent wonderful poems and comments when I first posted it there--how time flies!)

haiku-ing: mushrooms in the dew

where did they come from?

mushrooms scattered in the grass

White dew descends

 

++

It's almost like clockwork, especially in misty Westlake Village, but even here in sunny Pasadena, at this time of year, the dew point is reached and suddenly there are glistening dewdrops --like diamonds in the wet grass. Especially in the early mornings. But even as late as 10, you seem them.... 

And with the dewdrops, comes an explosion of mushrooms. You can almost here them popping up in the grass all over

Pop pop pop pop!!

It is so hard to capture the dewdrops on "film."

Liza Dalby explains it like this:

"Shiratsuyu" has been a poetic term in Japan ever since the first poetry was written down. Shining like little jewels, "white dew" on the autumn grass is the image par excellence of transient beauty. The "white" does not mean the dew is turning into frost. Early in the morning or after the rain, if you look at leaves with lightly fuzzed surfaces, or with upturned edges, the water vapor balls up into large dewdrops. Reflecting the sunlight, they appear white rather than simply transparent." This happens beautiful in Westlake where everything is very misty.

 

 

haiku-ing: a staring contest

 

Puppy and a Squirrel 

Locked in a staring contest

Time stops, no one moves

Haiku-ing: Tally-Ho!

Whoosh! A dove take flight

Feeding beneath the finch feeder

When a puppy charges--tallyho!

 

haiku-ing: A Little Round Dove

 

First breeze of autumn

 Little round dove, unwinding

In a warm bird bath

++

 

Stuffed to the gills

From feeding at the finch feeder

Why not take a load off?

Your little round body

Sitting in a warm bird bath

++

 

Are your feet cold?

--Ah, the promise of autumn--

In the sound of the wind.

++

 

Blazing hot sunshine

Little round dove in our bird bath

Listening to the wind

 

 

--Out my kitchen window (August 18)

After Issa

秋の風
鳩心に
秋思ふやう

The autumn wind---

A little round dove thinking

Of the season ahead

 

** Note One: Translating the Chieko Poems, I struggled with the way the poet describes glimpsing his beloved Chieko in the bath:

あなたの冷たい手足 あなたの重たく　まろいからだ

I was never happy with "Your heavy, round body..." in English, especially as Chieko was thin as a rail. But seeing the little dove in the bird bath, I suddenly remembered how Kotaro felt seeing Chieko... that little round body in the bath!

Note Two: 

On a tour of underground Orvieto, walking around the caves dug beneath the town- thousands of caves dug in the soft rock, our guide referred to the pigeon cotes as "the dove courts." I loved that. And realized that maybe in Italian--like the Japanese-- the word for pigeons and the word for doves is the same?

"Suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a pigeon…”

It just doesn’t sound right, does it?

But the Greek word used here is peristera, and while your Biblical dictionaries and lexicons will emphasize dove, they concede that it can also mean pigeon (as in Luke 2:24).

 

The View Out My Kitchen Window (More Dahlias This Week)

It Goes Without Saying

It's true, as my Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America points out, that if you choose to put a feeder in your backyard, you are probably going to attract a bunch of birds!

He goes on:

"That may seem like a good idea in the moment, but believe me, once the lazy bastards figure out that there's a free meal to be had, they will just keep showing up hungry and expecting a handout.."

That about sums it up! 

At our place, all the action is out my kitchen window--where the flying piggies (I mean, the finches) are nonstop.... it's like the mob you see on Youtube when Walmart opens the door for their black Friday sale. 

In the back, however, things are a bit more dignified... kind of like the line in front of In'Out Burger, in Pasadena.... never ending, but dignified. 

I don't know if that's because sparrows are simply more refined or if it's the puppy, who likes to charge them. He is usually going for squirrels back there but sometimes for no reason whatsoever, he likes to charge the doves. 

I think he likes the whooshing sound they make when they take off..?

Oh, to be cute, like Shumi. 

My bird guide doesn't have a lot to say about doves... 

In terms of main bird shapes, the author breaks things down like this:

Does it have a small body with long stupid legs, or is it dumpy with a fat head?

I would say the doves are of the latter category.

I am just so curious to see what happens when it gets colder? 

My Field guide says nothing will change, as long as there's free food...

hmmmm...

 

these are the days

I heard from Ruffles.

"These are the days," she said.

And she reminded me not to forget that this is a time of corn festivals, the time of 

the Loaf, the bright leaf

Bright flower & fruit time known as FIRST HARVEST...

A really bountiful time.

Threshold dates of its beginning: AUGUST 1 -7th.

In the Celtic tradition, a time of making a keep sake promise for  ‘A year & a day.’  

I do think of it as a threshold time--like a bridge between summer and autumn. A time to turn toward harvests and the moon. 

She also sent photos from her magical garden

Dittany of Crete

--Greek Oregano, A Romaine lettuce bundle gone to puffs, Yerba Buena , Spearmint Flowering to puffs--   

++

I love to imagine Ruffles in her garden.

A few days ago, she texted this:

Wonderful to think isn’t it About Virgil, the poet/writer of Epics~~Aenead That people of more ancient times read his GEORGICS, the praise & love & care of the land, of earth & tending farm.... CRAZY, but  I felt that about ALL the many families that I visited when in Montana ~~ Haying season, after all. I woke up one morning at 4 am to wind & light rain really making the branches of a pine tree dance  outside my window ... & a long summer day ahead! I had to laugh, because I was thinking about Virgil! I think there must be a ‘convening’ of energies From times present & past ...about love of land, those energies gather when you are in nature.... so many songs, paintings, writings,  journals kept , gardens of all sizes tended, conservancies . Just now The bird songs are so crisp & fresh in the pepper tree.

++

We are heading up to Montana ourselves. Actually Wyoming. Utah and and Idaho. Yosemite.

I just finished Terry Tempest Williams, The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks.

Like her friend, the poet Jorie Graham, she is such a national treasure. Like Ruffles, she believes that this is the hour of the land. 

For Terry Tempest Williams the land--and the preservation of our parks-- is an ecology of humility --one that leads into an ecology of awe. We are not protecting grizzlies from extinction --it is the grizzlies that are protecting us from extinction of the experience of the world beyond ourselves. She says so beautifully that our stewardship is the privilege of our imagination.

Restoration as a homecoming (like Odysseus' second task, after he had finally come home) I agree with her it is a test of human imagination, like Richter's re-composition of Vivaldi's four seasons... re-imagining and a renewal.

Like Ruffles in her garden.

And she ends her book with a discussion of the words removed from the Oxford Junior dictionary... words like hazelnut and bramble; tulip and turnip..

Whaaaaat?

And in their place? Chatroom and celebrity; vandalism and voicemail...

These are the days. 

 

unagi

As Liza Dalby says, in Japan people eat certain foods on certain days.

I'm all for that!

But I missed the day for eating eel by a few weeks.  Actually, I have missed it by almost seven years.

As I think it's been that long since I had my favorite food in the world, cooked over charcoal, kabayaki style. 

I just had to rectify this, so I waited for the teenager to come and visit his poor old mother... I waited and waited--and finally yesterday he arrived and we immediately ordered eel from one of our favorite restaurants, Osawa, here in Pasadena. 

It was so delicious!!!!!

The boy asked if unagi really gives people power when it's hot. Or is that something they just do?

According to Wikipedia:

Kabayaki eel is very popular and a rich source of vitamins A and E, and omega-3 fatty acids.[3] A popular custom from the Edo period calls for eating kabayaki during the summer to gain stamina,  especially on a particular mid-summer day called doyō-no ushi-no-hi [ja] (土用の丑の日),[3][4] which can fall anywhere between July 18-August 8 each year.

So there you have it!

We were on a roll so the next day, we went to H Mart and got supplies to make Hawaiian poke and miso soup with Manila clams. 

Kazy made the miso soup (I gave instructions), and we put together a Poke bowl with fish from Vital Farms. I made Olivier Salad-- a labor of love, as it takes me forever to cut everything.

Was a great day! 

And next year, I want to eat eel a bit earlier in the season.