tsukimi

[torakris]

From the Daily Nihongo thread

月見

tsukimi (tsu-key-mee)

From the word "tsuki" meaning moon and the "mi" form the verb to watch or to view, tis is often referred to in English as moon viewing. Today is　十五夜(juu-go-ya) or 15th night and this refers to the 15th night of the 8th lunar month which is traditionally one of the most beautiful times to view the moon. Originally it was a celebration for the end of harvest and for sending thanks, nowadays it seems to be celebrated more by trekking down to McDonald's for the tsukimi burger! That is a hamburger with a fried egg on top.

Offerings were often made to the moon of things that were round in shape, mostly tsukimi dango and satoimo (taro) and today the word tsukimi is often added to dish names such as tsukimi udon and the tsukimi burger.

to learn a little bit more about tsukimi (and the rabbits on the moon ) look here:

http://japan.chez.tiscali.fr/Th-Index/E-Th-Tsukimi.htm

Any favorite tsukimi foods?

Any favorite ways of celebrating?

[helenjp]

I'm not a great celebrator of tsukimi these days...but when I first came to Japan, I had a great tsukimi up a mountain in the Wakayama peninsula with some Japanese hippies who were doing their version of the Japanese-soldier-found-in-jungle-unable-to-believe-war-ended-30-years-back thing -- the 60s were not over yet, back in 1979.

They served imo-shochu with steamed sato-imo topped with a little miso, as well as matcha and home-made joyu-manju (the type that have a big chunk of anko surrounded with a sketchy covering made from grated yam, steamed).

My last "real" Japanese tsukimi was a very sad one, so if I make things for my family these days, I prefer to make Chinese mooncakes -- actually carved a mold for them long ago, but now I make them Shanghai style, with the dough simply wrapped around the filling and baked.

[torakris]

It seems as though tsukimi celebration have really dwindled in Japan, at least in the Tokyo/Yokohama area.

I went shopping with a Japanese friend on that day to a depachika (department store basement) and was really surprised by the lack of celebration. I only saw two places (out of about 40) that even had a sign announcing the event and they were both stores that specialized in dango. We both looked at their little set of jugoya dango but for $10 it was just a little too much.

It was a gorgeous moon that night though!

[torakris]

Tsukimi this year falls on Sept 28 (tues) and McDonalds already has their tsukimi burger out:

http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/sales/promotion_tukimi.html

how do you plan to celebrate?

[jrufusj]

Tsukimi this year falls on Sept 28 (tues) and McDonalds already has their tsukimi burger out:

http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/sales/promotion_tukimi.html

how do you plan to celebrate?

←

Unfortunately, I'll be celebrating with a 9:00 PM conference call!

I did, however, bring back moon cakes from my trip to Beijing last week. One batch was filled with chestnut paste adn one with bean paste. I've got a person from HK and a person from Beijing working with us in Tokyo, so the mooncakes will be the closest taste they'll get of the traditional Chinese moon festival.

Jim

[Hiroyuki]

how do you plan to celebrate?

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Should I be ashamed of myself for not even thinking about celerating tsukimi?

I asked my wife, and she told me that her family used to eat mochi (rice cakes) on tsukimi day.

[torakris]

Don't I am not celebrating either, actually never have.....

and just talking to my husband now, apparently he doesn't ever remember celebrating either.....

I guess we could always start now!

[Cheeko]

Don't I am not celebrating either, actually never have.....

and just talking to my husband now, apparently he doesn't ever remember celebrating either.....

I guess we could always start now!

←

For 2006, October 6th? Is that right?

Probably a celebration that gives me a good excuse to make more takikomi gohan, wagashi and have a good laugh out on the patio with my husband over our improvised, work-related haikus.

Here's a video/recipe for some manju... not sure if I'm up for this project yet

http://kyogashi.kyoto-np.co.jp/modules/tinyd5/

[Hiroyuki]

Here's a video/recipe for some manju... not sure if I'm up for this project yet 

http://kyogashi.kyoto-np.co.jp/modules/tinyd5/

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The recipe you provided a link to calls for tsukune imo. I didn't know anything about it, so I googled to find that it's a type of yamaimo (yam?) and it's expensive!

[Cheeko]

Here's a video/recipe for some manju... not sure if I'm up for this project yet 

http://kyogashi.kyoto-np.co.jp/modules/tinyd5/

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The recipe you provided a link to calls for tsukune imo. I didn't know anything about it, so I googled to find that it's a type of yamaimo (yam?) and it's expensive!

←

--that's too bad; I just judged from the videos and thought the grated pulp was nagaimo, which I can get a hold of in the US. I could try to use nagaimo instead, but then again, I could be asking for trouble Think I'll just stick to little rice cakes

[Hiroyuki]

Here's a video/recipe for some manju... not sure if I'm up for this project yet 

http://kyogashi.kyoto-np.co.jp/modules/tinyd5/

←

The recipe you provided a link to calls for tsukune imo. I didn't know anything about it, so I googled to find that it's a type of yamaimo (yam?) and it's expensive!

←

--that's too bad; I just judged from the videos and thought the grated pulp was nagaimo, which I can get a hold of in the US. I could try to use nagaimo instead, but then again, I could be asking for trouble Think I'll just stick to little rice cakes

←

Wise decision. I learned from this that

jinenjo (wild yam) is the most expensive, follwed by ise imo and tsukune imo, yamato imo, and naga imo.

自然薯→伊勢芋:つくね芋→大和芋→長芋

[SheenaGreena]

anything moon related must involve rice cakes, am I correct? Not entirely of course, but it should play somewhat of a role?

[Hiroyuki]

anything moon related must involve rice cakes, am I correct?  Not entirely of course, but it should play somewhat of a role?

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I'm not sure but I don't think so. Like many others, I associate tsukimi with dango.

[Hiroyuki]

Don't I am not celebrating either, actually never have.....

and just talking to my husband now, apparently he doesn't ever remember celebrating either.....

I guess we could always start now!

←

For 2006, October 6th? Is that right?

←

That's right. Thank you for reminding me.

[Cheeko]

Gorgeous day in Florida, should be cool, dry and clear for tonight's harvest moon. Prepared some dango and udon. I am crossing my fingers that my moon cakes will arrive today (in honor of my brother's wife's influences on my celebrations tonight). I thought about trying to make them myself, but decided that was a little too ambitious and I don't have a mold. My chestnut plans were foiled by FedEx. They are quite fond of sending my packages back to the distribution station an hour away from me after being just minutes from my house.

Menu following work tonight will be "tsukimi udon" -- not really traditional for moon viewing plus I won't do the raw egg - my husband won't eat it Will post pictures later tonight.

[torakris]

We missed it here, we spent all last night being whipped by a typhoon...

I had actually forgotten about it until I saw the tsukimi dango in the grocery store yesterday.

[Hiroyuki]

We weren't hit by a typhoon, but it rained all day yesterday and we forgot all about tsukimi! It's still raining.

Looking forward to your pics.

[Cheeko]

Had to rely on my video camera to get the nightime shots of our moon-viewing dinner. Maybe time upgrade the digital cam!

I should mention that my parents didn’t celebrate tsukimi – it didn't come onto my scope until my oldest brother was married. Her family was from China so when she entered into our family, the moon viewing festivities really began for our side of the family. I generally associate this celebration with massive quantities of food, the gift of big oranges, moon cakes, white rabbit candies and big family banquets. Trying to achieve this with just a husband and two cats is a little hard, but I wanted to hang on to the Chinese tradition of seeing the moon as a symbol of “reunion.”

My moon cakes arrived right before we headed out the door. The bakery had apparently run out of the traditional adzuki bean and egg yolk cakes so they sent us individual cakes with white lotus seed and winter melon. I was actually quite happy about this little unexpected change in fortune!

Moon cakes to the bottom right corner: White lotus seed and wintermelon

Earlier that day I had prepared my version of “tsukimi dango” – basically small, spherical shaped daifuku filled with anko and ground sesame seeds. It was more savory than sweet. Instead of using a regular mochi skin, I used a yatsuhashi recipe that gave me the bite of a fancy mochi without the fuss.

Since I don’t have access to a lot of the traditional items, I decided I would try to honor the spirit of tsukimi and decorate our table with seasonal fruits and special items I ordered for the celebration.

Next, I rolled out the udon dough that I had prepared the day before. The idea was to save some time and roll it flat, then cut into noodles and cook when we returned from work. Unfortunately, it didn’t work as well as I hoped. The noodles were okay, but the dough had rested too long and the gluten had taken a holiday. Not chewy enough for me.

A soft-boiled egg substitutes for a raw egg in this version of tsukimi udon. I added sliced white kamaboko (trying to keep in the spirit of the moon?)

My husband was initially a little hesitant to sit outside and eat hot noodles – sundown had happened only 15 minutes earlier and it was still rather warm outside. But he was kind enough to humor me plus he knew he’d have to eat alone if he didn’t join me. Eventually it cooled down outside and we enjoyed the meal as the moon started to rise.

We debated on whether there was a rabbit pounding rice cakes or a princess on the moon. I like the idea of a rabbit although the swirling princess works better with the amorphous cratering of the moon. There were no innocents to steal rice cakes from the table, (just a hungry looking katori buta) so I went ahead and bit into the white lotus seed moon cake. It was delicious.

Princess or mochi-pounding rabbit? Actually, never could get a really good shot of the moon - this one came from the video camera as well.

Hungry Buta eyes the tiny stack of dango

[Hiroyuki]

but I wanted to hang on to the Chinese tradition of seeing the moon as a symbol of “reunion.”

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Thanks for all the photos and detailed explanation, Cheeko!

I was reminded that tsukimi was originally a Chinese tradition. In Japan, we never associate it with "reunion". We just look at the moon, say something about it, eat tsukimi dango, and that's about all. It's just a family affair.

Come to think of it, it's totally different from hanami (cherry blossom viewing). Don't ask me why.