

What do you see in a big full moon as it rises? a man in the moon (a face or man carrying sticks); a woman’s silhouette; a frog, moose, buffalo, or dragon? Or, in the overall dark and light regions of the moon’s face, do you see a yin yang symbol? Or perhaps you see a hare or a rabbit?
There is an old Chinese/Taoist tale of a rabbit (or a hare) who lives on the moon pounding magic herbs to make the elixir of eternal life. The hare is sacred to the moon and believed to live a thousand years, becoming white after five hundred years.
This belief was assimilated by the Japanese who also see a rabbit on the moon. Instead of pounding magic herbs, the rabbit pounds mochi or rice cakes associated with the rice harvest and the first full moon of autumn. (A Korean myth similar to the Japanese counterpart presents rabbits living on the moon making rice cakes (called tteok.)
Various Rabbits on the Moon click pictures for a larger view |
|||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Make an Origami Chopstick Rest | ||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Information for this article came from:
http:// http://www.silversenshi.net/moon/mythology.html
http:// http://www.squidoo.com/symbolism-Japanese-rabbit
and various Wikipedia pages about rabbit myths and stories, moon viewing in Japan
The origins of the rabbit depicted in the step folds is lost to time: I learned it years ago.
The orange moon with the white rabbit was designed by Tess bases on a model by Kunihiko Kasahara: Origami Made Easy By Kunihiko Kasahara
see some (casual) step-folds for it on page 2
How beautiful! I wonder if I look and look that I will see a Bilby in the moon?
Oh my goodness!! I had to Google “Bilby”
You Australians!!! So many unusually cute animals we don’t see anywhere else.