A very Happy New Year to you all – I hope this year will bring you all a great leap forward in the Year of Rabbit! Rabbit is the 4th in the 12 animals according to the Chinese Earthly Branches (十二支), which Japan also follows. Rabbit or usagi in Japanese is seen as a quiet (!) gentle animal popular in school farms and private pets. Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter) may be one of the most famous rabbits in Japan, but everyone knows the Moon Rabbit, who lives on the moon, seen to be pounding rice cake on the full moon night. The folktale is based on Buddhist Tale Śaśajâtaka (Jataka Tale 316), which also told in the Japanese tale, Konjaku Monogatari (今昔物語, in late Heian Period, 794~1185). In this story, the rabbit is depicted to be a compassionate soul, who offered its own body as food for a hungry old man – the rabbit had only grass to offer, while other animals had various food such as fish, meat and milk. The old man, who was actually a deity Śakra raised the rabbit to the moon to honour its virtue. It is good to remind ourselves at the beginning of the year, that compassion, kindness and love is something we can all offer to each other, and also to the more than human world (Picture: Usagi, Yasuda Yukihiko, 1884-1978)
Jan 1
A very Happy New Year to you all – I hope this year will bring you all a great leap forward in the Year of Rabbit! Rabbit is the 4th in the 12 animals according to the Chinese Earthly Branches (十二支), which Japan also follows. Rabbit or usagi in Japanese is seen as a quiet (!) gentle animal popular in school farms and private pets. Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter) may be one of the most famous rabbits in Japan, but everyone knows the Moon Rabbit, who lives on the moon, seen to be pounding rice cake on the full moon night. The folktale is based on Buddhist Tale Śaśajâtaka (Jataka Tale 316), which also told in the Japanese tale, Konjaku Monogatari (今昔物語, in late Heian Period, 794~1185). In this story, the rabbit is depicted to be a compassionate soul, who offered its own body as food for a hungry old man – the rabbit had only grass to offer, while other animals had various food such as fish, meat and milk. The old man, who was actually a deity Śakra raised the rabbit to the moon to honour its virtue. It is good to remind ourselves at the beginning of the year, that compassion, kindness and love is something we can all offer to each other, and also to the more than human world (Picture: Usagi, Yasuda Yukihiko, 1884-1978)
登録:
コメントの投稿 (Atom)
0 件のコメント:
コメントを投稿