中秋の名月に代えて (In Place of Harvest Moon)

　旧暦 8 月 15 日は十五夜。この日の月は「中秋の名月」として、月見をするのがならわしである。今年の中秋の名月は 9 月 30 日で、昨年に続いて満月当日となった（文献 1）。当地では当日午後、台風 17 号の暴風圏の西端が通過し、風雨とも夕方には止んだものの、あいにくの曇り空で、名月を拝めなかった。上掲の写真は、そうなることを予想して予め撮影しておいた十三夜の月。

文　献

1. 中秋の名月, ステラナビゲータ (2012年9月30日).

The celebration of the full moon, called tsukimi (moon-viewing) for chūshū-no-meigetsu (the bright full moon in mid-autumn), takes place on the 15th day of the eighth month of the traditional Japanese lunisolar calendar (the corresponding English phrase the harvest moon is defined as the full moon that appears nearest to the autumnal equinox; see Ref. 1e). It was the day of this celebration on September 30 this year. In the afternoon of that day, the western end of typhoon Jelawat's storm zone passed here. Though it stopped to be windy and rainy in the evening, it was still cloudy, preventing us from viewing the moon. The photo above is the one I took on September 28 in anticipation of the effect of the typhoon.

Reference

1. Everything you need to know: Harvest Moon 2012, EarthSky (September 29, 2012).