Saruwaka-machi by Night: Hiroshige’s Harvest Moon

Get Out and Get Under the Moon, Edo-Style

Saruwaka-machi, a small area northeast of Buddhist temple Sensōji near today’s Asakusa 6-chōme, was by the late Edo period firmly established as the city’s theater district. It was home not only to the three great kabuki playhouses of Edo—the Nakamura-za, Ichimura-za, and Morita-za (also known as the Kawarazaki-za)—but also major bunraku puppet theaters like the Satsuma-za and Yūki-za. In the name of both fire safety and public morality, the shogunate permitted actors to be on-stage only during daylight hours, and it seems that performances were held from early morning until just before sundown. With hungry and excited audiences spilling out in search of supper after the final curtain, Saruwaka-machi was known for its nightlife too.

Hiroshige’s original print is thought to be an autumn scene as it depicts the most famous full moon of the year, the chūshū no meigetsu, which rises in the middle of Hazuki (the eighth month on the traditional calendar). The shadows are drawn with superb use of perspective, and were reportedly an influence on Van Gogh’s Cafe Terrace at Night.

Scouting locations for my shoot, I found that Asakusa 6-chōme looks nothing like Saruwaka-machi in Hiroshige’s time, so I decided to set up in nearby Rokku Street, today’s theater district, instead. I returned on the full moon to find the street alive with people—some just out of the theaters, and others there simply to eat, drink, and make merry.

Because Rokku Street runs southeast from Asakusa Engei Hall, the moon was readily visible even though it was quite low in the sky, and I heard people remarking how beautiful it was as they strolled through my camera’s viewfinder. Although the lantern-shaped streetlights added a certain Edo atmosphere, it was easy to imagine how much more treasured and intoxicating the full moon would have been in the pre-electric days of Edo.

About the Location

The Mid-Autumn Moon

According to Japan’s old lunar calendar, autumn ran from the seventh month to the ninth. The fifteenth day of the eighth month was known as chūshū—literally mid-autumn—and while it did not always fall precisely on the full moon, it was never far off. The tradition of tsukimi or moon viewing is said to have begun in China during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), where the Mid-Autumn Festival is still celebrated today.

Like many other Tang customs, moon viewing was adopted by Japan’s nobility during the Heian Period (794–1185). Round dumplings became the favored refreshment of moon viewers around the middle of the Edo period (1603–1868). The Japanese language is full of tsukimi-related expressions, from matsu yoi (night of waiting) for the night before mid-autumn, to nochi no tsuki (the latter moon) referring the full moon of the ninth lunar month, thought to be the second best of the year. Sadly, just like the practice of sitting outside with a plate of dumplings to admire the harvest moon, these expressions are seen less and less in modern Japan.