Rabbit

兎 usagi

Rabbit

The rabbit that pounds rice-cake on the moon; leaping rabbits stand for advancement, fertility and good fortune.

Buddhist Jātaka tale via China; in Japan from the Kojiki (c. 712) and Konjaku Monogatari (12th century)

The rabbit in the moon comes from an Indian Jātaka story, retold in Japan's 12th-century Konjaku Monogatari, in which a hare offers itself as food and is placed in the moon. In China the hare pounds the elixir of life; in Japan it pounds rice cakes. The 'rabbits over waves' design adds the Hare of Inaba from the Kojiki and the Noh play Chikubushima, where the moon's reflection runs like a rabbit across Lake Biwa. Edo-period kyōgen costumes used it as a bright, cheerful pattern.

An autumn motif tied to moon viewing (tsukimi); popular in a Year of the Rabbit.

Technique catalog · draft for review

Every way to wrap, carry and wear a furoshiki.

The furoshiki.com archive, sliced into annotated steps with plain directions, plus techniques found in research.