All seasons shall be sweet to thee...

It appears that Samuel Taylor Coleridge was right in his poem Frost at Midnight. All seasons are indeed sweet here in Japan. They are a very BIG DEAL!

Fall is rumored to be around the corner, and there are tell-tale signs everywhere. Every store - grocery stores, bakeries, bookstores, flower shops, etc... is decorated completely with autumn leaves, Halloween pumpkins and scarecrows. Fall goods are available all over, including things like autumnally spiced KFC buckets and Fall-outfit-clad Hello Kitty. I can't wait to see how they anticipate Winter and Christmas over here! As part of this seasonal change into fall, there are lots of festivals nationwide, especially in Kyoto. We have a lot of maple trees here and as a result the residents are very jazzed about the idea that the leaves will soon change. It really should be gorgeous!

Last night, I went to a Full Harvest Moon festival at Shimogamo Shrine. The full harvest moon is considered to be the "most sublime" moon of the year.

After a ceremonial offering of tsukimi dango rice dumplings (set up in a little pyramid) and Japanese pampas grass to the shrine deity, there was a series of classical court performances. My favorite was the Koto harp performance with a flute accompaniment. The fan dances were cool too, especially the beautiful costumes. By the middle of the performances, you could see the harvest moon rising up over Shimogamo Shrine. Sublime indeed!