In Japanese culture, what does the white rabbit/rabbit behind the moon stands for?

Question

i just realized it when last night when listening to a Japanese pop song. I've heard the same lyrics before but in another Japanese song. just wondering..

Answer 1

Good answer so far already posted. This cultural bit is probably another taken from China.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_...

Just wanted to point out that Asia isn't the only place that sees a rabbit in a moon rather than a face (man in the moon). I had a Mexican-American friend once who never heard of the man in the moon until they were an adult. Growing up they only knew of the rabbit.

Here's some images of the rabbit in the moon, mostly Japanese:

http://images.google.com/images?client=f...

Answer 2

In Japanese tradition, rabbits live on the Moon where they make Mochi - a popular sticky snack.

The rabbit in the moon is lifted out of Japanese myth. Representing the female principal, which meant divine inspiration in spiritual or creative matters, but folly, mania, or death in everyday affairs.

Tsukino Usagi means "Rabbit of the Moon."

The Moon rabbit, also called the Jade Rabbit, is a rabbit that lives on the moon in East Asian folklore. The legends about the moon rabbit are based on the traditional pareidolia that identifies the markings of the moon as a rabbit pounding in a mortar. In Chinese folklore, it is often portrayed as a companion of the moon goddess Chang'e, constantly pounding the elixir of life for her; but in Japanese and Korean versions it is just pounding mochi.

The earliest records suggesting that there is a rabbit on the moon appears in the Warring States period in ancient China. The Chu Ci, a Western Han anthology of Chinese poems from the Warring States period, notes that along with a toad, there is a rabbit on the moon who constantly pounds herbs for the immortals.

The folklorestory can be found under FOLKLORE at the site   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rabbit

Interesting question, things we see, but never know wht they mean.

Answer 3

A new day.