The Lingering Moon and Kintsugi
These days, the sky is still dark when I wake up. On clear mornings, looking for the moon has become a small pleasure.
In Japanese, the moon that remains at dawn is called “nagori no tsuki” (名残の月)—the lingering moon.
A lingering moon in the autumn morning sky.
In the world of Japanese tea, October is also nagori no tsuki. Here, tsuki means “month.” It is the last month of the furo (風炉) season, when a portable brazier heats the water for tea. In November, the winter hearth is opened. Until then, it is a time to appreciate what is still here.
The quiet beauty of wabi-sabi suits this season. Tea bowls repaired with kintsugi feel especially right.
When I first learned this, I remember thinking, “Even kintsugi has a season?”
Even when the tea is the same, each season brings its own beauty. Welcoming that beauty, and staying with the moment, is at the heart of the way of tea.
Kintsugi mends a broken bowl with urushi, a Japanese natural lacquer, and finishes the repaired seams with gold powder. To me, those golden lines show how dear a piece still is, even after it has broken. They make me want to hold it a little more gently.
The golden lines are easy to admire, but the time behind them is less easy to see. It takes a careful eye, and time for the urushi to cure between stages.
When my broken ceramics need repair, I take them to an urushi artist. The work takes time, and it is costly. But these are pieces I want to keep in my life. Perhaps choosing to wait is itself a way of treasuring them.
A crescent-shaped hole formed by chance during the making of this bowl. Together with the kintsugi artist, I chose a shiny silver finish for the repair, turning it into a little moon inside the bowl.
Often, we want an answer right away. I do too. Yet sometimes, what feels like understanding slips away almost as soon as the answer arrives. Perhaps the things that matter to us deserve time to be felt and savored.
I look at the moon more often in autumn. In the clear air, it seems to shine a little brighter. Watching its shape change from day to day, I feel time moving quietly.
When you find the moon lingering in the morning sky, perhaps you can pause for a moment—and simply be with it.
Imagine finishing your matcha and discovering a little crescent moon at the bottom of your bowl.
