Night in Amencho Town: damp air slowly rippled the pond’s surface, and the barrier around the Dragon God’s shrine glowed white with distant light.
“That’s odd.”
Kopo crouched at the pond’s edge, tilting his head up at the night sky. The moon was round. Undeniably round. And yet something about it differed from an ordinary full moon. Round, yet somehow a little compact . Like a large bowl with too little water in it — that kind of quiet shortfall . The frogs’ voices from the rice-paddy path sounded, tonight, a bit more reserved than usual.
“I kind of like singing on a night like this.”
On a stone by the pond’s edge, Keromi murmured , hugging her knees. Humming to no one in particular, low and soft. The melody seeped into the night air, rippling the moon’s reflection on the water just slightly.
“Kopo, does tonight’s moon bother you?”
From the base of the weeping cherry, Sonchō appeared with a “Feh,” cradling an old tea bowl in both hands, savoring the steam.
“It’s kind of small, isn’t it? Compared to a usual full moon.”
“Ah. Tonight’s the second full moon this month. Because of that, the moon sits at its farthest point from the earth. Being far away, it looks a little smaller.”
Kopo looked up again. The moon was certainly round. Not waning , not clouded over. And yet, even though it should have been shining with all its strength, it was just a little — far.
“…Isn’t that kind of a loss? Being a full moon and still only looking smaller than usual.”
Sonchō turned his tea bowl in a slow circle.
“A second full moon in the same month is a rare thing indeed. Also called a blue moon. There’s no law saying a rare thing must always shine its biggest.”
Keromi’s singing shifted a little. No longer words, just a string of sounds, and still the air around the pond swayed gently. Kopo listened to it and looked down at his own hands.
He always thought he wanted to “stand out,” yet somehow always found himself at the edges. His voice was loud, but the thing he truly wanted to say stayed caught in his throat. Full, yet somehow distant, like the moon — his own feeling, tonight, overlapped exactly with the sky.
“…So even a distant full moon is still, properly, a full moon.”
“When you say it, somehow, it carries weight.”
Sonchō laughed his “Feh-feh,” narrowing his eyes beyond the steam of his tea bowl.
The blue moon reflected in the pond sat there more quietly than anything round on the ground, swaying yet never waning.
Margin note: That night, the one Kopo murmured “good evening” to was the moon reflected on the pond’s surface, not the real moon — but both swayed the same way all the same.
【Today’s Motif】
- Blue Moon (Micromoon): May 31st brings this month’s second full moon, a “blue moon.” Because the moon sits at its farthest point from the earth, it also appears smaller than usual — a “micromoon .” A rare overlap of two events that seldom coincide. By the old lunar calendar, it’s also the day of the spring tide and the full moon.
This is an English translation of “青い月の夜に”, part of Tales of Amencho Town (蛙鳴町奇譚).