Wednesday, August 29, 2007

gesshoku

Last night, we were able to catch the ending of the lunar eclipse from our lanai. (It was really cloudy, so we missed the beginning.)

In Japanese, lunar eclipse is called gesshoku. The chinese characters are tsuki (moon) and shoku (eat). In a sense, the full moon is "being eaten" by the shadow of the earth.

By the way, a solar eclipse is called nisshoku. The chinese characters are nichi (day/sun) and shoku (eat) and the sunlight is "being eaten" by the new moon passing between of the earth and the sun.

Hope you were able to see the eclipse where you were.

9 comments:

Barbara said...

We drove down to the beach to watch it even though it was cold and raining. The rain stopped and the clouds cleared just as it the eclipse began.

K and S said...

I'm glad you were able to see it Barbara! My mom said it was cloudy in Hawaii too, so they didn't get to see it.

Thanks for stopping by, take care.
Kat

2kamuela47 said...

I didn't get to see it. Although I wanted to. Hope all is well. Take care!

Anonymous said...

I loved the background story on the Japanese word for a lunar eclipse!


Ari (Baking and Books)

K and S said...

My mom also said they couldn't see it, Laura. Hopefully you'll be able to see it the next time.

Thanks Ari, I thought it was quite cute how it was explained.

Thanks for stopping by you two. Take care.
Kat

Anonymous said...

wonderful!

K and S said...

It was, Bea :)

Take care.
Kat

The Chocolate Nerd said...

I saw it here in New York, I stayed up all night just to see it. It was magical, the moon was right outside my window, then it dissapeared briefly, first behind a building, then reappeared, only to diminish slowly into a sliver and then it completely bid us farewell. It's an awesome reminder of where you are in the universe, on a floating sphere and that we all see the same moon wherever we are is equally amazing.

K and S said...

What you were able to see in NYC sounded awesome, Chocolate Nerd. I agree that it is a great reminder of where we are and that others can see the same things we do too.

Take care and thanks for stopping by.

Kat