A rabbit pushing a cart

I was told many years ago by the mother of a friend of mine who had grown up in Japan that the marking you see here on the moon to the left was a rabbit.  You can see it's ears can't you.   At a stretch of my imagination it is pushing a cart or perhaps hiding behind an Easter Egg.

I did a little google search and there are various stories about rabbits in the moon in Asian stories.  This was one I found about a Japanese Otsukimi Folktale:


One night, the Man on the Moon came down to earth disguised as a beggar.  He chanced upon a Fox, a Monkey and a Rabbit (usagi) and asked for some food.  The Fox brought him fish from a stream, the Monkey brought fruit from the trees, but the Rabbit could only offer grass.  So he told the beggar to build a fire, and when it was built, threw himself onto the flames to offer himself to the Man.  Amazed by the Rabbit's generosity, the beggar transformed back into the Man on the Moon and pulled the Rabbit from the fire.  To honour the Rabbit's kindness, the Man on the Moon carried the Rabbit back to the moon to live with hi.  You can see the Rabbit pounding mochi on the moon at the full moon.


A work day so nothing of anything much to note.