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Tea notes

Tea Scoop Names (Mei) for October

Seasonal mei ideas for October tea gatherings, including Kanro, Soko, the later moon, passing rain, clear autumn skies, and harvest motifs.

Tea Scoop Names (Mei) for October

October brings cooler mornings and evenings, cold dew, the first signs of frost, the thirteenth-night moon, autumn wind, foliage, and harvest scenes. For chashaku mei, it is a month suited to words that show autumn deepening toward late season.

Solar Terms for October

Kanro (寒露 / Cold Dew)

  • The season when dew feels colder on grasses and trees
  • It connects naturally with mei such as Chokan, Yokan, and Tsuyu Shigure

Soko (霜降 / Frost Descent)

  • The season when dew begins to turn toward frost
  • It suits late-autumn mei such as Uragare, Aki no Kure, and Shigure

October Seasonal Motifs

Nochino Tsuki (後の月 / Later Moon)

  • The moon of the thirteenth night of the ninth lunar month, also called Jugoya's later moon
  • It brings a quieter and more restrained moon-viewing mood to the tea gathering

Deepening Autumn

  • Cool winds, passing rain, autumn foliage, and harvest scenes overlap in October
  • Mei such as Tatsutahime, Ochibo, Nowaki, and Nikidori can express nature and classical autumn imagery

Mei for Early October

Shokan (稍寒 / Slight Chill)

  • A mei for the first slight cold felt as autumn deepens
  • It quietly expresses the coolness around Kanro

Chokan (朝寒 / Morning Chill)

  • The cold felt in the morning air
  • A fitting mei for practice or tea gatherings that begin in clear autumn light

Yokan (夜寒 / Night Chill)

  • The chill felt more strongly at night
  • It brings out the stillness of long autumn evenings and the warmth of the tea room

Nochino Tsuki (後の月 / Later Moon)

  • The thirteenth-night moon of the ninth lunar month
  • A refined mei for a calm autumn moon-viewing tea gathering

Kariwatashi (雁渡し / Goose-Crossing Wind)

  • A cool autumn wind that blows around the time wild geese migrate
  • It suggests high skies and the presence of traveling birds

Kinpu (金風 / Golden Wind)

  • A classical expression for autumn wind
  • It adds the feeling of clear air and golden autumn scenery

Akibare (秋晴 / Clear Autumn Sky)

  • A clear, bright sky seen in autumn
  • A mei for days when the air is transparent and the sky feels high

Ochibo (落穂 / Fallen Rice Ears)

  • Rice ears left in the field after harvest
  • It can carry gratitude for abundance and compassion for what remains

Ura no Tomaya (浦の苫屋 / Reed Hut by the Bay)

  • A mei evoking a humble reed-roofed hut by the shore
  • It suits a quiet tea gathering with autumn wind, solitude, and travel-like feeling

Tsurushi Gaki (吊るし柿 / Hanging Persimmons)

  • Persimmons hung to dry under the eaves, a scene from autumn into winter
  • It suggests harvest, preservation, and the warmth of winter preparations

Mei for Mid to Late October

Shigure (時雨 / Passing Rain)

  • Intermittent rain from late autumn into early winter
  • It expresses shifting weather and a quiet, wistful mood

Tsuyu Shigure (露時雨 / Dew Like Passing Rain)

  • Dew spread over the ground as if a passing rain had fallen
  • A mei for the damp, delicate atmosphere of an autumn morning

Tatsutahime (龍田姫 / Princess Tatsuta)

  • A goddess of autumn, associated with coloring the leaves
  • A vivid mei for mountains turning red and gold

Kinuta (砧 / Fulling Block)

  • A block or sound associated with beating cloth to soften it
  • In classical poetry, it evokes lonely sounds on autumn nights

Nowaki (野分 / Field-Dividing Wind)

  • A strong autumn wind that seems to divide the grasses in the fields
  • It suggests the stillness after a storm and the force of seasonal change

Nikidori (二季鳥 / Two-Season Bird)

  • Another name for the wild goose, a bird that comes in autumn and leaves in spring
  • It carries the feeling of migration and time passing between seasons

Minomushi (蓑虫 / Bagworm)

  • A mei for the small insect hanging from a branch as if wrapped in a straw raincoat
  • It adds a quiet, lonely autumn atmosphere to the tea gathering

Ogurayama (小倉山 / Mount Ogura)

  • A mountain in Saga, Kyoto, known for autumn foliage
  • It also carries waka and Hyakunin Isshu associations, making it fitting for a maple tea gathering

Hatsu Momiji (初紅葉 / First Autumn Leaves)

  • The first leaves beginning to turn red in the season
  • It suggests the anticipation of deepening autumn and the first signs of color

Yama Momiji (山紅葉 / Mountain Maples)

  • Maple leaves coloring the mountains
  • It brings late-autumn brilliance and natural depth into the tea gathering

Kimamori (木守 / Fruit Left on the Tree)

  • A fruit intentionally left on a tree in hope of next year's harvest
  • It carries gratitude for this year's abundance and a prayer for the coming season

Aki no Kure (秋の暮 / Autumn Dusk)

  • Autumn dusk, or the end of autumn itself
  • A mei for late autumn, where beauty and melancholy overlap

Uragare (末枯 / Withering Tips)

  • The withering of grasses, leaves, or branches from their tips
  • It expresses the delicate remains of autumn before winter arrives