Symbolism of gemstones . Wedding symbolism

The Japanese Legend
Bunny's original name in the Japanese manga is Tsukino Usagi, a pun on the Japanese phrase that means rabbit on the moon*. Even though her English name, Serena, is derived from her alter-ego, Princess Serenity (which in turn is probably based off of Mare Serenitatis, the Sea of Serenity, the location on the moon where the Moon Kingdom existed), her nickname, Bunny, is based off of Usagi. This name, and even her hair-style, has basis in ancient myth.

In China and Japan, there is a legend of Ch'ang-o or Heng-o, the wife of the Excellent Archer Shen I. The gods had given Shen I the drug of immortality, which his wife drank while he was away. When her husband returned, she fled to the moon to escape his wrath. She asked the Hare for protection when her husband came after her, and he fought Shen I and made him give up his pursuit. Henceforth, she has lived as a moon goddess. The Japanese name for the god of the moon is Tsuki-Yomi.

The Chinese representation of a rabbit or hare on the moon preparing the immortality drug has passed down to modern Japanese culture. Here, the white disk of the moon is represented by a rabbit or hare pounding rice in a mortar. This is based on the pun that the word Mochi-zuki in Japanese means "to pound rice for cakes" and also means the full moon. The ideograms for both words are completely different, but the similarity of sounds has made the pun. The hair-style of buns and ponytails that Usagi wears has earned her the nickname of odango-atama (dumpling head) in the Japanese, with the dumplings being the mochi or rice cakes. (And the ponytails representing the lop ears of the rabbit.)

This information was originally from Anime-Myth.com and is used with permission.