A story told with stars
Tanabata, the “star festival,” is celebrated on or around July 7. It is built on a story about two lovers who are separated by the Milky Way and permitted to meet only once a year. The tale has many versions, but the main outline is widely known across East Asia.
In Japan, the story is told with two stars. The weaver princess, Orihime, is associated with Vega, a bright star in the constellation Lyra. The cowherd, Hikoboshi (also called Kengyu), is associated with Altair, in Aquila. The Milky Way, called Amanogawa, the “river of heaven,” lies between them. Most of the year, the two stars appear on opposite sides of this band of light.
The legend
The essential story, as it is commonly told, runs as follows. Orihime is a daughter of a heavenly ruler and weaves beautiful cloth for the gods. Her father arranges for her to marry Hikoboshi, a hardworking cowherd. After the marriage, the couple become so happy that they neglect their duties: she stops weaving and he lets his cattle wander. The father, angry, separates them across the heavenly river. Moved by her sadness, he allows them to meet on one night each year, on the seventh day of the seventh month, provided they have worked hard in the meantime. A bridge is formed, in many versions by magpies, in others by other means.
If it rains on the night, the river is said to swell, and the lovers must wait another year. This is why the weather on the evening is traditionally a matter of concern, and why rain on Tanabata is sometimes called the tears of the lovers. Details vary: in some tellings the separation is a punishment, in others a misfortune, and the figures’ roles and the bridge differ.
Roots in China
The story reached Japan from China, where it has a long history and is known as a tale of the weaver girl and the cowherd. It is associated there with the seventh day of the seventh month, a date also treated in China as a time when women prayed for improved skill in needlework and weaving. Early references to the star story appear in old Chinese poetry and in early Japanese verse, and by the Nara and Heian periods the court knew the tale.
At the Heian court, people held a ceremony in which they made offerings to the stars and prayed for improved skills, particularly in crafts, music and writing. They placed offerings on a stand and sometimes watched the reflection of the stars in a basin of water. Poets composed verses on the theme of the lovers, and the Heian court was fond of themes of longing and reunion. Waka poetry on the meeting of the stars appears in the old anthologies.
A native weaving maiden
The Japanese festival is not just a copy of the Chinese one. It appears to have merged with an older native custom, in which a young woman withdrew to weave cloth for a deity, often at a riverbank or by water. The word tanabata is thought to be connected with a weaving device or a weaving woman, though the exact derivation is debated. The written characters used for the name today draw on this origin and are read in an unusual way, which is one sign that the name preceded the Chinese-derived writing.
Because of this blending, Tanabata has two layers: the star legend from the continent and a local tradition of purification and weaving. This is why, in some places, the festival also includes cleansing rituals by water. The craft of Japanese weaving and the history of Japanese textiles show how important cloth has long been to ritual and everyday life.
Wishes on paper strips
The most visible custom today is writing wishes on narrow strips of colored paper called tanzaku and hanging them on bamboo branches. Children and adults write hopes about school, work, health and family, sometimes also in verse. The branches are placed outdoors or in the entrance of homes, schools, kindergartens, shops and stations, and the sight of green bamboo hung with colored paper is familiar in early July.
This custom seems to have grown from the older practice of praying for skill. Originally the wishes were about improving handwriting, needlework and other arts, and strips of paper were used for writing practice. In the Edo period, as literacy and schooling spread, the festival became popular among ordinary people, and wishes widened in scope. Practice of shodo calligraphy was one of the early motives for writing on the strips, and it is still common for children to practice neat handwriting on them.
Other decorations include:
- Paper chains and nets. Colorful cutout decorations have meanings handed down in folk explanation, such as a net for a good catch or a purse for thrift.
- Folded cranes. Small cranes made through paper folding are often strung together and hung on the branches.
- Streamers. Long, flowing streamers may represent the threads of weaving and the hope for skill.
The bamboo is generally taken down after the festival and, in some places, burned or floated down a river, in line with the old idea of carrying away impurity. How this is done depends on local rules. Bamboo has its own place in craft and daily life, as described in the article on bamboo craft.
Regional dates
The date of Tanabata differs because of the calendar change. July 7 under the modern calendar falls in the rainy season in much of Japan, so skies are often overcast and the stars are hard to see. In the old calendar, the seventh day of the seventh month fell about a month or more later, usually in August, closer to a clear summer night.
For this reason some places celebrate Tanabata in early August or on the old-calendar date. One of the best-known large events is held in early August in a northern city, with huge paper streamers hung along shopping streets. Others observe it on July 7 as usual. The differing dates also explain why Tanabata is classified as an fall word in classical poetry, an example described in the article on seasonal words, since the seventh month was the first month of fall.
Summer evenings
Tanabata falls near the start of the festival season. In many towns it is accompanied by summer street events, and people may wear yukata robes. The festival is also close in feeling to other summer evening events such as fireworks festivals, and the combination of lanterns, cooling clothing and night skies recalls other seasonal pleasures described in the overview of the yearly calendar.
Looking at the stars
For those who want to look at the real stars, the two bright stars Vega and Altair are visible in the summer sky in the Northern Hemisphere, and the Milky Way is easiest to see away from city lights on a clear, moonless night. In practice, the weather in July may not cooperate, and an unclear sky is part of the tradition. Many people simply enjoy the story and the paper decorations, without any expectation of seeing the stars at all.
What the festival offers
Tanabata is unusual among Japanese festivals because it is mostly a children’s event, with few religious formalities. It joins a romantic legend with a practical wish for self-improvement. The invitation is simple: write down what you hope for, hang it where others can read it, and look up for a moment. For a festival at least a thousand years old in some form, it has proved remarkably adaptable.