![TanabataTokyo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/TanabataTokyo.jpg)
, also known as the Star Festival (
星祭り, ''Hoshimatsuri''), is a
Japanese festival
Japanese festivals are traditional festive occasions often celebrated with dance and music in Japan. Many festivals have their roots in traditional Chinese festivals, but have undergone extensive changes over time to have little resemblance to ...
originating from the Chinese
Qixi Festival
The Qixi Festival ( zh, 七夕), also known as the Qiqiao Festival ( zh, 七巧, links=no), is a Chinese festival celebrating the annual meeting of The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Zhinü and Niulang in Chinese mythology... The festival is cele ...
. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars
Vega
Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, an ...
and
Altair
Altair is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila and the twelfth-brightest star in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Aquilae, which is Latinised from α Aquilae and abbreviated Alpha Aql or ...
respectively). According to legend, the
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...
separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the
lunisolar calendar
A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures, combining lunar calendars and solar calendars. The date of Lunisolar calendars therefore indicates both the Moon phase and the time of the solar year, that is the position of the Sun in the Ea ...
. The date of Tanabata varies by region of the country, but the first festivities begin on 7 July of the
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
. The celebration is held at various days between July and August.
History
The festival was introduced to Japan by the
Empress Kōken
, also known as , was the 46th (with the name Empress Kōken) and the 48th monarch of Japan (with the name Empress Shōtoku), Emperor Kōnin, Takano Imperial Mausoleum, Imperial Household Agency according to the traditional order of succession.
...
in 755. It originated from , an alternative name for
Qixi
The Qixi Festival ( zh, 七夕), also known as the Qiqiao Festival ( zh, 七巧, links=no), is a Chinese festival celebrating the annual meeting of Zhinü and Niulang in Chinese mythology... The festival is celebrated on the seventh day of th ...
which is celebrated in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and also was adopted in the
Kyoto Imperial Palace
The is the former palace of the Emperor of Japan. Since the Meiji Restoration in 1869, the Emperors have resided at the Tokyo Imperial Palace, while the preservation of the Kyoto Imperial Palace was ordered in 1877. Today, the grounds are open t ...
from the
Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...
.
The festival gained widespread popularity amongst the general public by the early
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
,
when it became mixed with various
Obon
or just is fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist–Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people retu ...
or Bon traditions (because Bon was held on 15th of the seventh month then), and developed into the modern Tanabata festival. Popular customs relating to the festival varied by region of the country,
but generally, girls wished for better
sewing
Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a sewing needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era. Before the invention of spinning yarn or weaving fabr ...
and
craftsmanship Workmanship is a human attribute relating to knowledge and skill at performing a task. Workmanship is also a quality imparted to a product. The type of work may include the creation of handcrafts, art, writing, machinery and other products.
Workman ...
, and boys wished for better
handwriting
Handwriting is the writing done with a writing instrument, such as a pen or pencil, in the hand. Handwriting includes both printing and cursive styles and is separate from formal calligraphy or typeface
A typeface (or font family) is ...
by writing wishes on strips of paper. At this time, the custom was to use
dew
Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening due to condensation.
As the exposed surface cools by radiating its heat, atmospheric moisture condenses at a rate greater than that at wh ...
left on
taro
Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Africa ...
leaves to create the ink used to write wishes. Incidentally, Bon is now held on 15 August on the
solar calendar
A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicate the season or almost equivalently the apparent position of the Sun relative to the stars. The Gregorian calendar, widely accepted as a standard in the world, is an example of a solar calendar.
T ...
, close to its original date on the
lunar calendar
A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases (synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, the Gre ...
, making Tanabata and Bon separate events.
The name Tanabata is remotely related to the
Japanese reading of the Chinese characters 七夕, which used to be read as "Shichiseki" (see
explanation about the various kanji readings). It is believed that a
Shinto
Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...
purification ceremony existed around the same time, in which a Shinto
miko
A , or shrine maiden,Groemer, 28. is a young priestess who works at a Shinto shrine. were once likely seen as shamans,Picken, 140. but are understood in modern Japanese culture to be an institutionalized role in daily life, trained to perform ...
wove a special cloth on a loom called a and offered it to a god to pray for protection of
rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima
''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...
crops from rain or storm and for good harvest later in autumn. Gradually this ceremony merged with ''Kikkōden'' to become ''Tanabata''. The Chinese characters 七夕 and the Japanese reading ''Tanabata'' joined to mean the same festival, although originally they were two different things, an example of ''
jukujikun
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequent ...
''.
Story
![Japanese Edo Tanabata 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Japanese_Edo_Tanabata_02.jpg)
Like Qixi and
Chilseok
Chilseok is a Korean traditional festival which falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Korean lunisolar calendar, originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. Chilseok is a period where the heat starts to dwindle and the Wet season ...
, Tanabata was inspired by the famous
Chinese folklore
Chinese folklore encompasses the folklore of China, and includes songs, poetry, dances, puppetry, and tales. It often tells stories of human nature, historical or legendary events, love, and the supernatural. The stories often explain natural phen ...
story, "
The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl
"The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" are characters found in Chinese mythology and characters appearing eponymously in a romantic Chinese folk tale. The story tells of the romance between Zhinü (; the weaver girl, symbolizing the star Vega) and ...
". Some versions were included in the ''
Man'yōshū
The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in ...
''.
The most popular version is as follows:
, daughter of the , wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the . Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet (also referred to as ) who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa. When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime would no longer weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter's tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if she worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of
magpie
Magpies are birds of the Corvidae family. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent creatures, and is one ...
s came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come because of the rise of the river and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet. The rain of this day is called "The tears of Orihime and Hikoboshi".
Names
Characters
''Orihime'' and ''Hikoboshi'' are called various names in the different versions of the story.
Festival
The Festival of ''Tanabata'' is also known by various names:
Other stories
Human male and Heavenly female
Japanese scholars pointed out that some tales of the ''Tanabata'' cross over with the character of the ''
Celestial Maiden'' (otherwise known in Japan as ''Tennin Nyoobo'' or ''Hagoromo'').
Comparative scholarship on the Japanese variants points that at the beginning of the story, the human male goes near a lake for a variety of reasons (a prayer to the gods for a wife; a vision sent in a dream; a grateful animal points him the way). Over the course of the story, the human partner reaches the celestial realm where his wife and her family live. Once there, he is forced to perform tasks before they reunite. At the end of the narrative, the husband breaks a taboo (he should not eat a certain melon/gourd, but he does and is washed away) and he and his celestial wife are separated, only to reunite again during the night of 7 July.
James Danandjaja relates the Japanese tale of ''Amafuri Otome'' ("The Woman who came from the Sky"), as a similar tale of the unmarried mortal man, named Mikeran, who withholds the
kimono
The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimono ...
from a bathing lady so she cannot fly home to the sky. Years after they marry, she finds her kimono and flies home with their children. Mikeran fashions a thousand straw sandals to reach the sky world and find his wife. When he meets his parents-in-law, the father-in-law forces him to perform some tasks, and tricks the human with cutting a thousand
watermelon
Watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a flowering plant species of the Cucurbitaceae family and the name of its edible fruit. A scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, it is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, with more than 1,000 varieti ...
s in one day. The human's sky wife knows it is a trap, but he does it anyway and is washed away by a flood created from the watermelons. Thus, they can only meet on the night of the ''Tanabata'' festival.
Human female and Heavenly male
Professors Masako Satō and
Noriko T. Reider provided a narrative analysis of an ancient tale involving a human female and her future consort, Prince
Ame-waka-hiko. In this tale of the ''
Otogi-zōshi
are a group of about 350 Japanese prose narratives written primarily in the Muromachi period (1392–1573). These illustrated short stories, which remain unattributed, together form one of the representative literary genres of the Japanese med ...
'' genre, the Prince takes the form of a serpent and marries a human woman. He later reveals he is a heavenly deity named Dragon Prince. After some time, he disappears and his human bride must seek him out (akin to the Graeco-Roman myth of
Cupid and Psyche
Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from ''Metamorphoses'' (also called ''The Golden Ass''), written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (or Platonicus). The tale concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psyc ...
), even reaching the heavenly realm, where his father, an ''
oni
An is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature manifested in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. Notwithstanding their evil reputation, oni possess i ...
'', lives. At the end of this tale, the lovers are forcibly separated by the oni father and can only reunite during the ''Tanabata''.
Noriko T. Reider draws attention to a second story of this combination: the "Qian Luwei Tale". In this version, the human wife's father is identified as Qian Luwei, and the male deity is Hikoboshi, the son of "Bontennō",
Brahma
Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...
.
Customs
Tanzaku hanging on bamboo
In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, on , small pieces of paper, and hanging them on
bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...
, sometimes with other decorations (see also
Wish Tree
A wish tree is a tree, usually distinguished by species, location or appearance, which is used as an object of wishes and offerings. Such trees are identified as possessing a special religious or spiritual value. Postulants make votive offering ...
). The bamboo and decorations are often set afloat on a river or burned after the festival, around midnight or on the next day. This resembles the custom of floating paper ships and candles on rivers during Obon. Many areas in Japan have their own Tanabata customs, which are mostly related to local
Obon
or just is fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist–Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people retu ...
traditions. There is also a traditional Tanabata song:
Date
The original Tanabata date was based on the Japanese lunisolar calendar, which is about a month behind the Gregorian calendar. As a result, some festivals are held on 7 July, some are held on a few days around 7 August (
according to the "One-Month Delay" way), while the others are still held on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the traditional Japanese lunisolar calendar, which is usually in August in the Gregorian Calendar.
The Gregorian dates of "the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the Japanese lunisolar calendar" for the coming years are:
* 2018: August 17
* 2019: August 7
* 2020: August 25
* 2021: August 14
* 2022: August 4
* 2023: August 22
* 2024: August 10
* 2025: August 29
* 2026: August 19
Festivals
![Sendai Tanabata 2005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Sendai_Tanabata_2005.jpg)
Large-scale Tanabata festivals are held in many places in Japan, mainly along shopping malls and streets, which are decorated with large, colorful streamers. The most famous Tanabata festival is held in
Sendai
is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...
from 6 to 8 August. In the
Kantō area, two of the largest Tanabata festivals are held in
Hiratsuka, Kanagawa
260px, Hiratsuka City Hall
is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 257,316 and a population density of 3800 persons per km². The total area of the city is .
Geography
Hiratsuka is located in t ...
(around 7 July) and in
Asagaya
is a residential area of Tokyo located in Suginami ward (one of the 23 wards or boroughs of Tokyo) west of Shinjuku. Main access to Asagaya is via the Chūō-Sōbu Line, 12 minutes by train from Shinjuku station.
Geography
At present the Asagay ...
,
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
immediately prior to the start of the Obon holiday in mid August. A Tanabata festival is also held in
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
around the first weekend of July and
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
in the beginning of August.
Although Tanabata festivals vary by region, most festivals involve Tanabata decoration competitions. Other events may include parades and Miss Tanabata contests. Like other Japanese
matsuri
Japanese festivals are traditional festive occasions often celebrated with dance and music in Japan. Many festivals have their roots in Traditional Chinese holidays, traditional Chinese festivals, but have undergone extensive changes over time ...
, many outdoor stalls sell food, provide
carnival
Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...
games, etc., and add to the festive atmosphere.
Tokyo Disneyland
(local nickname ''TDL'') is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be ...
and Tokyo Disney Sea often celebrates the Tanabata Festival featuring a greeting parade with Minnie as Orihime and Mickey as Hikoboshi.
File:MoriokaShoppingMall.JPG, In a shopping mall at Morioka, 2003
File:Asagaya Tanabata 09-2.jpg, Asagaya
is a residential area of Tokyo located in Suginami ward (one of the 23 wards or boroughs of Tokyo) west of Shinjuku. Main access to Asagaya is via the Chūō-Sōbu Line, 12 minutes by train from Shinjuku station.
Geography
At present the Asagay ...
, Suginami Ward in Tokyo, 2009
File:Shōnan Hiratsuka Tanabata Matsuri -03.jpg, Hiratsuka
260px, Hiratsuka City Hall
is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 257,316 and a population density of 3800 persons per km². The total area of the city is .
Geography
Hiratsuka is located in ...
, 2011
File:SendaiTanabata2.jpg, Sendai
is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...
, 2005
Sendai festival
The
Sendai
is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...
Tanabata Festival is the most famous in Japan. Tanabata has been celebrated in the region since the time of Date Masamune (1567–1636) who was the first
warlord
A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...
in the Sendai area.
The festival began shortly after the city was founded in the early
Edo Period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
. The Tanabata festival gradually developed and became larger over the years. Although the festival's popularity started to dwindle after the
Meiji Restoration
The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
, and almost disappeared during the economic depression that occurred after World War I, volunteers in Sendai revived the festival in 1928 and established the tradition of holding the festival from 6 to 8 August.
During World War II it was impossible to hold the festival, and almost no decorations were seen in the city from 1943 to 1945, but after the war, the first major Tanabata festival in Sendai was held in 1946, and featured 52 decorations. In 1947, the
Showa Emperor Hirohito visited Sendai and was greeted by 5,000 Tanabata decorations. The festival subsequently developed into one of the three major summer festivals in the
Tōhoku region
The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata.
Tōhoku retains a ...
and became a major
tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement.
Types
Places of natural b ...
. The festival now includes a
fireworks
Fireworks are a class of Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a l ...
show that is held on 5 August.
At the Sendai Tanabata Festival, people traditionally use seven different kinds of decorations, which each represent different meanings. The seven decorations and their symbolic meanings are:
File:Tanzaku.jpg, : Handwritten wishes for a good future to the earth and a thanks note
File:Hanging kamigoromo.jpg, : Paper decoration
File:TanabataOrizuru.jpg, : Origami decoration for long life
File:Kinchaku.jpg, : Decoration for good business
File:Toami.jpg, : Paper decoration for good fishing
File:Kuzukago.jpg, : Paper decoration for cleanliness
File:TanabataStreamer.jpg, : Paper tubular streamer for improved weaving skills
The ornamental ball (薬玉;
Kusudama
The Japanese kusudama (薬玉; lit. medicine ball) is a paper model that is usually (although not always) created by sewing multiple identical pyramidal units together using underlying geometric principles to form a spherical shape. Alternately th ...
) often decorated above streamers in present-day Tanabata decorations was originally conceived in 1946 by the owner of a shop in downtown Sendai. The ball was originally modeled after the
dahlia
Dahlia (, ) is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico and Central America. A member of the Asteraceae (former name: Compositae) family of dicotyledonous plants, its garden relatives thus include the sunflower, ...
flower. In recent years, box-shaped ornaments have become popular alternatives to the ornamental ball.
G8 summit in 2008
![34th G8 summit member 20080707](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/34th_G8_summit_member_20080707.jpg)
In 2008, the
34th G8 summit
The 34th G8 summit was held in the town of Tōyako, Hokkaido, Japan, on July 7–9, 2008. The locations of previous summits hosted by Japan include Tokyo (1979, 1986, 1993) and Nago, Okinawa (2000). The G8 Summit has evolved beyond being a gatheri ...
in
Tōyako, Hokkaidō coincided with Tanabata. As host,
Japanese Prime Minister
The prime minister of Japan ( Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Stat ...
Yasuo Fukuda
is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2007 to 2008. He was previously the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, serving in that role from 2000 to 2004 under Prime Ministers Yoshirō M ...
invited the G8 leaders to participate in the spirit of the festival. They were each asked to write a wish on a piece of paper called ''tanzaku'', to hang the ''tanzaku'' on a
bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...
tree, and then to take the necessary actions to change the world for the better. As a symbolic gesture, the actual writing and the act of hanging up that note is at least a first step.
The
Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The is an executive department of the Government of Japan, and is responsible for the country's foreign policy and international relations.
The ministry was established by the second term of the third article of the National Government Organi ...
made colored strips of paper and a bamboo tree for G8 wishes available in
Roppongi
is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous for the affluent Roppongi Hills development area and popular night club scene. A few foreign embassies are located near Roppongi, and the night life is popular with locals and foreigners alike. It is ...
during the summit. Protesting organizations in
Sapporo
( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...
during the G8 summit also tried to use the spirit of Tanabata to focus attention on a somewhat different set of wishes.
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
s including
Oxfam
Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International.
History
Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...
and
CARE International
CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, formerly Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) is a major international humanitarian agency delivering emergency relief and long-term international development projects. Founded i ...
set up an online wish petition campaign to coincide with the G8 Summit and Tanabata. Outside Japan, Fukuda's timely gesture had unanticipated consequences. For example, the Indian nationally circulated newspaper, ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
'', picked up on this festival theme by printing an editorial featuring unconventional Tanabata wishes.
Fukuda also invited his fellow citizens to try turning off the lights in their house and stepping outside to enjoy with their family the sight of the Milky Way in the night sky. On 7 July, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment anticipated that over 70,000 facilities and households across Japan would switch off their lights from 20:00 to 22:00 as a symbolic step and as a wish for the future.
"Lights to be turned off at 72,000 facilities on Tanabata night,"
''Hokkaido Shimbun'' (Sapporo). 4 July 2008.
See also
* ''Sekidera Komachi
{{nihongo, ''Sekidera Komachi'', 関寺小町, Komachi at Sekidera is a famous Noh play of the third category (plays about women) by Zeami Motokiyo. Its central character is a real life figure, the great 9th-century poet Ono no Komachi, who was a ...
'', a famous Noh
is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...
play set during the Tanabata festival
* Mobara
is a city located in Chiba Prefecture. , the city had an estimated population of 88,330 in 40,869 households and a population density of 880 persons per km². The total area of the city is
Geography
Mobara is located in an inland area of north-c ...
Tanabata Festival
* Qixi Festival
The Qixi Festival ( zh, 七夕), also known as the Qiqiao Festival ( zh, 七巧, links=no), is a Chinese festival celebrating the annual meeting of The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Zhinü and Niulang in Chinese mythology... The festival is cele ...
* Chilseok
Chilseok is a Korean traditional festival which falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Korean lunisolar calendar, originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. Chilseok is a period where the heat starts to dwindle and the Wet season ...
* Japanese festivals
Japanese festivals are traditional festive occasions often celebrated with dance and music in Japan. Many festivals have their roots in traditional Chinese festivals, but have undergone extensive changes over time to have little resemblance to ...
Explanatory footnotes
References
Further reading
* Como, Michael. ''Weaving and Binding: Immigrants Gods and Female Immortals in Ancient Japan''. University of Hawai'i Press, 2009. Accessed June 30, 2021. .
External links
{{Commons category
Kids Web Japan
Tanabata Festival in Sendai
HK
August observances
Festivals in Japan
July observances
Observances set by the traditional Japanese calendar
Shinto