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lead=yes, also known as the Hoshimatsuri, is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. (2025). 9781419648939, BookSurge. ISBN 9781419648939 It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively). According to legend, the Milky Way 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. The date of Tanabata varies by region of the country, but the first festivities begin on 7 July of the Gregorian calendar. The celebration is held at various days between July and August.
The festival gained widespread popularity amongst the general public by the early Edo period, when it became mixed with various Bon Festival 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 and Artisan, and boys wished for better handwriting by writing wishes on strips of paper. At this time, the custom was to use dew left on taro leaves to create the ink used to write wishes. Incidentally, Bon is now held on 15 August on the solar calendar, close to its original date on the lunar calendar, 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 purification ceremony existed around the same time, in which a Shinto miko wove a special cloth on a loom called a 棚機 and offered it to a god to pray for protection of rice 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.
The most popular version is as follows:
extra="Weaving Princess", daughter of the extra="Sky King", or the universe itself, wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the extra="Milky Way", literally "heavenly river". 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 Cowboy]] Star", or literally "Boy Star"(also referred to as 牽牛) 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 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".
| Birth name | 棚機津女 or 棚機つ女 - Tanabata-tsume | 牽牛 – Kengyū ("Cowherd") |
| Title | 女七夕 – Me-Tanabata ("Female Tanabata") | 男七夕 – O-Tanabata ("Male Tanabata") |
| Various names and epithets | 秋去姫 – Akisari-hime ("Going to Autumn Princess")
朝顔姫 – Asagao-hime ("Morning Glory Princess") 糸織り姫 or 糸織姫 – Ito-ori-hime ("Thread-Weaving Princess")
百子姫 – Momoko-hime ("Peach-Child Princess") 梶葉姫 – Kajinoba-hime ("Paper mulberry Princess"), the washi paper made from the paper mulberry 琴寄姫 – Kotoyori-hime ("String Musical Instrument Gathering Princess") 灯姫 – Tomoshibi-hime ("Luminous Bright Light Princess") 妻星 – Tsuma-boshi ("Wife Constellation/ Star") 機織姫 – Hata'ori-hime ("Weaving Princess") 星の妻 – Hoshi-no-tsuma ("Constellation/ Star Wife", i.e.: wife of Kengyū) | 飼星 – Kai-boshi ("Herder/ Shepherdman Star") 犬飼星 – Inukai-boshi ("Dog Herder/ Star") 牛引星 – Ushihiki-boshi ("Cow-tender Star") |
| Constellation title | 女星 – Me-boshi ("Female Constellation/ Star") | 男星 – O-boshi ("Male Constellation/ Star") |
| "Seventh day of Autumn" |
| "Dew from the leaves of the Yams or " |
| "Rain of the Tanabata" |
| "Embarking Tanabata" |
| "Paper of the Tanabata", i.e. paper which carries the wishes |
| "Colored paper of the Tanabata" |
| "Bamboo of the Tanabata", i.e. the bamboo that carries the decorations or wishes |
| "Bamboo of the Tanabata which offers and carries" |
| "Rack of the Tanabata" |
| "Bamboo of the Tanzaku" |
| "Evening of the Star" |
| "Festival/ Celebration of the Star Palace" – i.e. the twin star Altair and Vega |
| "Star Festival" |
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.노영근. "설화의 유형 분류와 비교 연구 試論 -<선녀와 나무꾼> 유형을 중심으로-" A. In: 온지논총 no.24(2010): 83–85. UCI: G704-001782.2010..24.010
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 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 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.Danandjaja, James. " A Comparative Study of Japanese and Indonesian Folklores". In: Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 33, No.3, December 1995. pp. 210–211.
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.Reider, Noriko T. "A Demon in the Sky: The Tale of Amewakahiko, a Japanese Medieval Story". In: Marvels & Tales 29, no. 2 (2015): 272–274. Accessed June 28, 2021. .
The Gregorian dates of "the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the Japanese lunisolar calendar" for the coming years are:
Retrieved on July 7, 2022
Retrieved on September 7, 2025
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, many outdoor stalls sell food, provide carnival games, etc., and add to the festive atmosphere.
Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea often celebrates the Tanabata Festival featuring a greeting parade with Minnie Mouse as Orihime and Mickey Mouse as Hikoboshi.
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 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 and has become a major tourist attraction. The festival now includes a fireworks 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:
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs made colored strips of paper and a bamboo tree for G8 wishes available in Roppongi during the summit.Japan, MOFA: "Setting up of the Public Relations Booth for the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit," 16 June 2008. Protesting organizations in Sapporo during the G8 summit also tried to use the spirit of Tanabata to focus attention on a somewhat different set of wishes. Non-governmental organizations including Oxfam and CARE International set up an online wish petition campaign to coincide with the G8 Summit and Tanabata.Oxfam: "Tanabata: Your wishes to the Summit!" July 2008. Outside Japan, Fukuda's timely gesture had unanticipated consequences. For example, the Indian nationally circulated newspaper, The Hindu, picked up on this festival theme by printing an editorial featuring unconventional Tanabata wishes.Cooper, Andrew F. and Ramesh Takur. "Wishing on a star for the G8 summit," The Hindu (Chennai). 7 July 2008.
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.Japan, Prime Minister of Japan: "Before Tanabata, the Star Festival," Fukuda Cabinet E-mail Magazine No. 38 (3 July 2008). 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.
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