Event

Tanabata, also known as the ‘Star Festival’, is a popular summer event celebrated all over Japan. As the festival’s name suggests (literally ‘Evening of the Seventh’), it is held on the seventh day of the seventh month, and depending on where in the country you are, this can follow either the Gregorian or Lunar calendar. This year, Tanabata is on July 7 and August 7, 2019. The Story of Tanabata The festival first came to Japan in 755CE in the form of Kikkōden, or ‘The Festival to Plead for Skills.’ Kikkōden itself can be connected back to Qixi, an event long celebrated in China related to the folklore tale, “The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.” The story follows the events surrounding two, quite literally, star-crossed lovers. Princess Orhime, a bright star (Vega) in the night’s sky, wove beautiful cloth on the shore of the Milky Way, despairing that she would ever meet her true love. Her doting father, Tentei, the Sky King, arranged for her to meet the cowherd Hikoboshi (Altair) who wandered the skies with his sparkling herd on the other side of the Milky Way. The heavenly pair fell in love and married, but their devotion to each…