Japan’s Tanabata Festival

Tanabata, the Star Festival, is held in Japan every year on July 7 or August 7, depending on local customs. It celebrates the yearly meeting of Orihime, the Weaving Princess, embodied in the star, Vega, and her beloved Hikoboshi, the Cowherd, in the star, Altair.

The Story of Star-Crossed Lovers

Beautiful Orihime was a gifted weaver who spent her days weaving kimonos for the gods beside the Amanogawa, Heaven’s River, the Milky Way. She was so diligently absorbed in her work that there was no time in her life for love.

Yet Orihime yearned for romance. This yearning filled her with despair.

Her father, Tentei, Heaven’s King, pitied his beloved daughter. He arranged for her to marry the hard-working cowherd, Hikoboshi. It was a perfect match.

Orihime and Hikoboshi fell hopelessly in love and spent their days in blissful play — to the complete neglect of their duties.

Before long, gods were complaining to Tentei about the sorry state of their kimonos and the havoc that Hikoboshi’s cows were wreaking as they strayed across the heavens.

Furious at the lovers’ negligence, Tentei banished Orihime and Hikoboshi to opposite sides of Heaven’s River.

They returned to their duties, but Orihime’s heartbreak reduced her to tears every day.

Tentei couldn’t bear to see his daughter cry. He declared that if she and Hikoboshi continued to work hard, they would be allowed to meet once a year on the night of the 7th day of the 7th month.

On that night, a celestial magpie would spread its enormous wings to create a bridge across the Milky Way for Orihime to cross — if the skies were clear.

If it were to rain, the River of Heaven would become too full making it impossible for Orihime cross over to meet Hikoboshi.

People pray for clear skies on that night, so they can gaze up at the Milky Way and imagine the yearning lovers meeting. Rain that falls on the night of 7/7 has a special name, Sairuiu, “the tears of Orihime and Hikoboshi.”

Other Weaving-girls

The story of Orihime and Hikoboshi was brought over from China during the Nara Era (710–794). Yet Tanabata’s origin can also be traced to an ancient Japanese story that tells of a celestial weaver, Tanabata-tsume, who fashioned clothing for the gods. She would meet her lover, a kami (Shinto divinity) once a year at a hut beside Heaven’s River.

There was another festival long ago called Kikōden (乞巧奠), where women prayed to improve their weaving skills.

These stories were mixed together and passed down, forming the basis for the Tanabata festival celebrated today.

According to Japan’s old lunar calendar, Tanabata was celebrated on what is now August 7. This is close to the Obon Festival of August 13, when the spirits of ancestors are welcomed back to their homes and their family gathers to spend time with them. During these days people prayed to their ancestral spirits for good harvests. In ancient days, these two festivals were often combined.

Tanabata Festival

During the early years of Tanabata, women would pray for improvement in their weaving and sewing skills. And both women and men would pray for improvement in their calligraphy.

The Heian, or Kyoto, elite wrote their prayers on mulberry paper with special ink made by grinding an inkstone with drops of dew from taro leaves, believing this magical combination would create more effective prayers.

Tanabata moved from the aristocratic halls of the wealthy during the Heian Era (794–1185), to the streets of Edo (Tokyo) during the Edo Era (1603–1867) where it became a popular, lively festival.

Today, people of all ages continue the tradition of writing poems and wishes on thin strips of paper, called tanzaku, and hanging them from bamboo stalks — bamboo being a vehicle for divine spirits.

Colorful bamboo decorations adorn people’s houses, city streets, schools, and businesses from about a week before Tanabata until the end of the festival. Then, the bamboo and all its decorations are cast into a river or burnt, sending the prayers to the gods

Sendai Tanabata Festival—the biggest in the world

At the most fabulous Tanabata Festival, held in Miyagi Prefecture’s capital of Sendai from August 6–8, the main streets are decorated with bamboo — 10 meters tall or more — hung with wishes and elaborate paper decorations.

Each decoration has a traditional meaning:

• Tanzaku — long rectangles of paper upon which are written prayers for progress in calligraphy and academics
• Kamigoromo — kimonos for protection from calamities, for good health, and for improved sewing skills
• Orizuru — folded cranes, for safety and longevity
• Kinchaku — money purses, for prosperity
• Toami — fishnets, for bountiful catches and harvests
• Kuzukago — trash cans, for cleanliness and frugality
• Fukinagashi — windsocks, representing Orihime’s thread

There is a grand contest on the afternoon of August 6 to determine the most beautiful decorations in each area of downtown Sendai City. Every year, the competition is fierce, resulting in the creation of more and more extravagant decorations. Just one of these bamboo decorations can cost from hundreds of thousands to several million yen (~$30,000 USD)!

If the tears of Orihime and Hikoboshi threaten to fall, merchants rush to cover their valuable handiwork with plastic bags.

The Five Festivals

Tanabata is one of the five festivals, go-sekku, that celebrate the change of seasons. These are days set aside to prepare for the coming months through purification, prayers, and banishment of misfortune.

The five festivals were imported along with the Chinese lunar calendar from Tang Dynasty China in the 8th century. During the Meiji Era, the festivals were moved to coincide with Western dates that mirrored their former auspicious odd-numbered lunar months and days.

• 1/7 Jin-jitsu, Human Day, or Nanakusa-no-sekku, Seven Herbs Day. On this day people eat rice gruel made with seven wild herbs. This is the last day of New Year’s celebrations.
• 3/3 Hina Matsuri, Dolls or Girls’ Day.
• 5/5 Tango-no-sekku, formerly Boys’ Day, now Kodomo-no-hi, Children’s Day.
• 7/7 Tanabata, Star Festival.
• 9/9 Kiku-no-sekku, Chrysanthemum Festival.

Tanabata Food

A Japanese festival would not be complete without special food. Since Tanabata falls during the hot days of summer, people feast on street food and cold noodles.

Somen — thin noodles served cold with a slightly salty dipping sauce.

Yakitori — grilled chicken on skewers.

Okonomiyaki — savory pancakes filled with lots of vegetables and a little pork.

Yakisoba — noodles stir-fried with cabbage, bean sprouts, carrots, onions, pork and yakisoba sauce.

Takoyaki — grilled dough balls filled with chopped octopus.

Tanabata is just one of many wonderful Japanese festivals held during the hot summer months when people take to the streets in cool cotton yukata and geta sandals.

In fact, one of the largest holidays in Japan falls during the summer, Obon.

Sources:

Kotobank, Digital Museum, https://www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/, https://www.sendaitanabata.com/, https://www.tohokukanko.jp/, http://www.jaodb.com/, http://renipi.com/knowledge/452/, Institute of Court Culture.

The post Tanabata, The Star Festival—A Yearly Meeting of Yearning Lovers first appeared on More Than Tokyo and is written by Diane Tincher.

Southern Kyushu’s treasures

Ta no Kami, or rice field gods, are a unique treasure of southern Kyushu. They can be found by rice fields, or sometimes on the grounds of shrines where they’ve been moved when their fields have been overtaken by developments.

Throughout the rest of Japan, there are no specific Ta no Kami statues. The gods of agriculture, farming, and peasants are honored by placing a stick, a stone, or a flower near rice paddies. In contrast, the people of southern Kyushu have been crafting stone statues of rice field gods, which they affectionately call Ta no Kan-saa, since the beginning of the 18th century.

Why Only in Southern Kyushu?

Growing rice in the volcanic soil of southern Kyushu has always been a challenging task, yet people needed to eat and taxes needed to be paid in rice. Seeking help from the gods, artisans carved Ta no Kami out of welded tuff, a type of stone formed by very hot, compressed volcanic ash.

The statues they created include a wide range of characters: bald Buddhist monks or Jizo, Shinto priests with distinctive long sleeves, or even peasants wearing big round hats — standing, seated, or playfully dancing — and often holding a bamboo rice scooper and bowl.

Special Treatment

In some communities, farming families still take turns honoring their Ta no Kami by carefully applying makeup-like paint, providing the god with delicious food and drink, and keeping them in the place of honor in their tokonoma, the alcove in Japanese houses set aside for seasonal decorations.

Some Ta no Kami are brought along to community hanami, flower viewing parties, where they join in with the festivities, being offered food and plenty of shochu, the local spirit distilled from sweet potatoes.

Thievery

Years ago, when a new rice field was created, the farmer would search out the most productive rice field in their area, and he would steal — or rather, borrow — its obviously powerful Ta no Kami and place it by his new field.

If he were to keep it for more than three years his crops would fail, so before then, the Ta no Kami would be returned to its original field accompanied by music, a parade, gifts of rice, shochu, and/or chickens, and great festivities.

Festivals

Ta no Kami have traditionally been honored during several festivals: the beginning of the year festival, sluice gate opening when the fields are flooded, rice planting, protection of crops during the summer, and finally, the autumn harvest festival.

After the harvest festival, the rice field gods return to the mountains as mountain gods, where they hunker down during the cold winter months.

If you get the chance to visit southern Kyushu, why not make some time to hunt for Ta no Kami statues? The variety and playfulness of the images are delightful!

Photos ©Diane Tincher

Sources:

図説民俗探訪事典 compiled by 大島 暁雄, pages 149, 150, 181–184；えびの市観光公式サイト；コトバンク田の神, 山の神；ウィキペディア — 田の神; 鹿児島と石の文化.

The post Ta no Kami—Japan’s Rice Field God Statues offer a Remarkable Window into the Past first appeared on More Than Tokyo and is written by Diane Tincher.

The national holiday celebrating children and families

May 5th is Children’s Day in Japan, a national holiday with a long and amazing history.

The Five Festivals

Children’s Day is one of the five seasonal festivals, or go-sekku, brought to Japan from China in the 8th century. These five festivals marked the change of seasons and were days set aside to prepare for the coming months through purification, prayers, and banishment of misfortune. Still celebrated in Japan, they occur on odd-numbered days:

• 1/1 was eclipsed by New Year’s celebrations, so the seasonal holiday was moved to 1/7. It is called Jin-jitsu, Human Day, or Nanakusa-no-sekku, Seven Herbs Day, and is when a purifying rice gruel is eaten. 
• 3/3 Hina Matsuri, Girls’ Day
• 5/5 Tango-no-sekku, formerly Boys’ Day, now Children’s Day
• 7/7 Tanabata, The Star Festival
• 9/9 Kiku-no-sekku, The Chrysanthemum Festival

Precursors of Children’s Day

Children’s Day finds its antecedent in the Iris Festival, Shōbu-no-sekku, also called Tango-no-sekku.

In ancient China, the fifth lunar month was considered unlucky, especially the 5th day, which was called “Double Fifth.” On that day, people hung iris plants, mugwort, and garlic above the entranceways to their houses, believing that these plants would ward off natural disasters, illnesses, and evil spirits.

Centuries later, this custom was carried to Japan and came to include prayers for the upcoming rice planting season. Like the Chinese, the Japanese decorated their eaves with irises and mugwort to ward off misfortune.

As the years passed, new customs were added. People put iris leaves under their pillows to drive away evil and added finely chopped iris leaves to their sake.

Young girls would bathe in water with iris petals for purification. These girls, known as sa-otome, were central to Ta no Kami, or rice field god, festivals held on the day when the rice seedlings were transplanted into the flooded paddies.

These varied forms of purification are still practiced in some households today. Many onsens, or hot springs, across the country offer special Shōbu-no-yu baths with iris leaves on May 5th.

At the ancient imperial court in Nara, aristocratic women wore iris hair ornaments to a grand ceremony in the palace where the emperor would bestow a fragrant kusu-dama upon his vassals. This was an ornamental ball filled with medicinal herbs that opened in half when a string was pulled, dropping its contents. The herbs were for purification and to cast out evil spirits.

Samurai culture gives birth to Boys’ Day

Under the samurai rulers of the Kamakura era (1185–1333), the Iris Festival became Boys’ Day. Samurai focused on raising strong boys to become courageous warriors who would continue their family lines.

The word for iris, shōbu 菖蒲 is pronounced the same as shōbu 尚武, meaning valiant or warlike. That, and the fact that the hanging iris leaves resemble swords, is thought to have played a part in the change. 

Families visited shrines and gave offerings of armor, praying for the health and prosperity of all their sons, but most particularly, their heirs.

People began to decorate their houses with small displays of armor, helmets, swords, and arrows, symbolizing protection for their boys’ health. This custom continues to this day.

Carp streamers

During the Edo era (1603–1867), the practice of hanging koi-nobori, or windsock-like carp streamers, one for each boy in the family, began among the townspeople of Edo (Tokyo). 

Filled with strength, vitality, and adaptability, carp can survive in clear streams and muddy, in marshes and in lakes. They can persevere and struggle to swim upstream and even climb waterfalls. Koi-nobori streamers are hung with the prayer that a family’s sons will grow to be hardy, adaptable, and strong, like carp.

On the riverbanks of Edo, yet another custom began. Ishi-gasen, or stone-throwing fights, and it is exactly what it sounds like. This custom resulted in some serious injuries and even deaths among the young participants, so thankfully, the shogun soon outlawed it.

Children’s Day

In 1948, Boys’ Days was changed to Children’s Day and was christened as a day to celebrate not just children but to honor the family unit. In contrast to Girls’ Day on March 3, Children’s Day is a national holiday.

Celebratory Food

Grandparents and families gather on Children’s Day to eat a special meal, often featuring carp, rice cooked with adzuki beans, and seasonal vegetables.

Children’s day is known for two special types of sweets. Chimaki are rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves, chi signifying cleverness. Kashiwa-mochi are sticky rice cakes — soft yet chewy — filled with sweet red bean paste wrapped in oak leaves. Oak leaves symbolize force, manliness, and endurance.

References:

図説民俗探訪事典 compiled by 大島 暁雄, http://www.ningyo-kyokai.or.jp/sekku/tango.html, https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/01/garden/for-children-s-day-sweets-of-course.html, and more.

The post Children’s Day in Japan—Carp Streamers, Samurai, and Sweets first appeared on More Than Tokyo and is written by Diane Tincher.