A few years back, I went on a trip to Sendai for the Tanabata Festival. At that time, I was only interested because of the colorful decorations that I heard were so famous. I badgered a Japanese friend to accompany me, and she was so nice she’d even explained everything I thought there was to know about the festival.
The Legend of Tanabata goes something like this…
Ages ago, in the time of the gods and stars and space, there lived the Sky god. He was called Tenkou. Tenkou had a knock-out of a daughter, named Orihime. Orihime was a career weaver. Her line was goddess kimonos. She was too much into her fashion that her dad soon worried about her. So he fixed her up with this guy, Hikoboshi, who lived on the other side of the Amanogawa. Hikoboshi was a workaholic cattle herder himself, and Tenkou thought they’d totally hit it off. And they did.
Orihime and Hikoboshi fell in love and spent each waking hour together. Orihime forgot about her weaving and Hikoboshi let the cows wander. This angered Tenkou so he banished Hikoboshi and forbade the couple from ever meeting again. Orihime went into deep depression and cried all day and all night. Her dad again got all worried and said yeah, maybe they could again see each other. But this time there was a condition: they could only meet on the 7th day of the 7th month of each year.
The thing was, the Amanogawa was difficult to cross, and the only way they could was if magpies helped them cross it. Magpies don’t come out though if it rains. So many Japanese people hope that it doesn’t rain on Tanabata night, else, the star lovers don’t meet again for a whole year.
Since being to Sendai, I’ve been religiously wishing for the rains to stop on Tanabata night. The stars Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair) just have to meet, they just have to. So join me in wishing the skies will be clear tomorrow night…
I know this is a relatively old post, but I thought I’d share that I’d never heard of the Tanabata Festival in all the years of browsing the internet..and the rampant japanophilia I’m afflicted with, until a week ago….then today I found your article while perusing your archives…exactly 7 days from the last time I saw it mentioned 😀
(Even though you posted this almost exactly last year…)
…I also hope it doesn’t rain this coming Monday. I’m glad to have been able to learn about this festival before it happened (because now I can celebrate it too! ;3 hee hee~)
The legend is so tragic and romantic, and I can’t help but sympathize with it having to live with similar circumstances myself.
I hope everybody can enjoy a wonderful and rain-free Tanabata Festival this year. ^-^
I first came to know about Tanabata few years ago, and fell in love with its name and the beautiful message about tanabata…there is always love when you believe in love.
Any good spots to view cherry blossom in spring? I am planning to travel to Japan sometime on the 4th week of March 2010. I heard so much about Japan, its culture, the people, the hot springs and 101% looking forward to this trip.