Tanabata, Japan's Star Festival

A little known cultural event that happens in Japan is Tanabata, or “event on the seventh of the seventh” or “star festival”. The event originated in Chinese folklore, but was picked up by the Japanese a long, long time ago. The tale's main premise is the meeting of a prince and princess, who are separated by a celestial river, everyday of the year except for the night of July 7^th (lunar calendar, August 7th in the real calendar), due to the princess’s jealous father (of her time weaving, not sexual prowess). One night a year he lets the couple meet. It's a really romantic story if you end up Googling your way to Wikipedia to check it out. 

In Kyoto, the festival is celebrated for a series of nights, with the big night being on August 3^rd (in 2013).

Although Googling “Tanabta festival” in English brings up a series of information that is not especially helpful, unless you read Japanese, the festival is actually really simple to figure out.

Understanding Tanabata in Kyoto:

-       It takes place in two main areas: Kamo River (Kamogawa) between Shijo and Sanjo street, and Nijo Castle (Nijo Jo). This second area is also referred to as the “Horikawa area”.

-       The big event is mainly celebrated at Kamogawa, with the more arts and culture piece happening near/in Nijo.

-   On the day of the big event (in 2013 this was Saturday, August 3rd), the walking path that borders the west side of the Kamo river is packed with food vendors and live entertainment (of varying quality). Also, although we did not see them, we heard there were even geishas who make an appearance as performers.

-       For the rest of the nights/days (the 3rd – 12^th in Kyoto), there are a variety of events related to the stars and arts/culture.

-       Definitely recommend checking the dates as the festival lasts longer than just the 7^th, even though in the story this is the big night. The best option for this is learning the characters for month, day, and time and the looking at Japanese sites for pictures and dates/times.

-       Unless you are super into absorbing every bit of Japanese culture, the main event and heading to Nijo Castle any day of the festival will provide you with enough cultural exposure give you a great experience.

-       For more information regarding Tanabata (and hopefully next year’s event plan) here is a link to their site: http://www.kyoto-tanabata.jp/index.html

Here are a few photos we took of the Tanabata festival, both at the Horikawa site (aka Nijo Castle) and at the Kamo Rive site:

The classic symbol of Kyoto Tanabata is these wooden candle balls. They can be found to the North of the entrance to the Tanabata main festival. 

Japanese babies can sleep ANYWHERE! It was unbelievable loud, and yet we saw multiple children totally passed out.

Another classic Tanabata decoration, these mini-bamboo trees are brought in and decorated with lights, wishes and prayers, both written on small slips of paper.