Things on Japan: July 2016

Orright, I left it late again for this month's post. Here it is, maybe a litter rougher than usual, so expect unexpected edits, including the eventual deletion of this sentence.

(However, in terms of the actual event, unlike so many other of my posts, this one is either late or early, 'cause it's all in how you look at it.)

The kanji for Tanabata. Picture by me. :)

You've probably seen it in one or two Japanese movies, even if the dialogue (original or otherwise) doesn't explain it. Tanabata (Seventh Night, 七夕), Tanabata Matsuri (七夕祭) or Hoshi Matsuri (星祭 Star Festival) is a sort of Shakespearean/Kurosawan Christmas-y festival that somewhere along the way got kinda mixed up with Obon. The date of a city's festival depends on what the local government wants, and it falls either in July or August, though July's more common. (See why I'm both late and early?)

Historical Stuff

Another version of the first character
of Ryo no Gige. Just wanted to put that
there because all the places I pasted it
turned it into the one you see in the text
on the left there.

Let's start with on of the most common phrases you might hear about Japanese culture: it began in China. In China there was a festival (the Qixi Festival), and this festival passed into Japan in 755 AD or maybe not -- possibly that was the year it was accepted somehow by someone, probably by whoever was really running the government at the time. Or it was the first time it was celebrated. The Ryō no Gige (spelled like so: 令義解), which is from 833-ish AD (though Kokugakuin University said it was the 600s), mentions celebrating Tanabata... and the myth connected to it may have been around in Japan since the 200s.

Courtiers celebrated it in the Heian period. The women would make what I honestly think is one of the weirdest offerings I've ever heard of: seven on silver needles and seven on gold needles onto which they stuck fruit from mountains (stuff like peaches) and "fruit" from the sea (stuff like dried bream). After that (no we're not done yet!), the kababs had five colored thread attached to them. The colors of the thread were black, blue, red, white and yellow. (I cannot imagine how that could look aesthetically appealing, but who knows?)

Can't get much more Tokugawa-y than a picture of
the tomb of Ieyasu himself!

Of course, after the offerings were done, there was also a party/banquet, with the requisite poetry and music, as well as sky-watching (by the Emperor, though I bet everyone else looked to).

During the Tokugawa shogunate/the Edo period, Tanabata became a gosekku -- one of five yearly made it a gosekku. And I've also seen it that Tanabata's popularity increased in the Edo period. All's I can say for now about this is grawr.
(major) festivals....One place I found said that the shogunate

What was Tanabata about in the Edo period? Making wishes was still a thing, but boys were supposed to wish for a level up on their calligraphy skill, and girls' their sewing skill. Though I bet the rigidity of this depended on the local sociological outlook of your family and the neighbors... and whether or not you just wished for what you wanted anyway.

Kikōden
And guess what? There's actually a festival connected to Tanabata, called kikōden. Or kikkōden -- apparently it's either. This festival is about being a better calligrapher and weaver. Women pray for improvement with both these skills. Some sources will tell you that kikkōden is the name for the Chinese festival that Tanabata came from, or is the name of the story from China. ...You must have to be really patient and open minded to be a historian and remain sane.

The Story

The first thing to remember with this section is that where there is one legend about something, there are many. And probably I've got more than one thing wrong somewhere, according to at least several tribes of historians at this moment in time, but here it is:

First there was the Chinese myth: there was a weaver princess or maid (the star Vega, which is in Lyra). There was also a cowherd/herder/cowboy (sheesh, talk about a misnomer with that last one) (Altair -- that's in Aquila). They fell in love, either because they just happened to meet or because the weaver princess's father, a celestial/sky god, had them get married and it just happened that they found they could get along in that kind of relationship.

But then, tragedy struck in the form of altered priorities: either one or both of them completely stopped doing their work or weren't as dedicated about it. The celestial/sky god did what apparently any benevolent overlord would do: he kept them away from each other, with the princess on one side of the Milky Way and the herder on the other side. He either allowed/allows them to meet only once a year, or they are able to meet (I guess once a year) behind the god's back because he's gone off to a group Buddhist sutra chant.

But, it's not as simple as it might seem. If it's rainy out, then too bad, the two stars have to wait until next year. Because the Milky Way gets too high, that's why. One recounting says that when it gets too high, the man who runs a ferry (and lives on the moon) can't get across (the moon is his boat).

Depending on your book, transformations into stars may happen. Another possible feature you might find is that a bunch of compassionate magpies turn themselves into a bridge over the Milky Way (there's also the version that they'll come if the river's flooded out).

In Japan the Chinese myth blurred into another, Japanese myth. This one involved a weaver named Tanabatatsume (didja catch the tanabata in there?). Which means 'girl of the shelved loom'. It looks like she lived near a river. Now, this next bit is me trying to put together some disparate sources here, just so's ya know: She would, once a year, go into her hut at night to receive a kami/the gods and somehow this would remove impurity from villagers (dunno how many villages there were). One place said she was saintly.

...Unless, of course, the word tanabatatsume could/does mean maidens who weave clothes for a god connected to Obon. (I wasn't entirely sure about what the source I have on this was saying.)

Getting back to the two main characters on Tanabata, did they have names? Sure did. Dunno when they got them or any of the nuances, but names I've seen for the weaver (outside Wikipedia) are Orihime -- literally "weaving princess" -- and Tanabatatsume. Names for the herder include Hikoboshi and Kengyū. (Orihime and Kengyū are common names for Vega and Altair in Japan, in fact.)

Quick Li'l Astronomy Addendum
Around the time of the 7th day of the 7th month, the moon is a crescent. And, most importantly, I expect, Vega and Altair are easy to spot at night.

The When

Tanabata is supposed to fall on the 7th day of the 7th month, lunar-ishly speaking. Scheduling Tanabata nowadays depends on which calendar a particular committee wants to use. If on the Gregorian calendar, Tanabata falls on July 7th. If you're sort of on the lunar calendar, it's August 7th. And a municipal celebration can go on for several days. So if you're going to Japan for Tanabata, make sure you check the dates of the cities that you're going to. Tourist PSA over. You may continue with your reading.

Celebrating It
One tradition involves seting up a bamboo stalk/tree. (According to a University of Virginia page for autumn haiku words, 七夕竹 (tanabatadake) is the name for this stalk/tree/cutting. I don't know if people use this name outside of writing haiku, but I thought I'd mention it.) People write their wishes on poem paper (or tanzaku, kanji: 短冊) and hang them on the stalk/tree/cutting. They also hang paper stars.

The next day, the branches released into a nearby river or into the ocean. And the pole is put under the eves on the 6th and taken in on the 7th at night. (On that same U of A page, I found a name for this too: 七夕流し or tanabata nagashi. Though it looks like the word applies to sending the tree or the things hung on it down the river...)

Wandering the streets of a city celebrating Tanabata, you might see a certain kind of streamer called a kazari, meant to symbolize a weaver's threads. Fireworks are also a thing on Tanabata. (Hm, streamers and fireworks....)

As you might think, there are traditions that are more place specific. Like using a horse puppet instead of a bamboo stalk/tree/cutting to hang stuff on. (Do they get put into the ocean/river too?) Or lighting lanterns called nanoka-bon ("7th Day Bon". I bet you can guess where that tradition came from. Yep, Obon again.) Or hanging other stuff (dunno what yet) on the bamboo stalk/tree/cutting.

Of course, there's also the Tanabata song:

Places
Two places that have Tanabata festivals that go on for a couple of days include Sendai (In Miyagi Prefecture) and Hiratsuka City in Kanagawa Ken. Sendai's (a revenue booster started after WWII) in August while Hiratsuka City's in July. Akita and Aomori are two other places that are supposed to be known for their Tanabata. Aomori's though is kinda combined with a different festival it has, the nebuta festival.

Even Tokyo Disneyland celebrates Tanabata. They have a themed parade, and I bet you can guess who plays Kengyū and Orihime? That's right Disney's very own Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

Here's a vid on the Sendai city festival, by the way: