1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmrRA2kkwi0

2. TANABATA: BACKGROUND
• Japanese Star Festival
• Originates from Chinese Qixi (七夕) Festival
• 7th Day of the 7th month every year
• Some festivals are held following the date on the lunar calendar, while
others follow the Christian calendar
• This year 7/7 on the Lunar calendar falls on the 24 th of August 

3. TANABATA: BACKGROUND
• Story! :D
• Orihime = Daughter of Tentei
• Tentei = 天帝, Sky King
• Hikoboshi = 牽牛, Kengyuu or Cow Herder Star

4. TANABATA: BACKGROUND
• Orihime and Tentei…

5. TANABATA: BACKGROUND
• Orihime -> weaves cloth that dad likes
• Tentei -> likes cloth that Orihime weaves
• But she worked so hard, she couldn’t meet anyone and fall in love, so the
Tentei arranged for her to meet…

6. TANABATA: BACKGROUND
• Hikoboshi: the cow herder

7. TANABATA: BACKGROUND
• I know she doesn’t deserve him *Cough*and so the story goes on
• They meet and fall in love, and get married shortly after
• But… Orihime stopped weaving cloth for Tentei, and Hikoboshi stopped
taking care of the cows

8. TANABATA: BACKGROUND
• Imagine Heaven being covered with…
• Important cow herders are important

9. TANABATA: BACKGROUND
• Of course Tentei got pissed off
• Don’t piss your dad off, esp if he’s the Sky
King. :D

10. TANABATA: BACKGROUND
• And so he decided to separate them across the Amanogawa (天の川,
heavenly river, basically the Milky Way) and forbade them to meet
• The fangirls go YESSSSSSSSSS
• But Orihime became so despondent over the loss of her husband, she
begged her father to let them see each other again

11. TANABATA: BACKGROUND
• So the kind (?) Tentei allowed them to meet on the 7 th day of the 7 th month
IF she worked hard and finished her weaving (and, presumably, if
Hikoboshi takes care of his cows)
• Apparently they did, and so they were allowed to meet…

12. TANABATA: BACKGROUND
• …But the first time, they had no way to get across the Amanogawa
• Orihime, being useless, cried so much that a flock of magpies came and
promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the
river and meet her beloved
• (I bet cows in heaven can fly, so why doesn’t Hikoboshi just set his cows
loose… )

13. TANABATA: BACKGROUND
• And so… they met.
• YAY! <3 …or not
• It is said that if it rains on
Tanabata, the magpies cannot
come and the lovers must wait
until the next year to meet

14. THE SUMMER TRIANGLE
• Orihime and Hikoboshi are represented by the stars Vega and Altair
respectively
• Together with a 3 rd star Deneb, they form the Summer Triangle (….could
the story have had another character!?) :D ->
• …Okay, just kidding.
• Aka 夏の大三角 Natsu no daisankaku

15. THE SUMMER TRIANGLE
• The three stars are basically the brightest in their region
• Lies overhead the mid-northern latitudes during the summer
months but can also be seen in other seasons although only at
different times.
• Also known as the “navigator’s triangle” because it’s also used
to navigate in the Pacific Ocean

17. Wish-writing
• people commonly write
poems and wishes on fancy
strips of paper (tanzaku)
• cut out brightly colored paper
stars
• decorate a bamboo stalk with
these.
• The next morning, the
decorated stalks are
customarily released into the
ocean or into rivers and
streams.

18. Tanabata song
• Sasa no ha sara-sara / The bamboo leaves rustle,
• Nokiba ni yureru / shaking away in the eaves.
• Ohoshi-sama kira-kira / The stars twinkle
• Kingin sunago / on the gold and silver grains of sand.
• Goshiki no tanzaku / The five-colour paper strips
• watashi ga kaita / I have already written.
• Ohoshi-sama kirakira / The stars twinkle,
• sora kara miteiru / they watch us from heaven.

19. Examples of tanabata celebrations
• Well-known, large-scale celebrations of
tanabata include :
• the Sendai Tanabata matsuri, which began in
an attempt to help revive the economy in the
postwar years
• the Aomori Nebuta festival, in which papier-
mâché lanterns (tōrō) of varying sizes and
shapes are carried around
• Akita's Kantō festival, in which participants
make their way through the streets carrying
the eponymous kantō, a construct comprised
of numerous paper lanterns balanced on tall
bamboo poles.

20. What people do at tanabata celebrations
• Celebrations vary by regions, but
generally, parades along the streets,
where people dance, sing and cheer
• For the aomori nebuta festival, more
than 30 nebuta floats participate each
year – each takes up to a year to
construct and some tower five meters
above the street and are spun about by
their handlers as they move along the
parade route.
• culminates on the final evening when a
large toro, lantern, is floated out to sea,
symbolically taking evil spirits with it, as
large and colorful display of fireworks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t3qo3ZkcNA&feature=topics
light up the night sky.