Tanabata was introduced to Japan from China by Empress Koken during the Nara period (710–794). It began as a courtly event that later merged with Japanese traditions like the summer Obon festival that honours ancestors. By the Heian period (794–1185), Tanabata was a time to reflect on love and longing, marked by Japanese nobility with poetry writing and wish-making under starlit skies. Some took their wishes to an artful extreme. Prayers were written on mulberry paper using ink mixed with dew collected from taro leaves at dawn with the belief the magical concoction would make their wishes more potent. It wasn’t until the Edo period (1603–1867), when the festival became popular among the general public and people began writing desires and hopes on tanzaku votive slips, colourful strips of paper that were hung on bamboo branches as prayers to the gods.
Tanabata festival dance by Utagawa Kunisada; Tanabata festival streamers by Utagawa Hiroshi; Tanabata tanzaku by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (British Museum) All public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Today, Tanabata is celebrated across Japan on July 7 — the Gregorian seventh of the seventh, though some regions still celebrate according to the original lunar calendar to hold their festivities in August. Major cities, like Sendai, still host elaborate Tanabata festivals of parades, fireworks and streets lined with colourful streamers. It’s a time when anyone can express their dreams, wishes and hopes for the gods to see. Even you!
We'll be having our own Tanabata display at NiMi Projects, so come see us in Sevenoaks! Take a votive slip, write your wishes and tie them to our bamboo branches pointing toward the heavens. Maybe Tentei will be moved again, and your dreams will come true.