Tanabata 七夕

July 7

I've been terribly neglectful, lately. I could blame it on the hot weather, or the fact that there have been about a dozen summer festivals around Tokyo already, but really, I've just been lazy.

Last weekend, the area around Asakusa was the place to be. The Iriya Asagao market ("Morning Glory" plants), the Tanabata Festival around Kappabashi street and the Houzuki market ("Ground Cherry" or Chinese Lantern plant) in the grounds of Sensouji, all fell around the same time.

As usual, Tanabata - the star festival - fell on a cloudy day. The story of two gods (the stars Vega and Altair) who fell in love, neglected their duties and were separated, only to meet on July 7, came from China. It was apparently adopted by the Heian court in Kyoto and later became popular with the general population in the Edo period. According to the legend, if it rains on Tanabata, the literally star-crossed lovers cannot meet. It rained buckets this year, so I guess they'll have to try again next year.  If you write a wish and tie it to a bamboo branch, it might come true - you're supposed to wish for improved skills, so just wishing for money isn't going to work.

Tanabata is very popular with little kids. All the kindergartens and elementary schools around my place decorated their gates with bamboo and paper decorations. The sound of the bamboo rustling makes you feel cooler. The decorations - paper lanterns and paper chains remind me of the Christmas decorations we made as kids in kindergarten in Australia.

There are a few major Tanabata festivals including  Hiratsuka in Kanagawa and Asakusa in Tokyo. Asakusa's festival is held along Kappabashi street, which is famous for selling kitchenware. You get the real downtown atmosphere here - stalls selling cold cucumbers on sticks (a very healthy pre-curser to the popsicle), wedges of watermelon and bottles of ramune soda; the local hula class of old ladies puts on a little show; there's a monkey doing tricks (which looks rather sad); catching goldfish games and a kind of "rock paper scissors" showdown, which I didn't really understand, but looked very exciting! It's one of the first chances in the year to wear cotton yukata or jinbei (a kind of pajamas).

Don't worry, if you missed it - Sendai also has a famous Tanabata festival around August 7th.

Here are some photos from Kappabashi:

The decorations feature a "kappa", the symbol of Kappabashi

All these little stars were made of paper

Wishes and decorations on bamboo

Strolling in yukata

Catching fish

Kind of sad monkey

Hula hooper and the little girls from The Shining

Gold fish are a typical summer motif. How long will it live?

Enjoying watermelon

Putting up wishes

Checking out the "stadium"

This was a complex-looking hand game, something like a geisha drinking game. Can anyone explain it?

Blue and white is the most popular colour scheme for yukata

I think he won the game.