The Star Crossed Lovers Japan Celebrates Every Summer

Each July, parts of Japan fill with bamboo branches fluttering with colorful paper strips as the country celebrates Tanabata, the Star Festival, one of the most visually charming traditions of summer.

The holiday traces back to the legend of Orihime, a weaver princess, and Hikoboshi, a cowherd, represented in the night sky by the stars Vega and Altair. According to the story, the two fell in love and neglected their duties, so they were separated across the Milky Way and allowed to meet only once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month.

Tanabata grew out of the Chinese Qixi Festival and was introduced to Japan in 755, during the Nara period, under Empress Koken. Over the centuries it blended with local customs, especially during the Edo period, into the holiday celebrated across the country today.

The best known custom is writing wishes on narrow strips of colorful paper called tanzaku and tying them to bamboo branches, alongside other handmade decorations. After the festival, the bamboo is often floated down a river or burned, carrying the wishes away.

Of all the regional celebrations, the Sendai Tanabata Matsuri held each August 6 through 8 is the largest and most spectacular, filling the city's shopping arcades with thousands of handcrafted paper streamers that can stretch several meters long, a tradition said to trace back to the city's 16th century founder, Date Masamune.

Whether in a small neighborhood or a major festival ground, Tanabata offers a rare chance to look up, make a wish, and feel connected to a story that has been retold under the same summer sky for well over a thousand years.