Jul 7, 2026 · 19 min · 12 segments
A short Tanabata tale from the Uncanny Vault: Orihime the weaving princess, Hikoboshi the cowherd, and the river of stars that keeps them apart. On the seventh night of the seventh month, wishes are…
The two main characters in the story this festival is based on are Orihime and Hikoboshi.
And what's cool about them is even though they are both mythological figures, they're represented by the stars Vega and Altair, both very visible in the summer night sky around this time.
So what does one do on Tanabata? Well, someone might bring home a large cutting from a bamboo tree.
kindergartens, elementary schools, and even supermarkets usually have one on display.
I don't believe individual households have their own bamboo or sasa branch so much, although my father-in-law loved to bring us one home, and we loved decorating it.
People, again, this is really fun for children, write down their wishes on these rectangular-shaped pieces of paper.
They then tie them to the tree so that there are dozens, if not more, wishes flittering about.
But just know that other curious eyes might glance at your wish, so nothing too weird.
On top of the pretty tanzoku wishes dangling from the branches, you can also decorate the tree with other colorful and shiny ornaments, usually homemade with origami paper.
Single household ones aren't especially amazing, at least ours wasn't, but the ones that have more people working on them are really cool.
Hundreds of wishes, along with streamers, origami cranes, those paper chains you used to make when you were little, and all kinds of other creative goodies fluttering in the breeze and adding life to this spindly bamboo tree.
When the night of Tanabata arrives, just maybe your wish will be chosen and come true.
We would stroll down the bustling street under dozens upon dozens of enormous, strung-up crepe paper decorations.
These were usually big, fancy paper balls called kusudama, with long, brightly colored streamers flowing underneath them.
I just learned that the design was originated in Sendai in 1946 by a shop owner.
The two main characters in the story this festival is based on are Orihime and Hikoboshi.
And what's cool about them is even though they are both mythological figures, they're represented by the stars Vega and Altair, both very visible in the summer night sky around this time.
So what does one do on Tanabata? Well, someone might bring home a large cutting from a bamboo tree.
kindergartens, elementary schools, and even supermarkets usually have one on display.
I don't believe individual households have their own bamboo or sasa branch so much, although my father-in-law loved to bring us one home, and we loved decorating it.
People, again, this is really fun for children, write down their wishes on these rectangular-shaped pieces of paper.
They then tie them to the tree so that there are dozens, if not more, wishes flittering about.
But just know that other curious eyes might glance at your wish, so nothing too weird.
On top of the pretty tanzoku wishes dangling from the branches, you can also decorate the tree with other colorful and shiny ornaments, usually homemade with origami paper.
Single household ones aren't especially amazing, at least ours wasn't, but the ones that have more people working on them are really cool.
Hundreds of wishes, along with streamers, origami cranes, those paper chains you used to make when you were little, and all kinds of other creative goodies fluttering in the breeze and adding life to this spindly bamboo tree.
When the night of Tanabata arrives, just maybe your wish will be chosen and come true.
We would stroll down the bustling street under dozens upon dozens of enormous, strung-up crepe paper decorations.
These were usually big, fancy paper balls called kusudama, with long, brightly colored streamers flowing underneath them.
I just learned that the design was originated in Sendai in 1946 by a shop owner.
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