Tanabata or the festival of the stars
- Date
1959
- Summary
-
Each year on July 7, the seventh day of the seventh month – the festival of the stars is celebrated in Japan. Artist T. Mikami tells the history of this festival, which is based on the legend of Shokujo, the daughter of the King of the Heavens, who fell in love with a herd boy. Shokujo and her lover were permitted to see each other only once a year, as the Milky Way would overflow and be impossible to cross. Each year at the festival of stars, the Japanese pray it will not rain and they decorate their homes with bamboo trees, from which they hang strips of colored paper upon which poems about lovers are written. Brush paintings of bamboo are drawn by Mikami.
- Contributors
KQED, San Francisco; Winifred Schmale; Wil Maruyama; Robert Hagopian; Robert Nissen; T. Mikami
- Publishers
National Educational Television; Indiana University Audio-Visual Center
- Genre
Educational
- Subject
Art, Japenese ; Folklore ; Festivals.
- Collection
National Educational Television
- Unit
IUL Moving Image Archive
- Language
English
- Rights Statement
- No Copyright - United States
- Physical Description
1 Film (0:29:02); 16mm
- Other Identifiers
IULMIA Film Database: 40000003111731; Other: GR00465061; MDPI Barcode: 40000003111731
Access Restrictions
This item is accessible by: the public.