1959

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.

KQED, San Francisco; Winifred Schmale; Wil Maruyama; Robert Hagopian; Robert Nissen; T. Mikami

National Educational Television; Indiana University Audio-Visual Center

Educational

Art, Japenese ; Folklore ; Festivals.

National Educational Television

IUL Moving Image Archive

English

1 Film (0:29:02); 16mm

IULMIA Film Database: 40000003111731; Other: GR00465061; MDPI Barcode: 40000003111731