Kyo no Tanabata

Illuminated bamboo with wishes

I am back to Kyoto for two nights to tie up some loose ends (mainly culinary), attend the Kyo no Tanabata festivities and use my rail pass to its fullest *g*
Got the guest house, checked in and was off again. One of the major advantages of having a home-base is the fact that you can travel light and leave you heavy stuff behind --> Exactly what I did.
Anyway, I organized some stuff for the future (made some phone calls, troubled some LAWSON-employees [not my fault that even they can't handle their vending machines]) and got myself some delicious food. Post about the culinary side of this trip in the making.

The Kyo no Tanabata is, as the name suggests, Kyoto's Tanabata festival and lasts a week. During this time the city is decorated with lots of bamboo, to which the locals attach their wishes.
Tanabata is the time of the year when two stars are said to meet, the legend being that Hitoboshi and Orihime (our two stars in question) fell in love with each other and neglected all their work in the heavens. This made the ruler of those realms angry and so he separated them, putting the Milky Way between them. He was moved by their love, however, and allowed them to meet once a year --> Tanabata. In the west the stars are called Altair and Vega.
Tanabata is celebrated either on 7/7 or 8/8 of the year and its custom to write the wish you want the stars to fulfill on a strip of paper and hang it on a bamboo.
Ok, enough info, here are some pictures:

Entrance

Lights from afar

Illuminated bamboo with wishes

Main grove?

The Kamogawa and the Horigawa (rivers) are the sites for the main decorations, with lots of illuminated stuff and floating LEDs, representing the Milky Way.
Till know the pictures where from the Kamogawa site, the Horikawa ones follow.

Chimes

Bamboo deco

Grove and floating LEDs

Fabric and lights

Floating LEDs

Start of the fabric

There is more to see, but as I had another day in Kyoto I postponed that and went home. Took this opportunity to do some planning of the next two weeks, after which my girlfriend will finally join me here in Japan. By the way, I was staying at the same guest house like last time for these two nights.

Turns out it rained the next day, intervals of soft sprinkles and downpours, heavy on the latter --> Bought an umbrella from a Convenience Store, still not the weather you want to be exposed to. Got some lunch and headed for the shopping arcades. Ended up in a cinema in the end and confirmed that many movies are NOT dubbed in Japan (well, except for animation) but subbed, a strategy I really like.
I didn't get to see the rest of the Kyo no Tanabata, but that's a) tolerable and b) nothing I can do something about.

So long and stay tuned,
JuergenS

written by  JuergenS on August 10, 2010 from Kyoto, Japan
from the travel blog: Two month of Japan
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