There are many customs and traditions related to Tanabata, the Japanese star festival celebrating the old story of Orihime and Hikoboshi. The most popular custom is to write your wishes on a tanzaku and to hang it on a bamboo branch. Another custom is to take a stroll on the streets decorated with specific Tanabata ornaments, like these streamers from Center Gai, Shibuya, Tokyo.

Called fukinagashi, the streamers are made to symbolize the weaving made by Orihime (Orihime can be translated as “weaving princess", see the story here). This particular fukinagashi model, very popular today, was originally created in 1946 by the owner of a shop from Sendai and was originally a kusudama, an origami modeled after a Dahlia flower…

Center Gai Decorated for Tanabata, Shibuya, Tokyo

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Sengan yagura, the story of a name