tanabata

Tommorrow is 7th of July, many Japanese wish it will be a beautiful wether , especially at night , because we have a fairly tale as follows.

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Once upon a time a beautiful woman lived in the bank of the Milky Way which shined in a night sky, her name was Orihime , and a daughter of an Lord of the Heaven. She followed orders of her father ,and worked very hard as a weaver every day.

As for the cloth which Orihime weaved, it was wonderful, and the Lord of Heaven admired her working.But to his pity, the daughter worked too hard to spend time for herself- like putting on her make up, and dating with a boy friend.

So he decided to let her marry Hikoboshi who was also hard worker ,lived in the west of the Milky Way ,and a cattleman . Then Orihime and Hikoboshi began new life in this way.

However, after their marriage , they were enjoying everyday, actually it was too much, they didn't work any more. At first the Lord of Heaven let them do, but finally he got angry, and said to them to live separately - made Orihime live in the one side of Milkyway ,and Hikoboshi live in another side. And the lord of Heaven said to them "If you work very hard, I will let you meet at the night of 7th July "

Orihime was so sad, but decided to work very hard, Hikoboshi as well.

However, when it rains on July 7 when two people longed for it, the volume of water of the Milky Way increases, and Orihime cannot go to the opposite bank.
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The father was so strict , wasn't he??? Once a year???

Now in Japan, we wish the good weather, and same time we make a wish ,writing it on small piece of paper, and hung the bamboo tree on 7th July.



So we can see the bamboo with papers in many place in Japan, there are tanabata festival in some place.