The Princess and the Cow-Herder
| Summer finally came along and with it the Tanabata festival. On the morning of the festival, Soichiro and Grandmother Aya sat in the living room writing out good luck wishes on their tanzaku paper strips to hang on the bamboo trees that night. "Sayu," Soichiro said, calling his daughter over. "What wish do you want me to write on your tanzaku strip?" "Umm," Sayu thought. "I guess, to do well in school... and to not get sick all year." "Ok, that sounds good," Soichiro said as he wrote it down. Soichiro looked at the window to see a few dark clouds traveling past. "The weather looks cloudy," Soichiro observed, "I hope it doesn't rain today." "Yeah," Sayu agreed, "That'd make it hard to enjoy the festival." "Yes," Grandmother Aya said, "and it would be sad if Orihime and Hikoboshi couldn't see each other." "What do you mean?" "You know, because the heavenly Amanogawa river would flood?" Sayu just gave her a blank stare. "What? How can you be seven years old and not know story of the princess and the cow-herder?" Grandmother Aya asked. "It's the whole reason we celebrate Tanabata!" "She's just forgetful, mother," Soichiro explained. "I'm sure I've told it to her before." "Well, you better tell her again... just to be sure." "Right," Soichiro agreed. "Let's see... a long time ago, there was a princess named Orihime, the weaving princess, who was the daughter of Tentei, the Sky King who lives among the stars. Orihime was very good at weaving and made the most beautiful cloth imaginable. Her father Tentei was very proud of her skill, so she made sure to work hard on her weaving. Every day she would sit by the banks of the Amanogawa Milky Way river and work on her weaving. For a long while, Orihime was content to work on her weaving, but one day that changed. That day, Orihime realized that she had spent so much time perfecting her weaving, she would never have the opportunity to meet someone and fall in love. This made Orihime very sad because she did not like the idea that she wouldn't ever fall in love." "Aww, that's sad," Sayu said. "Yes," Soichiro said, "that's why she decided she needed some help. Orihime told her father Tentei of her worries and he decided to try to help his daughter. Tentei knew of a very handsome and hard-working young man named Hikoboshi. Hikoboshi took care of the celestial cattle on the other side of the Amanogawa river. Tentei introduced his daughter Orihime to Hikoboshi the cow-herder and the two soon fell in love. Before long, Orihime and Hikoboshi were married and were very happy." "Yay!" Sayu said. "That was a good story." "But it's not over yet," Soichiro said. "What?" Sayu asked. "Wasn't that the happily ever after?" "It doesn't quite end like that," Soichiro said. "Orihime and Hikoboshi were very happy after being married, so much so that they spent all their time together and forgot to do their work. So Orihime stopped weaving fine cloths for her father and Hikoboshi forgot to tend to his cattle so that they roamed wildly all over the heavens. This made Tentei angry, so he separated the two, sending Hikoboshi back to the other side of the Amanogawa river and forbade them from seeing each other again because they neglected their work." "What? That meanie!" Sayu exclaimed. "Oh, he's not all that bad," Soichiro continued, "When he saw how upset Orihime was, he began to feel guilty." "Good!" "Tentei didn't want his daughter to be upset, but he couldn't let either her or Hikoboshi ignore their work. So, Tentei made an agreement with the two of them that if they worked hard and finished their work each year, then they could meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month, which we now call Tanabata." "I see," Sayu said. "But what did Grandma mean about the rain?" "Well," Soichiro explained. "if it rains a lot on the day of Tanabata, then the Amanogawa river floods. If the river floods, then neither of them can cross the river to see each other." "Really?" Soichiro nodded. Sayu thought for a moment, then looked over at the tanzaku strips. "Do you have any extra of those?" "Sure," Soichiro said. She grabbed a few of them and handed them to Sayu. "Here take some." "Thanks." Sayu said, then started to run toward the hallway. "What do you want them for?" Grandmother Aya asked. Sayu stopped, turned back around and said, "I'm going to make Miroku help me write wishes so that it doesn't rain tonight," then ran off down the hall. Soichiro looked at Grandmother Aya. "So, how did I do?" he asked her. "Fine," Grandmother Aya replied. "I might even say you're becoming a storyteller in your own right." "Well," Soichiro said, "I did learn from the best storyteller." Grandmother Aya smiled at him. "That you did..." |
| Author's Note: Throughout, my storybook I paired several different tales with the different festivals. I tried to pick these different stories so that each of them reflected an idea or theme of each festival that was featured. However, unlike the other stories in my storybook, the story of the princess and the cow-herder is directly linked to a particular festival. Tanabata star festival generally takes place for most regions on July 7th, which is the seventh day of the seventh month in accordance with the story. One of the exceptions to this is the Sendai Tanabata festival, which takes place in the northeastern city of Sendai on August 6-8th and is the largest Tanabata festival in the nation. Most of the Tanabata celebrations at all the festivals take place at night when the stars come out. In the story, Orihime and Hokiboshi are meant to each correspond a particular star. Orihime corresponds with the star Vega, while Hokiboshi goes with the star Altair. The story of the princess and the cow-herder actually originated in Chinese folk-lore, but is now widely known and celebrated in Japan. During the Tanabata festival, people write wishes on thin strips of paper called tanzaku and tie them to bamboo trees like in the picture at the top of the page. These tanzaku paper strips are meant to bring good luck. Some people like to write these good luck wishes are written as poetry.  Along with the tanzaku paper strips, other decorations are often used, such as these orizuru paper cranes. In this case, the paper cranes are meant as a wish for family safety, health, and long life. Other decorations are used for different purposes, such as using a paper purse to wish for good business or even a paper trash bag to wish for cleanliness. |
| Bibliography: The Tanabata
Story. Translated by Minobu. Japan
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Kids. Image 1 Information: Tanzaku paper strips. Web Source: Wikipedia. Image 2 Information: Orizuru paper cranes. Web Source: Wikipedia. |
