 The
Tanabata festival in Shonan Hiratsuka is a star festival in the summer which is
held every year the day of Tanabata on July
7th in Hiratsuka city, Japan.
Tanabata is an event to deify the star introduced
from China originally, but is was made an
annual event in Japan as the romantic Tanabata
legend.
Tanabata
legend is a two-star story of lovers in the vast
galaxy.
Once upon a time, the emperor of the galaxy
and Vega (The Japanese name is Orihime),
his daughter lived in a luxurious palace
which is on the eastern coast of the MilkyWay.
One day, she fell deeply in love with the
courageous and handsome Altair (The Japanese
name is Hikoboshi), who live on the west
coast of the galaxy and married him.
However, because she neglected her weaving, The emperor of the galaxy was
angry and banished the bridegroom. In a result, the couple was separated
far across the Milky Way. But after that, the emperor of the galaxy had
permitted the couple to meet at night once a year on July 7th because he
cannot stand to see his daughter looked sad so much.
On that night, it is the story that the two
stars meet, spanning the bridge of the Milky
Way with magpies because of going across
the bridge on a rain day.
In Japan, typical Tanabata festivals are held annually
here in Hiratsuka and in Sendai.
Especially, the Tanabata festival in Hiratsuka is large-scale event and
was held in 2008 attended by 2,400,000 visitors from the whole country
during 4 days from July 4 through 7.
On the night of Tanabata in Japan, we have
a custom to make an offering in front of
the yard and stand up a leaf bamboo and writing
wishes (There is a legend that wishes are
fulfilled) on strips of paper with 5-colors.
At the Tanabata festival in Shonan Hiratsuka,
the bamboo decorations which are beautiful
and being very big are made throughout the
town and a lot of stalls stand in a row.
At noon, a parade and a dance attraction
and so on are unveil at the main street in
Hiratsuka city. Also, at night, the bamboo
decorations are lit up beautifully with lights,
making the Tanabata festival more luxurious.
Hiratsuka city is a commerce and industry city with a population of 256,621 located on
the right bank of the estuary of the Sagami river. It is located in the
area which is called Shonan which faces seashore in roughly the center
of Kanagawa prefecture (Refer to the panorama photograph below). Recently,
it became known as the headquarters of the soccer team in Bellmare Hiratsuka
(Nakata belonged) which is playing an active part in the J-League.
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The 72th Tanabata Festival in Hiratsuka has been held from July 5(Fri) through 7(Sun) in 2024.
