Star Festival －Tanabata & celestial maidens in Japanese art

Many colorful tanzaku (slips of fancy paper) are hung from sticks of bamboo for the Tanabata Festival(Star Festival: July 7th) under the eaves of Tokyo Daijingu Shrine. Wishes and prayers are written on them. In spite of its small scale, the shrine, which is a branch of Ise Jingu Shrine, is popular with young women as a place to worship a powerful matchmaking god in Tokyo.

The bamboo leaves rustle, rustle,

Shaking away in the eaves.

The stars go twinkle, twinkle;

Gold and silver grains of sand.

The gentle wind now and then rustles the bamboo leaves and the tanzaku slips sway bearing a lot of people’s wishes. The Tanabata legend about two star lovers is here in my 2009 post.

Tokyo Daijingu Shrine

In Japan, the custom of celebrating Tanabata widely spread among commoners during the Edo period. The woodblock prints you see below show that the festival was always accompanied by bamboo stalks and tanzaku.

(left)
by Suzuki Harunobu
(鈴木春信）
(right)
by Utagawa Hiroshige
(歌川広重）

（below)　by Miyagawa Shuntei(宮川春亭）

 　

Orihime, the heroine of the legend, has often been portrayed the way she is in the drawing on the right. The long sheer stole around her clothes is called “hire 領巾”, and it was actually worn by noble women before the 10th century.

At that time, the fashion of the upper-class had been greatly influenced by that of the Korean Peninsula and the Chinese mainland. In ancient times in our country, the hire was believed to have a magical power.  It was believed that a person could expel evil spirits by waving one.              　　　　 　　*1→

stamp： Spring in Asuka 

The figure is Nukata-no-Ookimi(Princess Nukata 額田王 who lived in the 7th century.)
The original painting by Yasuda Yukihiko(安田 靫彦 1884~1978)

Furthermore, interestingly, some of the hire have been considered to belong to celestial beings and are called Tenne(天衣）. It is thought that they give their wearer supernatural flight abilities. In the West celestial beings such as angels almost always have wings. Griffins, dragons, and Pegasus have wings as well. 

Conversely, in the East, celestial beings in Buddhist paintings are usually depicted with fantastic hire-like Tenne(天衣) and not with wings.  Tenne look like scarves of gauze, or ribbon-like strips of narrow cloth.

Celestial beings, Hiten(飛天), 幡, metal,

Horyu-ji Tenmple(法隆寺） in Nara, 8~9th centuries.

Tokyo National Museum　↓↑

celestial being, Hiten(飛天）, mural,  13th century, Hokkai-ji Temple(法界寺) in Kyoto  

image from Wikipedia

It looks like the hire-like Tenne in our Buddhist art traces its roots back to ancient times on the Silk Road. Look at the fascinating mural paintings in the Dunhuang Mogao Caves（UNESCO World Heritage Site). Dunhuang（敦煌） was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road by which Buddhism found its way from India into the East. A lot of celestial beings called hiten（飛天） fly about with their hire-like Tenne streaming and fluttering in the wind. You can see a collection of Dunhuang hiten images here.

Many stories and legends about celestial beings remain today. The best known is “The Moon Princess, Kaguya” from a 10th century folktale. In the story, a very tiny baby is found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by a bamboo cutter. The baby grows up to be a stunning beauty, and many men, including the Emperor, court her. However, Kaguya wearing a Hagoromo（羽衣), a feather robe, returns to the Moon.　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　

stamp(right): Princess Kaguya, the original painting by Morita Kohei（森田曠平1916～1994） 　　　　

In the painting below, several celestial beings from the Moon are wearing hire stoles( or maybe Tenne). They have come to the Earth to take the princess back to the Moon. Just like in the painting, the hagoromo robes have usually been depicted as hire stoles.

from The Tale of  the Bamboo Cutter 

image from Wikipedia

Tnnyo(天女）, who are otherwise known as celestial maidens, have also been drawn with hire stoles(or Tenne). Generally, Tnnyo have their hagoromo stolen and cannot go back home until the heavenly garment is returned.  There are many Hagoromo legends around the country. (Some Tennyo have hire stoles(Tenne) plus wings in paintings.)  

Hagoromo(羽衣） by Kimura Buzan(木村武山　1876～1942） (detail)

Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art

Intriguingly, since the olden days, some people have insisted that they have witnessed beautiful celestial maidens with Hagoromos. What do these sightings mean? I suppose some of them may have been illusions. However, last year a very interesting hypothesis on the Hagoromo legends was proposed and was broadcast in the news. 

According to some researchers, hagoromos may have been auroras. They indicate the possibilities of aurora frequent appearances over Japan and some parts of Asia a long time ago. The hagoromo's hire fluttering surely looks a little like an aurora. 

The aurora borealis shines above Bear Lake

image from Wikipedia 

According to the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, in 1770 in Nagasaki, in 1958 from the Tohoku to Kanto areas, and in 1989 in Tohoku, auroras were actually observed. I have no idea if this hypothesis is right though I think it is very romantic. Lastly, did you know that Jupiter and Saturn also have auroras? Their auroras are on a gigantic scale. 

On the sea of heaven

the waves of clouds rise,

and I can see

the moon ship disappearing

as it is rowed into the forest of stars.*2

*1 free material. you can download it.
*2 天の海に　雲の波立ち　月の船　星の林に　漕ぎ隠る見ゆ　
by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro（柿本人麻呂）
Translated by Ian Hideo Levy