Stitch Group Sunday

Can you believe we have been stitching together for ten years? It’s true! We made cross stitch bookmarks on our first get together. What a long way we’ve come since then!

Everyone continued with the gardens on Sunday.

Tea time

Monday Morning’s Mt. Fuji (view from my apartment)

Tanabata Festival

Here is the short version of the Tanabata story from the Savvy Tokyo website:

 The legend goes that Orihime (a weaving princess) and Hikoboshi (a cowherd) met and fell truly, madly, deeply in love with each other, and eventually tied the knot. But love—being the only thing on their minds—shifted their attention from work to each other. Making them—in the eyes of others—lazy and demotivated. Orihime’s father, the King of the Heavens, furious at their negligence of other essential affairs, separated them, sending the two to opposite sides of the Milky Way. Orihime became the star Vega and Hikoboshi, the star Altair.

Heartbroken, Orihime cried her heart out day and night, which didn’t help much in getting her back on track, as her father had hoped. Moved by Orihime’s tears, the king agreed to allow the couple to meet only once a year—on July 7. 

My town holds a four day Tanabata Festival every year. This popular festival always falls during the rainy season, but a big part of it is held near the train station in a covered shopping walkway called Ginza. It’s a family friendly festival with all the decorations, food booths, children’s activity booths, and a place to meet friends. Some people wear yukata - light weight summer kimono wear. I walked around the festival last Sunday and took a few pictures. 

Shugenji Temple, Kamakura

This small temple is almost hidden from view as one walks along the sidewalk between Hase-dera and the Enoden train to Kamakura Station. The sign below explains the history.

Hase-dera, Kamakura

After visiting the Great Buddha, I walked down the street to Hase-dera. The entrance fee is 400 yen. I visited in 2022, and posted about it here. It’s worth visiting a place more than once because I see different things.