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.

Friday Finish - Crochet Hook Roll

One of my friends recently took up crocheting, so I made this roll up hook holder, with flap to stop the hooks from falling out, for her.

The pockets on the left are a little larger and could hold a tape measure or scissors or big crochet hook.

Kotoku-in and the Big Buddha, Kamakura

I visited Kotoku-in and the Great Buddha in 2022 and posted about it here. At that time, Japan was still very cautious about the spread of covid and keeping distant from others, so there were fewer people and visitors could not go inside the Buddha. I think the Japanese border was closed until October of 2022, so there were no foreign tourists when I visited the first time.

The admission fee is 300 yen, plus an additional 50 yen to go inside the Great Buddha.

I walked all the way around the Great Buddha before going inside.

These windows in the back are for inside ventilation, but it was still pretty stuffy inside.

After paying the 50 yen, you go inside by a narrow stairway that is used for both up and down. Someone with claustrophobia might not want to go in.

Looking up, inside the Buddha’s head.

These are the windows that can be seen from the outside.

This is the area behind the Great Buddha, and I think a building was removed. Looking at the last three photos in this post, you can see the same stone lantern and large flat stone. It’s a mystery!