The Tanabata Festival

Pictured above: This ukiyo-e woodblock print depicts the Tanabata festival. Courtesy of the Harvard Art Museum.

Look up in the southern sky on July 7, several hours before and after midnight. You can see a faint Milky Way, visible in the dark spot in the Northern hemisphere. In olden times, when the pollution and humidity were low, I presume spotting the Milky Way was easy. There is a drama up there.

A star, Vega (Orihime), and a star, Altair (Hikoboshi), meet once a year in the Milky Way. A mythological story that originated in China describes that Orihime, a weaver and a daughter of the King of the Heavens, fell in love with Hikoboshi, a cowherd.

They were deeply in love and neglected their work. The King of the Heavens became angry and separated them with one permission. They can meet only on July 7.  

When you visit Japan around this time, you see strips of colorful paper written with wishes hanging on bamboo poles across the towns. This is called the Tanabata festival, one of Japan's five annual big festivals. 

During the Tanabata festival, we enjoy somen, 素麺, thin wheat noodles (1.3mm in diameter). Thin noodles symbolize Orihime's weaving threads. 

Let us enjoy a cold somen noodle dish before attempting to find the Milky Way and two stars.

Somen is the definitive summer noodle.

Cooked noodles are served cold in a proper amount of ice-cube added water in a serving bowl with a dipping sauce; otherwise, the cooked and drained noodles stick together when served drained. 

When you visit a famous somen noodle region, you can enjoy Nagashi somen. The noodle shop set up long chutes made from a halved bamboo stalk, where clean water continuously runs down from a higher elevation to the lower one. 

The chairs are arranged along (and across) this aqueduct. Following an announcement, the shop staffs drop a portion of cooked noodles into the flowing water at the top of the chute one after another. Diners must catch the noodles before they pass them. It is a fun, excitement-building, and body-cooling dining experience.

See the Nagashi somen experience on TikTok

New Summer Dishes

July’s recipes include instructions on how to cook and enjoy somen. I have also added the dashi marinated tomato recipe. Enjoy the summer with new cool dishes from Hiroko’s kitchen. 

Wearing Yukatas at the Gion Matsuri Festival

Lastly, for those fond of Japanese festivals, Matsuri, there is one you must experience. It is the Gion Matsuri 祇園祭, held in the capital city of Kyoto from July 17 to 24. 

Preliminary Gion Matsuri originates in 869 as a ritual service offered to God to ask to drive away the evil spirit that caused the great epidemic. By the mid-Edo period, the festival was established in its current form, with magnificent Yamaboko (elaborately garnished floats) and portable shrine processions.

Kyoto is located in a basin. Summer is hot and humid, but the festival draws millions of tourists yearly. 

What's the coolest thing to wear during this festival?

It is a yukata, a cotton kimono. Yukata for an outing differs slightly from the cotton kimono offered at the Japanese inn. The outing uniform is more stylish, and the fabric is thicker, while the inn’s yukata is thin, which is suitable for relaxing and sleeping in.