Tanabata Festival in Heian Era

Heian Era in Japanese history is the prosperous period of the 9th-12th centuries, in which the emperor and noble families residing in Kyoto exerted political powers over Japan. Then Kyoto was called Heian capital. Tanabata festival in Heian Era was held on July 7, the 7th day of the 7th month, in the traditional lunar calendar. It is still widely celebrated in Japan but on July 7 in the modern solar calendar in urban areas, where the lunar calendar has been forgotten, or on August 7 in the rural country as an approximation of the lunar calendar date. In the evening of Tanabata festical, the star of Altair as a cow raising lad can meet Vega as a weaving lass across the heavenly river of Milky Way only once a year. Tanabata is a festival for making wishes, in association with accomplishment of the meeting once a year. Children write wishes on colorful strips of paper and tie them to bamboo trees.

My wife and I had the privilege of watching Tanabata ceremony held every year strictly according to the tradition since Heian Era. It was held in the house of the noble family of Reizei, located at the north-west corner of the former imperial palace of Kyoto. Nowadays, the house belongs to a foundation. Reizei family descends from Sadaie Fujiwara, a famous poet in the 12-13th centuries, remains the representative family of Waka poems, with 5-7-5-7-7 syllables, for 25 generations over 800 years, and has devoted itself stubbornly to preserve the arts of Waka poems and ceremonies as well as millennium old related documents. When the emperor and the capital moved to Tokyo in 1868, so did most noble families. But Reizei family stayed in Kyoto and, as a result, averted devastating Great Earthquake in Tokyo in 1923 and World War II bombing, because Americans saved the traditional city of Kyoto from bombing, enabling Reizei family to keep its mission.

The ceremony started at six in the evening with explanation by Lady Kimiko Reizei, the wife of the current head of the family. The family calls the ceremony "Kikkoten" according to the old Chinese way of calling. July 7 in the lunar calendar was August 14 this year, which happened to coincide with busy Bon Festival, and therefore, the family held the ceremony one week later on August 21. The family prepared a 1500 square feet hall of straw mat floors by removing all Fusuma paper doors separating five rooms, to accommodate more than one hundred observers, including the mayor of Kyoto, mostly supporters of the foundation. In the garden, an altar called "The seat of stars" was prepared with traditional offerings and candles. A big tub of water, with a leaf of Kaji tree floating on it, was for appreciation of two stars reflected on it.

Four pieces of traditional royal music "Gagaku" were played by five artists, including a woman, with a flute, a pipe, a multi-bamboo blowing instrument Sho, a Koto zither and a Biwa lute. Gagaku is the music of the royal court in Japan since a millennium ago, but it originally came from Chinese royal court as I learned. Western music seeks for sharp tunes while Gagaku is played in a broad tolerant interval. One music had a vocal song. Since Gagagku doesn't have any notion of chords, the song was in unison. This vocal song "Two Stars" is a standard number in Gagaku, as I heard.

"Hiko" was performed next. It is recitation of Waka poems. An oil light was prepared and all electric lights were put off. Actually, a spot light was left on to shed light around the oil light, in order to help eyesights of the modern people. I saw the oil light for the first time since my childhood, when I saw it often on the altars. It consists of a shallow dish with rapeseed oil and a wick. The head of the family Tamehito Reizei made appearance with five people, all of whom happened to be women. They sat around the oil light. He presented a paper on which a Waka poem was writen in advance. Then one of the women recited the poem loudly, very slowly and flatly. After another woman sang the first phrase, everyone of the group sang in unison from the second phrase to the end. This way, nine selected Waka poems, composed on the given title of "The garden of Tanabata", were recited one after another. The last poem recited was by Tamehito. It was as follows; "White dews fallen on the garden in the dawn may be tears of stars grieving over parting."

The last was "the stage of the flow", in which "flow" means the heavenly river of Milky Way. Five couples of men and women in millennium old traditional costumes sat in two rows facing each other. All women had long tails of hairs. One woman stood up and fetched a tray, on which were placed a lottery of the titles of Waka poems, "something of Tanabara". Everyone drew the lottery and began to compose a Waka poem with the drawn title. One couple stood up and fetched and distributed small boxes, each with a Chinese ink stone, an ink stick and brushes, to write down Waka poems. Then another couple distributed papers. A roll of shining white silk cloth was extended between men and women, in order to symbolize the heavenly river of Milky Way. When a poem was written down, the paper was folded and put on a fan to be presented to the partner for exchanges. The receiving partner composed the return poem and wrote it down on the received paper to be presented on the fan back to the partner. Everything above was done in complete silence. In Heian Era, exchanges of poems were repeated continually until the dawn, leaving the poems proprietary to each couple. Nowadays, however, one return poem completed the exchange, and the master of ceremony read out to the observers eight poems composed by two couples. This concluded the two-hour ceremony.

Customs of tying wish papers to bamboos originated in Edo Era, only a few centuries ago, and therefore, is not adopted by Reizei family. I also learned that Kikkoten in China was originally a ceremony for girls to wish for improvement in needleworks. When it was introduced into Japan a millennium ago, it became a ceremony to wish for improvement in arts like Gagaku music and Waka poems.

We modern people obsessed by speed must feel a little bored in this slow ceremony. But we were glad that we could feel some idea of the elegance of the lives of noble people in Heian Era, who must have more leisure time than they could spend.

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