Tanabata Concert 2014 七夕コンサート

We had a wonderful time at our annual Tanabata Concert on July 4th!

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All the students thought hard about what they would write on their tanzaku wishes days in advance. After writing our wishes in English, we hung them on the big bamboo tree set up in the gym.

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The students also made all the decorations for the bamboo tree themselves, and were very proud of how beautiful it turned out.

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Next, it was time to dance! We had so many family members and friends watch our performance this year. It was our biggest turnout yet.

dancing

After individual songs, the entire school performed Kaeru no Uta and Tanabata-sama together.

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Then it was time to take group pictures and go home after an exciting day.

Missy Mouse Class
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Robby Rabbit Class
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Deedee Deer Class
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May all your wishes come true! See you next time!

teachers

Tanabata 2010

Early July is the time of year that we celebrate the Tanabata star festival in Japan, the story of which comes from an old Japanese fairy tale. You can read the story behind tanabata at the bottom of this post.Tanabata 2010

Apart from writing our wishes on special paper called tanzaku, which we hung on bamboo trees in the hopes that our wishes will come true, we also performed a number of songs for the parents.

Tanabata 2010

Tanabata 2010

The story of Tanabata

Orihime wove clothes for the gods all day everyday on a special machine called a Tanahata. It is believed that the word Tanabata came from the name of this weaving machine.

Tenkou was worried because his daughter did nothing but weave clothes all day every day. He decided that it would be a good idea if he introduced her to a man, and decided on a young man named Hikoboshi. He was a hardworking caretaker of cows who lived on the other side of the Amanogawa river. Amanogawa is “Milky Way” in English.

Tanabata 2010When Orihime and Hikoboshi met, they fell in love at first sight and spent all of their time together. They spent so much time together in fact, that they totally neglected their respective duties and as a result the cows became sick and the gods’ clothes became old and worn out.
This made everybody including Tenkou, the god of the sky and Orihime’s father quite mad and he forbade them from meeting each other anymore. Tenkou took his daughter back to the other side of the river and put her to work, but the two lovers were so distraught at being forced apart that they could not work at all. They could do little but stare across the Amanogawa river with a deep sense of longing.

Seeing his daughter so sad distressed Tenkou so he decided to allow Orihime and Hikoboshi to meet, but only one day a year, on July 7th, and only if they worked hard throughout the year. Knowing this, they worked as hard as before so they could meet on that one day each year.

Traditionally, people would wish for clear skies on on July 7th so that the two could meet over the Milky Way. If it rained on that day, the water level in the river would rise too high and the couple would not be able to meet because they could not cross.

People wished this by writing the wish on a piece of paper called a Tanzaku and hanging it on the branches of a bamboo tree. Nowadays people write their own wishes on the paper.

Everybody looked lovely in their yukatas and jimbeis, and celebrating tanabata this way was an especially enriching experience for our expat families who are in Nagoya and Japan for only a limited time, as it is an experience that they may not have had otherwise.

Tanabata 2010

Tanabata Festival 2009

Tuesday July 7th was Tanabata. The story of Tanabata come from an old Japanese fairy tale about the god of the sky, Tenkou and his daughter Orihime.

tanabata2009

Orihime wove clothes for the gods all day everyday on a special machine called a Tanahata. It is believed that the word Tanabata came from the name of this weaving machine.

Tenkou was worried because his daughter did nothing but weave clothes all day every day. He decided that it would be a good idea if he introduced her to a man, and decided on a young man named Hikoboshi. He was a hardworking caretaker of cows who lived on the other side of the Amanogawa river. Amanogawa is “Milky Way” in English.

When Orihime and Hikoboshi met, they fell in love at first sight and spent all of their time together. They spent so much time together in fact, that they totally neglected their respective duties and as a result the cows became sick and the gods’ clothes became old and worn out.

This made everybody including Tenkou, the god of the sky and Orihime’s father quite mad and he forbade them from meeting each other anymore. Tenkou took his daughter back to the other side of the river and put her to work, but the two lovers were so distraught at being forced apart that they could not work at all. They could do little but stare across the Amanogawa river with a deep sense of longing.

Seeing his daughter so sad distressed Tenkou so he decided to allow Orihime and Hikoboshi to meet, but only one day a year, on July 7th, and only if they worked hard throughout the year. Knowing this, they worked as hard as before so they could meet on that one day each year.

Traditionally, people would wish for clear skies on on July 7th so that the two could meet over the Milky Way. If it rained on that day, the water level in the river would rise too high and the couple would not be able to meet because they could not cross.

People wished this by writing the wish on a piece of paper called a Tanzaku and hanging it on the branches of a bamboo tree. Nowadays people write their own wishes on the paper.
Tanabata 2009

At Beanstalk the children wrote their own wishes in English and hung them on a big bamboo tree in the gym. Everybody wore their yukatas including the teachers, and some of the boys wore jinbeis. Everybody looked really nice all dressed up in their traditional garb.

Tanabata 2009 Deedee Deer class
If you look closely below you can see “tanabata matsuri” written in calligraphy on yellow paper on the wall behind the students. Believe it or not, the Deedee Deer students wrote those themselves during their shuji classes every week.
Tanabata 2009 Missy Mouse class

Tanabata 2009 Robby Rabbit class

After arriving and getting changed into our yukatas, we all sat down and wrote out our wishes on the tanzaku. After that we moved to the gym and performed the songs that we had been practicing for a few weeks. First, Missy Mouse and Deedee Deer class sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Then Robby Rabbit class sung Mr. Sun, which is a song that was new to all the parents so it was a lovely surprise. After that, Deedee class sang It’s a Small World and then all the students joined in and sang the Tanabata song together.
Tanzaku 2010