the legend

tanabata  七夕 form the nihon sun 


"Separated by the milky way, two star crossed lovers are only able to meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month based on the lunisolar calendar.  The legend of Hikoboshi (the star known as Alter) and Orihime (the star known as Vega) has roots in China but has been associated with Japan’s Tanabata festival since the sixth century.

Orihime, the daughter of Emperor Tentei, was a skilled weaver and made lovely clothes for her father.  On day as she sat alongside the the river of heaven ( Amanogawa – the milky way) she was overcome with sadness as she had been so busy with her weaving that she hadn’t had time to fall in love.   Tentei, believed to be the ruler of the heavens, witness her woeful state and arranged a marriage for her with Hikoboshi who lived across the river.  The couple was very much in love and were very happy but Orihime was neglecting her weaving.  This angered Tentei so much that he decided to separate the couple putting them back on opposite sides of the river.

Tentei decreed that the couple would only be allowed to see each other on one night each year – on the seventh day of the seventh month.  On that evening a boatman (the moon) comes to ferry Orihime over the river to her beloved Hikoboshi.  But if Orihime has not given her best to her weaving Tentei may make it rain causing the river to flood so the boatman cannot make the trip.  In this case the kasasagi (a group of magpies) may still fly to the milky way to make a bridge for Orihime to cross.

The Tanabata festival (also know as the star festival) celebrates the reuniting of these lovers separated by the milky way and the word tanabata can be translated as “weaving with the loom (bata) placed on the shelf (tana)”.

it will be tomorrow in the shop.

neki desu

fall forecast

lots of mauves and purples. i have 50grams+/- of shikon roots ( aka murasaki) in distilled water in my balcony. they will be letting out their color slowly over the weeks enjoying the fall sunlight. then dyeing will commence.

for dyers shikon is one of the traditional dyes of japan which gives a range of mauves and purples  with a pretty  time consuming, laborious dyeing technology . see the dyeing of tohoku scroll until kazuno akane zome, shikon zome.

known as  lithospermum erythrorhizon in  latin , shikon belongs to the borage family.

the color obtained from the roots is not only  used for dyeing, but it is also used in the cosmetic industry.

in english shikon is known as purple gromwell so in case you bump into it- don't forget to say hi (^^)!

for more information about its classification go here , an invaluable resource for plant taxonomy.

i have tried my luck with shikon before and the results were not very satisfactory . i think the problem was due to the water so that's why i'm using bottled  water this time.and taking the temperature too just to be on the safe side.

we shall see if the predictions hold true.

have a beautiful fall weekend!

neki desu

listening and looking

 my back talked to me yesterday. and i listened. stopped reeding and went around doing some needlework. coincidentally noticed i had a lot of susuwatari (ススワタリ) living in the studio. sounds more intellectual than dust bunnies, doesn't it?

the little characters made their debut in miyazaki's  my neighbor totoro (となりのトトロ, tonari no totoro. but their career really took off in spirited away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) (千とチ尋の神隠し)

watch them move in all their splendor and be thankful you're not a vacuum cleaner !!

neki desu