Princess Orihime, the daughter of the sky king, wove beautiful clothes by the banks of a heavenly river we know as the Milky Way. She enjoyed making clothes, but she was lonely and she worked so tirelessly that she was worried she wouldn’t ever fall in love. Concerned for Orihime, the sky king arranged for her to meet a boy named Hikoboshi who lived across the Milky Way. The two instantly fell in love and were soon married. However, the sky king found that Orihime no longer had time to weave clothes for him anymore and Hikoboshi let his cows wander aimlessly all over the sky. In anger, the sky king banished Hikoboshi back to the other side of the Milky Way and forbade them to meet. Orihime grew despondent and begged her father to let them see each other again. He was still angry, but he couldn’t deny his daughter this wish, so he allowed them to meet for just one day per year on the 7^th day of the 7^th month.

Princess Orihime and Hikoboshi are represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively, and their paths meet across the Milky Way once a year. To celebrate this meeting people celebrate Tanabata, which means “Evening of the seventh”, by making huge, colourful, washi paper decorations and hanging them from bamboo poles in the street.