Make a wish
Join us for the annual Japanese star festival! Tanabata 七夕 at the garden is a family-friendly event that we celebrate with magnificent colors, craft making, and a tradition of writing wishes. This year, we are going to celebrate on July 6th (as our Family Saturday event) and on July 7th, original Tanabata day.
The origin of Tanabata comes from the legend of Orihime and Hikoboshi, star crossed lovers separated by the Milky Way. Each year on the evening of July 7th, Orihime and Hikoboshi are allowed to reunite for one night only. In Japan, Tanabata is celebrated by decorating bamboo branches with origami ornaments and tanzaku, poems or wishes written on small strips of paper.
Or garden visitors will have the opportunity to write wishes and tie them to bamboo sticks in the garden.
Admission to the garden will be FREE for youth 12 and under from 10am-2pm on Saturday 7/6. Final entry to the garden is 45 minutes before closing.
EVENT SCHEDULE:
(All event schedule and activities are subject to change)
Bunraku Performance by Thistle Theatre (2023)
SATURDAY 7/6
11:30am - 5:30 pm Tanzaku Wishing Station
11:00 am - 1:00 pm Origami
1:00 pm - 1:45 pm Thistle Theatre
Thistle Theatre
Join us for the Bunraku theater performance, a famous Japanese Tanabata folktale by Thistle Theatre. It will be a love story for the star festival.
Story: "Orihime and Hikoboshi"
The myth of Princess Orihime, the cow herder Hikoboshi, and how their love inspired the Tanabata Festival. An original puppet show created by Thistle Theatre using puppets based on the traditional Japanese puppetry called ‘bunraku’.
The performance will begin at 1:00pm. Stay after the show and meet the puppeteers and the puppets! www.thistletheatre.org
SUNDAY 7/7
11:30 am - 5:30 pm Tanzaku Wishing Station
11:00 am - 1:00 pm Origami
1:00 pm - 1:45 pm Dekoboko Taiko
Dekoboko Taiko
Dekoboko Taiko is a Seattle-based taiko (Japanese drumming) group started by alumni from Taiko Kai at the University of Washington. Since 2017, the group has grown in membership and original songs. They will perform two different sets at 1:00 p.m. and 1:45 p.m.
Photo by Dekoboko Taiko