n offerings to the Imperial House on the
day of the festival. The character of these offerings, and the manner
of their presentation, were fixed by decree. They were conveyed to
the palace upon a tray, by a veiled lady of rank, in ceremonial
dress. Above her, as she walked, a great red umbrella was borne by
an attendant. On the tray were placed seven _tanzaku_ (longilateral
slips of fine tinted paper for the writing of poems); seven
_kudzu_-leaves;[6] seven inkstones; seven strings of _s[=o]men_
(a kind of vermicelli); fourteen writing-brushes; and a bunch of
yam-leaves gathered at night, and thickly sprinkled with dew. In the
palace grounds the ceremony began at the Hour of the Tiger,--4 A.M.
Then the inkstones were carefully washed,--prior to preparing the ink
for the writing of poems in praise of the Star-deities,--and each one
set upon a _kudzu_-leaf. One bunch of bedewed yam-leaves was then
laid upon every inkstone; and with this dew, instead of water, the
writing-ink was prepared. All the ceremonies appear to have been
copied from those in vogue at the Chinese court in the time of the
Emperor Ming-Hwang.

[Footnote 6: _Pueraria Thunbergiana._]

* * * * *

It was not until the time of the Tokugawa Sh[=o]gunate that the
Tanabata festival became really a national holiday; and the popular
custom of attaching _tansaku_ of different colors to freshly-cut
bamboos, in celebration of the occasion, dates only from the era
of Bunser (1818). Previously the _tanzaku_ had been made of a very
costly quality of paper; and the old aristocratic ceremonies had been
not less expensive than elaborate. But in the time of the Tokugawa
Sh[=o]gunate a very cheap paper of various colors was manufactured;
and the holiday ceremonies were suffered to assume an inexpensive
form, in which even the poorest classes could indulge.

The popular customs relating to the festival differed according to
locality. Those of Izumo--where all classes of society, _samurai_ or
common folk, celebrated the holiday in much the same way--used to be
particularly interesting; and a brief account of them will suggest
something of the happy aspects of life in feudal times. At the Hour
of the Tiger, on the seventh night of the seventh month, everybody
was up; and the work of washing the inkstones and writing-brushes
was performed. Then, in the household garden, dew was collected upon
yam-leaves. This dew was called _Amanogawa no suz