Pechumori

Desk calendar for July 7, 2016 - Tanabata credit: baidu sato takeru

This is a long but very interesting explanation about the Tanabata Holiday being celebrated every July 7th.

Tanabata (たなばた, 七夕), or the Star Festival, is celebrated every year on July 7th all over Japan with local variations. It honors the legend of two lovers separated by the Milky Way. Fortunately, the lovers, Cowherd Star, or Altair, and Weaver Star, or Vega, are allowed to meet once a year on the evening of July 7th.

The legend, which is derived from a Chinese  folktale known in Japanese as Kikkoden (きっこでん, 乞巧奠), is about a cow herder named Hikoboshi and a weaver princess, Orihime, who played together so much, they forgot their duties, upsetting the king. In response, the king separated Hikoboshi and Orihimi by a river called Amanogawa River, or the Milky Way. However, Orihimi begged the king to allow her to see Hikoboshi again, so the king set aside one day for them to meet. Though tanabata’s legendary story is one about two lovers, the festival itself is a time where wishes are asked to come true.

During tanabata, people write their wishes onto small and colorful strips of paper called tanzaku (たんざく, 短冊). Once the tanzaku are hung onto bamboo stalks or trees and displayed in their yards and home entrances, people pray for their wishes to come true.

With the exception of the original tale, tanabata is one of Japan’s celebrations where hopes and wishes are requested in full festival fashion.

source: https://jadesescape.com/2013/07/06/happy-tanabata-%E5%B9%B8%E3%81%9B%E4%B8%83%E5%A4%95%EF%BC%81/

Rurouni Kenshin Kyoto Inferno and The Legend Ends will be shown in the Japan Film Festival of San Francisco (JFFSF) this July 2016

2016 Japan Film Festival Of San Francisco Announces Film Premieres & Special Screenings By Jeffrey T. on June 23, 2016

The 2016 Japan Film Festival of San Francisco (JFFSF), the first and only fully-dedicated Japanese film celebration for the S.F. Bay Area, has announced a diverse roster of films that are set to screen as part of this year’s program.

This year’s JFFSF proudly presents a broad collection of current and acclaimed Japanese cinema across a variety of genres such as action, sci-fi, documentary, anime, shorts, live music, kabuki theatre, crime mystery, and family drama. All films will be presented in Japanese language with English subtitles.

The 2016 Japan Film Festival of San Francisco opens Saturday, July 23rd and runs thru Sunday, July 31st at NEW PEOPLE Cinema located inside the NEW PEOPLE in Japantown at 1746 Post St., San Francisco, CA 94115(www.newpeoplecinema.com). Tickets to individual screenings are $15.00 each, unless otherwise noted. All ticket prices include the service fee with no further extra charge.

RUROUNI KENSHIN: KYOTO INFERNO Saturday, July 23 at 6:00pm; Sunday, July 24 at 6:30pm; Monday, July 25 at 8:00pm; Tuesday, July 26 at 9:00pm

Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno and Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends are both sequels to 2012′s first Rurouni Kenshin live-action theatrical film. The live-action action movies were filmed back-to-back and cover the Kyoto Arc of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s original historical action manga. Kenshin Himura is a legendary swordsman in the wars accompanying the turbulent fall of Japan’s Shogunate in the 19th Century. Once feared as, ‘Battosai the Killer,” he became a wanderer living peacefully with his companions with the arrival of the ‘new age’ in Japanese history. But now he learns that Makoto Shishio, his crazed successor, is about to overthrow the new government. Can Kenshin stop him without breaking his vow to kill no more and save Japan from destruction?　(**Note: This is not a double feature. Separate tickets must be bought for each screening.)

RUROUNI KENSHIN: THE LEGEND ENDS Thursday, July 28 at 9:00pm; Friday, July 29, 9:00pm; Saturday, July 30 at 3:00pm; Sunday, July 31 at 6:30pm

Don’t miss the exciting finale in the action-packed Rurouni Kenshin live-action saga!

About JAPAN FILM FESTIVAL OF SAN FRANCISCO

Launched in 2013, Japan Film Festival of San Francisco is the first and only fully dedicated Japanese film event for the SF Bay Area. This year’s edition will feature a colorful mix of narratives, anime and documentary film premieres and exclusive screenings with special guest appearance at the NEW PEOPLE Cinema in San Francisco’s Japantown from July 23rd (Sat) through August 31st (Sun), 2016. More details and ticket information is available at jffsf.org.