One Hundred Famous Views of Edo No.73Tanabata Festival in a prospering city

According to a fable, two stars named Aquila and Vega were on opposite sides of the “Celestial River”, better known as the Milky Way.
Aquila was a herdsman and Vega was a weaving girl. The herdsman loved the weaving girl, but they were only allowed to meet once a year in the middle of the celestial river on the 7th night of the 7th moon by the lunar calendar, a night sacred to them. From the fable a popular festival, called Tanabata Matsuri, is celebrated among children for the happy reunion of the two lovers. The children use a brush to write their wishes or poems associated with the fable on colourful strips of paper, then stick them to the stems of bamboo grass put up in their gardens or in front of their houses. In addition, streamers are attached to the bamboo. The idea is that by dedicating these strips of paper to the celestial stars in the heavens, the wishes will come true—or at least skill in calligraphy will be improved.
The festival was very popular among Edo people, and a great number of bamboo poles were put up in peoples’ gardens. Hiroshige has captured the scenery during the festival viewed from on high. In this print, Edo city lies almost in a bamboo thicket, which indicates how the city prospered in those days.
Between the bamboo poles are seen ladders and a fire watchtower. The pole with the red streamer on the left also has a toy abacus and an old-fashioned account book attached to it. It was probably set up by a merchant hoping to make more money in the coming year. Even a “senryobako” chest, so-called because it was capable of containing a thousand pieces of gold, is depicted on its right.
On the right of the print stands Edo castle. Mt. Fuji was clearly observed during the evening in the summertime. The print suggests that people could see the two stars clearly in the night sky at the time of the festival.