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 suzuki_ ("drops from the
River of Heaven"); and it was used to make fresh ink for writing the
poems which were to be suspended to bamboos planted in the garden. It
was usual for friends to present each other with new inkstones at the
time of the Tanabata festival; and if there were any new inkstones
in the house, the fresh ink was prepared in these. Each member of
the family then wrote poems. The adults composed verses, according to
their ability, in praise of the Star-deities; and the children either
wrote dictation or tried to improvise. Little folk too young to use
the writing-brush without help had their small hands guided, by parent
or elder sister or elder brother, so as to shape on a _tanzaku_
the character of some single word or phrase relating to the
festival,--such as "Amanogawa," or "Tanabata," or "Kasasagi no Hashi"
(the Bridge of Magpies). In the garden were planted two freshly-cut
bamboos, with branches and leaves entire,--a male bamboo
(_otoko-daké_) and a female bamboo (_onna-daké_). They were set
up about six feet apart, and to a cord extended between them were
suspended paper-cuttings of five colors, and skeins of dyed thread of