The Heavenly Weaver and the Heardsman

From the series
One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets
The festival of Tanabata, on the seventh day
of the seventh month celebrates the annual
reunion of the star lovers the Herdsman and
the Heavenly Weaver. They are separated
by the Milky Way for the rest of the year.
This print illustrates a poem by the
scholar Ōtomo no Yakamochi (about 718-
785), included in the famous anthology of
the series title.
The grain of the woodblock used for the
sky shows clearly here, which means
that the print was rubbed down when the
block was brand new.