While it’s not quite July yet, I’ve been thinking of folk tales from Japan. This is one of my favorite stories.
Princess Orihime (織姫, “Weaving Princess”) is the daughter of the Sky King, Tentei (天帝), or the Universe itself. She wove beautiful fabric out of starlight on the bank of the Milky Way (Ama-no-Gawa 天の川, literally “Heavenly River”).
Her father lived the cloth she wove, so she worked her hardest every day to make her father proud. However, Orihime was sad that her work left her no time to meet someone and fall in love.
Concerned about her daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi, (彦星) a shepherd (cow herder) who worked in the other side of the Ama-no-Gawa (Milky Way). When the two met, they fell in love instantly and were married shortly thereafter.
However, Orihime and Hikoboshi were so in love that Orihime stopped weaving and Hikoboshi allowed his herds to wander the sky.
In anger, Tentei separated the lovers to opposite sides of the Milky Way and forbade them to meet. Orihime was heartbroken at the loss of her husband, and begged her father to let them be together again.
Tentei was so moved by her tears that he allowed the two to be together in the 7th day if the 7th month if she worked hard and continued her weaving.
Orihime is the star Vega and Hikoboshi is the star Altair in the night sky that are visible only during a short time in the night sky.
I decided to illustrate the characters of this story as kitsune (foxes) because I love kitsune.
They’re in traditional Heian Japanese garb – Orihime is wearing a “Juni-hitoe” (十二単, “12 layers”) kimono (I wasn’t going to illustrate 12 different layers though, sorry!) and Hikoboshi is wearing an indigo-dyed jacket and hakama.
I went on to add the background – I’ll write a journal one day about what the bamboo and pieces means moreso as we get closer.
I’ve been trying to work more with watercolor styling, and I’m really happy with how this all came together. So much so that it’s inspired me to consider illustrating the whole story in a children’s book style to share the story in English. I don’t know that I’ll actually get it done, but I think it’s a nice goal. I’ve even started thumbnailing it out a bit!
