July 2018: maiko Ichiaya showing the tanzaku motifs on the sleeve of her hikizuri at the Kyoto Museu

July 2018: maiko Ichiaya showing the tanzakumotifs on the sleeve of her hikizuri at the Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts (source). For the Tanabata festival, which runs from early July through early August, Japanese people will write wishes (often in the form of poems) on small pieces of paper and tie them to the leaves of bamboo plants.