star groups which would appear in the East at sunset and set with the dawning sun (Uchida, 1973)."2. The first refers to kabuki drama in which a drum(tsuzumi) with heads on both sides is beaten with the fingertips...the drum is in an hourglass shape and is tied with strings...this drum comes from the constellarion orion. "The stars Betelgeuse and Gamma Ori form one end of the drum while the stars Rigel and Kappa Ori form the other. The three belt stars represent the cord that is used to tie the strings snugly in the middle"3. The Japanese use wooden blocks as part of entertainment and religious ceremonies. Wooden blocks are said to summon various gods. "Japanese have found the "drama" of this simple instrument and its "sound" in Orion as Kanatsuki no Ryowaki Boshi (literally striking both sides stars; Uchida, 1973)."[] This section of the website on orion contains many more legends and things based on the stars of orion, but for lack of space, I will end it here. Please see the website...I am learning most of these things for the first time. I was amazed to learn that the Japanese view orion as many different things whereas in western culture orion is viewed as a singular thing.I am running out of room so I will end it here. As you can see Japan has an abundance of legends and folklore based upon the stars and astronomy. This website that I found is awesome...it discuses all of the major japanese beliefs, traditions, cultures, and folklore as it relates to astronomy. In this paper I have tried to summarize some of the Japanese legends, festivals, traditions,and folklore based on astronomy, and what I found out is that I will need much more space than this text window offers in order to discuss this topic. I learned a great deal and hope to study this out further and learn a lot more...
