Tanabata tree emoji meaning

The tanabata tree emoji is a representation of a traditional Japanese festival tree. It is linked to the Tanabata festival, also called the Star Festival, which honors the legend of two stars, Orihime and Hikoboshi. According to the story, these star-lovers are separated by the Milky Way but are allowed to meet once a year. The tree itself is typically a bamboo branch decorated with colorful paper strips, where people write their wishes and hang them as part of the celebration. This emoji symbolizes Japanese culture, hope, wishes, and festive traditions.

The tanabata tree emoji was approved in Unicode 6.0 and added in Emoji 1.0, see related proposal L2/09026