Japanese origami stars are special gifts of love and good luck. 

 Long ago, there was a little girl called Hoshi. She loved watching stars twinkling in the night sky. There were millions of stars and Hoshi was filled with wonder. Night after night she lay in the grassy meadow and thought, “How could the little stars in the night sky shine so brightly for so long? One night, Hoshi saw a falling star. Then, she saw many falling stars. She was afraid that the stars would disappear forever. Hoshi had an idea and ran home for a jar and some paper.  Hoshi started folding paper stars! She folded one paper star for each fallen star from the night sky. Hoshi made one hundred stars that first night. She put them in the jar. But still, she was unhappy. The jar could not hold enough paper stars for all the fallen stars.

The next night, when Hoshi went to the field she saw only a few stars in the sky. Sadness filled her heart and she called her friends to help. The children from the village were happy to help. In one night, they made 2,000 stars. Soon, Hoshi and her friends lost count of the paper stars they were making and the black night sky twinkled with stars again. The children jumped for joy. 

Staring at the night sky, Hoshi said,, “When we make a paper star, a falling star is saved! Our paper stars are lucky stars!” The little girl from Japan, Hoshi, and her words were deeply felt by her friends. They loved making paper stars to save the heavenly stars. So, when the children grew up, they taught their children. Since then, from generation to generation, the Japanese have folded lucky origami stars and placed them in jars. They give them to their loved ones with best wishes and good luck because the paper stars stand for the continuous light of the heavenly stars and that wonderful night that Hoshi saved the stars.

An approximate meaning for the number of paper stars given to others:

1 star: You are my only Love 2 stars: Happiness and compatibility to the couple 9 stars: Wishing you love for a lifetime 55 stars: I’ll love you without any regret

99 stars: May you receive borderless love 101 stars: You are the one only in my life 129 stars: I will love you forever and ever 365 stars: I wish you a whole year of blessings

548 stars: All your love to me endlessly 999 stars: Everlasting love to you 10,000 stars: Love for ten thousand years