Hanging tanzaku on bamboo branches is a unique Japanese practice and it was created during the Edo period based on bamboo set at the both sides of cogon grass ring for Natsugoshi no Oharae (great purification ceremony).
短冊などを笹に飾る風習は、夏越の大祓に設置される茅の輪の両脇の笹竹に因んで江戸時代から始まったもので、日本以外では見られない。