Japan’s Sendai Tanabata Festival: The Most Beautiful Summer Festival in Tohoku

By MOOK Scenic Spots Family Travel Life Network, Reported by Chen Guanxin

 

Romantic Tanabata is just around the corner, and one of the four major festivals in Northeast Japan — the “Sendai Tanabata Festival” — will be held from August 6 to 8. With over 700 years of history, the Sendai Tanabata Festival in Miyagi Prefecture is hailed as the best of its kind in Japan, featuring colorful giant tassel streamers and thousands of hanging Tanabata bamboo poles that adorn the area, creating a splendid and dreamlike atmosphere. The scale of the event is so grand that it has attracted over 2 million visitors from both within and outside Japan for two consecutive years. As for this year’s Sendai Tanabata Fireworks Festival, it will take place on the evening of August 5 from 19:00 to 20:30, with an expected 16,000 fireworks set off to illuminate the night sky near Sendai West Park in dazzling brilliance.

Participants in the Sendai Tanabata Festival are sure to be captivated by the myriad colors of decorative items such as embroidered balls and ribbons. During the event, shops along the streets hang their elaborately prepared oversized colored tassel streamers, which can cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of yen. These streamers are not only used to pray for prosperity but also serve as great advertisements for shops if they win awards in the annual Tanabata Streamer Grand Prix. But there's more than meets the eye — aside from the huge tassel streamers, among the numerous paper decorations, there are generally seven types: kamiko (paper clothes), tanzaku (poem slips), fukinagashi (wind socks), amikazari (fishing nets), senbazuru (thousand cranes), chikara-zaru (trash baskets), and kuzukago (money bags), each carrying unique meanings. First, kamiko represents the clothing offered by the weaving maiden to the weaving god, praying for improved sewing skills and protection from illness and disasters; tanzaku (long poetic slips) are used to pray for progress in studies and calligraphy; fukinagashi, the star attraction of Tanabata decorations, with its five-colored threads symbolizing the weaving maiden’s threads; amikazari, a paper fishing net, prays for a bountiful fishing harvest and gathers the year’s fortune; senbazuru symbolizes peace, safety, and longevity for the family; while chikara-zaru and kuzukago represent cleanliness, thrift, and prayers for wealth and the cultivation of savings.

In addition, this year’s Tanabata Festival theme is “Connection,” aiming to gather prayers and support for Sendai, Miyagi, and the disaster-stricken areas of Tohoku. The event website also collects messages of encouragement from the public. Those who leave messages on the website will receive a reply from the organizers, including a URL to an image file of a tanzaku featuring your wish. Don’t worry if you don’t understand Japanese — the event’s official website offers a Traditional Chinese version, allowing enthusiastic participants to easily send their blessings and wishes to the locals. Event website: www.sendaitanabata.com.

 

 

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