Miyagi · Sendai
Sendai Tanabata Matsuri
仙台七夕まつり
Washi streamers filling the covered arcades, keeping Tanabata on the old calendar.
Next
6–8 August 2027
287 days away
Every year, 6 August, for 3 days
Future dates: 6 August 2027 · 6 August 2028 · 6 August 2029
Origin
Tradition credits Date Masamune with encouraging it. It falls in August rather than on 7 July because the city uses chūreki, the calendar set one month behind the solar one — a decision to hold the festival in its proper season, still honoured. Each of the seven traditional ornaments carries its own wish: the paper strip for learning, the purse for wealth, the waste basket for thrift, the cast net for a good catch.
What to look for
Every streamer is handmade, and the shopping streets compete on design. Walking beneath them the paper brushes past you and the sound of the city goes oddly soft. Late afternoon, when a breeze moves through the arcade, is the best of it.
How to watch
The streamers are within reach; do not pull them. The arcades are also how people get to work and school, so choose where you stop.
Where
Central Sendai
Sendai, Miyagi
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