Sendai Tanabata Festival仙台七夕まつり

A Tanabata observance said to have been handed down since the time of Date Masamune, founder of the Sendai domain, when bamboo decorations of washi streamers fill the city's shopping arcades.

For three days each year, August 6 to 8, elaborate Tanabata decorations hang throughout central Sendai and its surrounding arcades. Tanabata was originally observed on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month; in Sendai it is held a month after the modern calendar date, in August. Walking beneath the streamers stirring in the breeze, one senses how an old custom of entrusting wishes to the stars still lives within the city's everyday life.

According to the official site, Date Masamune, founder of the Sendai domain, left eight waka poems on Tanabata, suggesting the observance was already part of life in his time. In 1928 it came to be held on a grand scale over three days, August 6–8, a month behind the modern calendar date. As the war intensified in 1943 and 1944 the decorations all but disappeared, but in 1946 bamboo decorations were raised on the burnt-out Ichibancho street, marking the festival's postwar revival.

Source: 仙台七夕まつり協賛会(external site, opens in a new tab)

Sendai Tanabata has been carried on as a civic observance whose decorations are made and hung by the city's merchants and arcades. The organising Sendai Tanabata Festival Support Association is based at the Sendai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Holding the festival a month late reflects a local care for the seasonal feeling of the old lunar calendar.

1. 01

   Streamers and bamboo decorations

   Tanabata decorations, including streamers made of washi, hang throughout the central shopping arcades.

2. 02

   Tanabata a month late

   The lunar-calendar observance is held a month after the modern date, on August 6–8.

• Sendai Tanabata Festival【公式】The making of SENDAI TANABATA FESTIVAL / 仙台七夕まつり

• Sendai Tanabata Festival夜の探検｜Sendai Tanabata Festival

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The decorations are spread across several arcades in the city centre; check the official site for the latest information on events and locations.

Traffic controls, seating and fees change every year. Always check the official website for the latest information.

Official website — sendaitanabata.com(external site, opens in a new tab)

• The decorations are handmade by each arcade; please do not touch or pull them.
• The arcades become crowded, so be considerate of others when stopping to take photos.

1. 1.仙台七夕まつり 公式サイト(external site, opens in a new tab)仙台七夕まつり協賛会 · Accessed 2026-09-26
2. 2.歴史 - 仙台七夕まつり(external site, opens in a new tab)仙台七夕まつり協賛会 · Accessed 2026-09-26
3. 3.仙台七夕まつり'26.8.6(木)～8(土)｜宮城まるごと探訪(external site, opens in a new tab)公益社団法人宮城県観光連盟 · Accessed 2026-09-26
4. 4.Sendai - Wikipedia(external site, opens in a new tab)Wikipedia · Accessed 2026-09-26

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  Giant pink and violet Tanabata streamers hanging under the glass roof of a Sendai shopping arcade

  Photographer

  掬茶

  Source

  Sendai Tanabata 2023b.jpg(external site, opens in a new tab)

  Licence

  CC BY-SA 4.0(external site, opens in a new tab)

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  Pastel Tanabata streamers topped with paper balls and a paper kimono ornament against a blue sky

  Photographer

  掬茶

  Source

  Sendai Tanabata 2023c.jpg(external site, opens in a new tab)

  Licence

  CC BY-SA 4.0(external site, opens in a new tab)

• 

  Traditional Sendai Tanabata ornaments hung on bamboo in front of the black-and-gold Zuihoden hall

  Photographer

  掬茶

  Source

  Tanabata ornaments at Zuihoden.jpg(external site, opens in a new tab)

  Licence

  CC BY-SA 4.0(external site, opens in a new tab)

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  Rows of colorful streamers in the Hapina Nakakecho arcade under the Sendai Tanabata lantern sign

  Photographer

  Nikm

  Source

  Sendai Tanabata Festival 2010.jpg(external site, opens in a new tab)

  Licence

  Public domain