[Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture] Held for the first time in 3 years! I participated in the long-awaited Sendai Tanabata Festival!

I participated in the Sendai Tanabata Festival, which was held for three days from August 6th to 8th, 2022. This time, we will focus on the fireworks on the eve of the festival and the Tanabata decorations on the main festival.

Sendai Tanabata Fireworks Festival is as crowded as usual

According to organizers, approximately 450,000 people visited the Sendai Tanabata Fireworks Festival held on August 5, and it was as crowded as before the coronavirus. I also went to the Omachi Nishi Park area, the venue, around 5pm, but the free cherry blossom viewing plaza was already almost full.

Entrance restrictions were imposed around 6:00 pm, showing how successful the event was. Although there are restrictions in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, such as banning the opening of restaurants, the festival must have been so much anticipated.

Fireworks started exactly at 7:15 p.m. Although the sky was cloudy, a beautiful large flower appeared in the sky.

At the climax, weeping willow fireworks are set off one after another.

The fireworks, which launched 16,000 fireworks in one hour, ended with applause and cheers.

Gorgeous Tanabata decorations at the Sendai Tanabata Festival

Not only the fireworks, but also the main festival was canceled in 2020 due to the spread of the new coronavirus, and in 2021 it was held with reduced decorations. This year, 2022, the number of decorations was returned to approximately 220, which is approximately 70% of the number before the coronavirus pandemic.

We will be bringing you some highlights from the main festival, which was held for the first time in three years.

Tanabata decorations on Chuo-dori Street

The Chuo-dori Tanabata Decoration, which stretches for about 800 meters from Sendai Station, has four to five decorations placed on horizontal bamboo, and the color combinations and appearance of the streamers vary depending on the creator.

Long-established stores in the shopping district have decorations that highlight the store's unique characteristics. For example, ``Sanmonjiya Kimono Store'' has beautiful indigo decorations, and ``Kokeshi no Shimanuki'' has kusudama kokeshi dolls. I saw some cute decorations.

As I continued down Chuo-dori, I saw a crowd of people, so I approached and discovered a Tanabata decoration made from a large number of origami cranes. The piece is titled ``When You Wish Upon a Star,'' and it is said to use approximately 80,000 origami cranes folded by elementary and junior high school students in Sendai City as part of a hometown reconstruction project.

The view from directly below was spectacular, and the center of the decoration was neatly decorated with seven decorations such as a net and a purse.

Tanabata decorations on Ichibancho Street

If you turn right from the point where the origami cranes are decorated, you will see the Tanabata decorations on Ichibancho Street.

Ichibancho Street is decorated with bamboo that stands upright, and the slanted bamboo gives it a different beauty than the decorations on Chuo Street.

By the way, the reason bamboo can stand on its own diagonally is because it has special holes in addition to being supported by ropes. Usually it is blocked off like a manhole, but it is only opened for three days during the Tanabata Festival, and bamboo is inserted into the hole.

This year, some of the holes were closed to reduce the size, and you could even see the lid decorated with designs from the Tanabata Festival.

There was also a booth in the middle of the arcade where visitors could freely write their wishes on strips of paper, and had fun writing their wishes to their heart's content.

The seven decorations unique to Sendai Tanabata also show the characteristics of the creators, and were attractive, ranging from brightly colored ones to ones with a Japanese paper-like texture.

If you would like to know more about the meaning of the seven decorations, please visit the Sendai Tanabata Festival official website

As a measure to prevent infectious diseases, this year's festival had several regulations, such as not eating or drinking on the road, giving priority to driving on the right side of the road, and not being allowed to eat while walking. Disinfectant spray was also available along the way in the arcade, which was designed to be fun while keeping safety in mind.

Introducing the gold award winning works all at once

At the Sendai Tanabata Festival, decorations are judged and awards are given out depending on their charm. This time, we will introduce six works from stores in the arcade shopping district that won the 2022 Gold Award for Tanabata decorations.

Gold Award Winner “Umehara Kagamiten”

Gold Award Winner “Iruma Co., Ltd.”

Gold Award Winner “Cecilia Music Academy”

Gold Award Winner “Shiramatsuga Monaca Honpo”

Gold Award Winner “Abe Kamaboko Store Co., Ltd.”

Gold Award Winner “Taishoen Co., Ltd.”

Tanabata decorations also appear at Sendai morning market

The main attraction of the Sendai Tanabata Festival is the arcade, but each shopping street also has its own unique decorations. The Sendai Asaichi shopping street, which usually serves as the kitchen for Sendai residents, was also decorated.

The small Tanabata decorations at eye level were also cute. The collaboration between Sendai Morning Market and Tanabata decorations is very valuable as it can only be enjoyed for three days.

The Sendai Tanabata Festival, which was held for the first time in three years, was a moving festival.

This time, we have brought you information about the Sendai Tanabata Fireworks Festival on August 5th and the Sendai Tanabata Festival, which was held over three days from August 6th to 8th.

As it was the first time in three years that the event had been held, not only locals but also many tourists visited, creating a lively atmosphere centered around the arcade.

The glittering Tanabata decorations seemed to shine even more brightly as the event had survived a three-year hiatus. This year's festival has ended, but if you are interested, please come and visit us next year.