Miyagi · Central SendaiNo.1007★★★Open in map →

Sendai Tanabata Festival

cultureThe classic — done right

Sendai holds its Tanabata a month after the rest of the country, from 6 to 8 August, hanging handmade washi decorations from bamboo inside its covered shopping arcades. The route runs from the station front under a continuous roof.

FromSendai Station (JR lines and Tohoku Shinkansen)
~12 min on footOn foot, under arcade roof
Sendai Tanabata Festival

Directions ↗

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Hapina Nakakechoarcade closest to the station front, where the covered run begins
Clis Roadmiddle stretch of the Chuo-dori arcades, midway between station and Ichibancho
Marble Road Ohmachisection where the covered street meets the Ichibancho arcades at right angles
Brandome Ichibanchonorth from that crossing, roof continuing overhead the whole way
Ichibancho 4-chomenorthern end of the run, furthest from the station

How to actually get there

Tokyo → Sendai Station (Tohoku Shinkansen, no change).
West exit → down from the pedestrian deck to the arcade at the station front.
West under the roof: Hapina Nakakecho, Clis Road, then Marble Road Ohmachi.
At the crossing, turn north into the Ichibancho arcades and follow them to the far end.

On foot from Sendai Station: Sendai Station is where the Tohoku Shinkansen, the JR local lines and both subway lines meet, so nearly everyone arrives on the same concourse. Leave by the west exit, cross the pedestrian deck toward the shopping district and come down to street level, where the first arcade starts at the station front. From there the covered street runs west. No transfer, and no fare beyond the one that brought you into the city.
Back to Sendai Station: Retrace the arcade east. It is the same walk you came in on and it stays covered the whole way, which matters when the crowd thins late or the weather turns. Shinkansen and local services leave from the same station into the evening, so there is no second leg to find.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

A Sendai decoration is not bunting. Each one is built by hand from washi paper and hung from a stem of bamboo more than ten metres long. The bamboo is raised inside the shopping arcades, so the streamers fall to head height and the crowd passes through them. Every shop along a street puts up its own, and the streets are then judged against each other. More than two million people come.

How to enjoy it

The decorations go up from around eight in the morning on the opening day, so arriving early on the first day means watching the streets being dressed rather than finding them finished. After that the arcades stay busy from late morning until evening. Look for the seven ornaments as you walk — a paper strip, a paper kimono, folded cranes, a purse, a casting net, a waste basket, and the streamer itself, each standing for a different wish. The evening before the opening day carries a separate fireworks event.

Background & history

Tanabata in Sendai is traced to the Date lords, who encouraged the observance in the castle town. It faded after 1873, when Japan adopted the solar calendar and the seventh-month rites lost their date. Merchants brought it back in 1928, fixing it to August under the older reckoning and judging the displays for the first time. War emptied the streets again. In 1946 fifty-two bamboo decorations went up on the burnt ground of Ichibancho, and the following year five thousand lined the route of an imperial progress through the city.

Before you go

Cash: There is no admission. The venues are public shopping streets, so walking them costs nothing at all. The shops and food stands along the way set their own prices and payment methods, so it is worth carrying cash as well as a card.
Good to know: The decorations are up only for the festival dates; outside them these are ordinary shopping streets. Rain does not end the walk because the arcades are roofed, but central Sendai is hot and humid in high summer and the covered streets hold that heat. The organisers publish a map of the traffic restrictions around the venues.
Another way: The Tozai subway line stops at Aobadori-Ichibancho, one station west of Sendai Station, which puts you in the middle of the Ichibancho arcades instead of at the eastern end. The roofed street runs both north and south from there, so the walk works in either direction.
After you get off: From the west exit, follow the pedestrian deck toward the shopping district and take the stairs down to street level. The arcade entrance stands at the station front, and the covered street begins there.