Hidden Wonders

Hidden Wonders | Tanabata Festival in Sendai Sends Wishes to Noto

The vibrant "tanzaku" wish strips at the Tanabata festival were filled with messages of support for communities recovering from the Noto Peninsula earthquake.

Published

1 month ago

August 10, 2024

The Sankei Shimbun

People look up at the vibrant Tanabata decorations, taken on the afternoon of August 6 in Aoba Ward, Sendai City. (©Sankei by Kanata Iwasaki)

The Sendai Tanabata Festival, one of the three major festivals in the Tohoku region, was held from August 6 to 8. A shopping street was decorated with vibrant streamers and bamboo ornaments, and tanzaku wish strips written by residents were displayed throughout the area.

Many of this year's wishes focused on supporting recovery efforts for the Noto Peninsula earthquake, drawing visitors who stopped to admire them. The Sendai area itself experienced severe devastation from the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011.

*A shopping street adorned with vibrant Tanabata decorations, taken on the morning of August 6 in Aoba Ward, Sendai City. (©Sankei by Kanata Iwasaki)*

Following the Lunisolar Calendar

The annual festival is celebrated around the seventh day of the seventh month according to the Japanese lunisolar calendar. This year, approximately 3,000 streamers in colors like blue and pink were on display, with more than 250 of them exceeding 3 meters in length. Bamboo decorations, embellished with wish strips and folded cranes, lined the street in dense arrays.

Wishes for Reconstruction

Among the wish strips written by elementary and junior high school students were messages such as "Unite our hearts toward reconstruction" and "Let's keep raising awareness [of the earthquake] among future generations to protect lives."