Things to see at the festivals

The Yamagata Hanagasa Festival is sometimes added to the three great Tohoku festivals, making the "four great Tohoku festivals." The word hanagasa refers to conical hats decorated with flowers, and in Yamagata, the prefectural flower, the safflower, is used. Holding their flowery hats in their hands, some ten thousand dancers yell out "Yassho, makasho" in rhythm to the Hanagasa Ondo folk song. Dressed in colorful costumes, the dancers parade through Yamagata in magnificent style, nearly buried by the crowd of spectators along the route trying to get a glimpse of the procession.

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Things to see at the festivals

Tanabata is counted as one of the most important seasonal festivals of the year.

The Tanabata customs continue to this day: On the evening of July 7 each year, people hang colorful strips of paper and decorations on which their wishes are written, to send their prayers to the stars. The Tanabata festival of Sendai is truly one of the best celebrations in Japan. One of the three great Tohoku festivals, the Sendai Tanabata Festival attracts more than two million visitors from around Japan each year. And the magnificent decorations are not the only special feature. For four centuries, these fine traditions of have been maintained, even in modern times, including the hanging of the traditional seven Sendai decorations from bamboo decorations and Tanabata decorations hand-made from genuine Japanese washi paper.

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Things to see at the festivals

Soma Nomaoi, which boasts more than a thousand years of history, is a traditional horse event designated as a national important intangible folk culture asset. Five hundred samurai knights attired in armor passed down from their ancestors take part in this spectacle that spreads out like one of the many scrolls depicting battles of old.

The largest horse event in the world, Soma Nomaoi, is filled with throngs of visitors.

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