Even among the hundreds of festivals taking place across Japan, Rikuzen-Takata’s Moving Tanabata Festival is especially unique.
Decorated dashi-floats stroll the streets to a special tune featuring taiko-drums and flutes for the festival.
Even youth who have left the town to find work return home just for this intense festival.



With the vast majority of Tanabata floats destroyed during the March 11th tsunami, most doubted that the festival could take place this year.
But a a small group of supporters sought to revive the festival, for the sake of those souls lost to the disaster.
After all, Tanabata was a festival originally started to comfort the souls lost in the wake of tsunamis and famine.
Albeit small, on August 7th, with the support of people from all over the country, the Moving Tanabata Festival began anew.



The dashi-float, moving across the ravaged town with the falling dusk, glowed with a light that would surely guide the spirits of those lost to the disaster.
Though separated into evacuation zones and temporary houses, the citizens of Takata were reunited by this year’s Tanabata Festival.
With tears mourning the fallen, the hearts of the citizens were lifted as they moved the floats and played their flutes and drums to their procession.
There can be no mistake; this Moving Tanabata Festival was surely a big step toward Rikuzen-Takata’s Recovery.