Last weekend the 22nd Aoba festival was held right here in Sendai, and sure enough, I was there and took tons of pictures. According to the official Aoba festival homepage, the festival finds its roots during the Edo period, and was originally held in honour of Date Tadamune, one of the Date clan leaders. Originally known as the Sendai festival, the name changed after the construction of the Aoba shrine in 1875. Although it was eventually called off, the festival was revived in 1985, and is now one of the biggest festivals in Sendai. It usually goes on for two days, and one of its trademarks is the “suzume odori” (Sparrow Dance), which was derived from the dance improvised by the stonemasons at the feast for the construction of Sendai Castle (circa 1600), and reconstructed by the Sendai Sparrow Dance Company. Here are a few of the pictures I took, but you can see many more here.

Sylvain Bouchard