Shonai Shrine Enmusubi Tanabata Festival

The Enmusubi Tanabata Festival is held from around July 1 to August 7 at Shonai Shrine within Tsuruoka Park in Yamagata. The grounds are hung with Yamagata cast-iron wind chimes that ring with a cool sound, and worshippers can write wishes on colorful tanzaku and tie them to bamboo. From dusk, the precinct is illuminated, offering a dreamlike setting to pray for love and the fulfillment of wishes, while special Tanabata-only goshuin seals are also distributed. Well suited to a visit in yukata or jinbei, it is cherished as a graceful summer event of the castle town of Tsuruoka.