Summer Festivals in the Touhoku Region, Japan

The stamps on this cover from Shizuoka are from 1999 and feature two summer festivals held annually in Japan's Touhoku region. The Sendai Tanabata Festival is on the left and the Soma Nomaoi Festival is on the right. Sendai's Tanabata Festival is one of Japan's largest star festivals that celebrates the reuniting of two celestial lovers: Orihime and Hikoboshi. The city's streets are decorated with large paper ornaments (kazari) with long colourful streamers. Soma's Nomaoi Festival is an annual event in which hundreds of horseback riders dressed as samurai compete in traditional events and battles. It has been an annual tradition for over 1000 years.