Aomori Nebuta (青森ねぶた祭), Akita Kanto (秋田竿燈まつり), and Sendai Tanabata (仙台七夕まつり) are known collectively as the Tohoku Sandai Matsuri (東北三大祭り) — Tohoku's three great festivals. In 2026 all three fall inside a single week, August 2 to 8.
They're close enough together that the obvious question is whether you can catch all three in one trip. You can. There's one hard constraint: you can't do the Aomori night and the Akita night on the same day.
Never been to a matsuri? A Guide to Japanese Summer Festivals (Matsuri) in 2026: Food Stalls, Yukata, Etiquette, and Where to Go covers how they actually work — yukata, etiquette, what a crowd is like. Then come back and we'll build the week of August 2 to 8.
The 2026 dates, and the one day all three overlap
Date | Aomori Nebuta | Akita Kanto | Sendai Tanabata |
|---|---|---|---|
Sun, Aug 2 | Night parade 19:00 | — | — |
Mon, Aug 3 | Night parade 19:00 | Evening 19:10 | — |
Tue, Aug 4 | Night parade 18:45 | Daytime contest + evening 19:15 | — |
Wed, Aug 5 | Night parade 18:45 | Daytime contest + evening 19:15 | Fireworks 19:30–20:30 (planned) |
Thu, Aug 6 | Night parade 18:45 | Daytime contest + evening 19:10 (last day) | Main festival, day 1 |
Fri, Aug 7 | Daytime run 13:00 / harbor procession + fireworks approx. 19:15–21:00 | — | Main festival |
Sat, Aug 8 | — | — | Main festival, final day |
All three run on exactly one day: Thursday, August 6. Kanto ends that night; the 7th leaves Aomori and Sendai, and the 8th is Sendai alone.
One thing trips people up. The Sendai fireworks everyone has seen photos of are not part of the main festival — they're the 57th Sendai Tanabata Fireworks (仙台七夕花火祭) on Wednesday, August 5, run by the Sendai Junior Chamber, a separate event from the August 6–8 festival. If the fireworks are what you came for, you need to be in Sendai on the 5th.
The Aomori–Akita night conflict
From August 3 to 6, Aomori and Akita run at the same time, so the natural thought is that with clever planning you could see both in one day. You can't.
It's distance. Aomori Station to Akita Station is about 2 hours 40 to 2 hours 45 even on the direct Tsugaru limited express. Nebuta's night parade starts at 18:45 or 19:00; Kanto's evening starts just after 19:00. Watch one, get on the train, and the other's over before you arrive.
So Aomori's night and Akita's night each need their own day. That's the fixed axis. Everything else is built around it.
Daytime plus evening does work, though. Kanto has a daytime competition (竿燈妙技大会) at Area Nakaichi Nigiwai Hiroba (エリアなかいち にぎわい広場): 9:00–15:40 on August 4 and 5, and 9:20–15:00 on the 6th. It doesn't run on August 3.
It runs more than six hours, so you don't need to be standing there at nine — get into Akita by midday and you'll catch the back half. In rain, though, it moves to CNA Arena Akita (the municipal gym). Show up at Nigiwai Hiroba on a wet day and the place is empty.
Route A: north to south, 3 nights (August 3–6)
The easiest version runs in one direction, north to south.
Mon, Aug 3: Nebuta's night parade in Aomori. Overnight Aomori.
Tue, Aug 4: morning direct train to Akita. Back half of the daytime contest, then the evening. Overnight Akita.
Wed, Aug 5: morning train to Sendai. Sendai Tanabata Fireworks that night. Overnight Sendai.
Thu, Aug 6: opening day of Sendai Tanabata — the streamers in the arcades. Finish here.
Three nights, and you finish in Sendai, which means a straight shot south on the Tohoku Shinkansen to get home. Through August 5 you're at a festival every single night.
What you give up is August 7 in Aomori. That's the one evening the big nebuta ride out on boats for the harbor procession — four floats (planned) — and the only night of the 72nd Aomori Fireworks.
Route B: finishing with the harbor procession, 3 nights (August 5–8)
If the 7th is the part you want, run it backwards.
Wed, Aug 5: to Akita. Back half of the daytime contest, then the evening. Overnight Akita.
Thu, Aug 6: to Sendai. Opening day of Tanabata, the streamers. Overnight Sendai.
Fri, Aug 7: to Aomori. Daytime run, then the harbor procession and fireworks. Overnight Aomori.
Sat, Aug 8: leave from Aomori.
Same three nights as Route A, but you finish in Aomori instead. If you want the daytime contest on the 5th from the opening, come into Akita on the 4th — that makes it four nights, August 4 to 8.
But be clear about the cost. You won't see the thing most people picture when they picture Nebuta — the lit floats grinding through the streets at night with the haneto dancers leaping alongside. August 7 has the daytime run and the harbor procession, and that's it. You also skip the Sendai fireworks on the 5th.
August 7 is the tightest day here. Shin-Aomori and Aomori are different stations, and the parade route is near Aomori Station, so you change to the Ou Line at Shin-Aomori.
On paper a morning train gets you in for the 13:00 daytime run, but lock in which train before you go.
Which one I'd pick
If this is your first time at a Tohoku summer festival, take Route A. The night parade is the face of Nebuta, and going home without seeing it is a strange trade. Route A also gets you the Sendai fireworks, and the only thing you miss is the harbor procession on the 7th.
Route B makes sense if you've already seen Nebuta's night parade, or if boats-and-fireworks on the 7th is specifically the thing you're going for. Want both? That's Route A plus a return to Aomori on August 7 — five nights, August 3 to 8.
Short on days? Akita on the 6th (Kanto's last night) and Sendai on the 7th gets you two of the three with a single move between cities.
Train times between the three cities
Leg | Train | Time |
|---|---|---|
Aomori → Akita | Ltd. Exp. Tsugaru / Super Tsugaru | approx. 2h40m–2h45m |
Akita → Sendai | Akita Shinkansen Komachi | approx. 2h10m–2h20m |
Shin-Aomori → Sendai | Tohoku Shinkansen Hayabusa | approx. 1h30m–2h10m |
The Aomori–Akita direct doesn't run often. Pick your train first, then book lodging and fix the itinerary around it. Miss the morning direct and the daytime contest is gone for that day.
The Hayabusa is fully reserved — there are no non-reserved cars, so don't plan on finding a seat on the day. JR East says its summer extra services include added trains timed to these three festivals.
JR East timetables / Summer extra services (JR East)
Paid seat deadlines, festival by festival
Every festival here has its own organizer, its own sales channel, and its own deadline. Treat them as one thing and you'll miss something. Prices and seat types are in Aomori Nebuta 2026, Akita Kanto 2026 and Sendai Tanabata 2026 — what you need now are the dates.
Aomori Nebuta: the second general release for individual seats (August 2–6 seats only) opens Saturday, July 18 at 10:00. Every seat is reserved; there is no general admission.
Akita Kanto splits by seat type. Online sales (TIGET) close Saturday, July 25 at 23:59. But the official seating page also lists the reservation center (018-866-9977) as a way to apply, and no phone deadline is published for S, A, or B seats. If you're past the online cutoff, call and ask what's left.
The six-person masu boxes are phone and fax only, and applications closed on May 15. That said, the organizers do say that when cancellations open a box up after the draw, they re-offer it first come, first served. If a masu box is what you want, call the reservation center and ask.
Sendai Tanabata: the main festival has no paid seating at all — the streamers in the arcades are free to walk through. The paid seats belong to the fireworks on August 5, starting at 4,500 yen for a reserved seat, and there are free viewing areas that need no booking.
August 7 in Aomori has two separate ticket systems. The Nebuta organizers sell a daytime-run seat (4,000 yen, released June 29); the 72nd Aomori Fireworks organizers separately sell their own paid seats (S 5,500 yen, A 4,500 yen, released July 7).
Different organizers, different sales — for a seat at both the daytime run and the fireworks, you buy each one.
Here's the part that catches people: the August 7 seat isn't sold the way the others are. August 2–6 seats go through Ticket Pia, Lawson Ticket and Pomitto Ticket. The August 7 "daytime nebuta only" seat is phone and window only — it isn't on any of those platforms. The number on the official page is the Aomori Tourism and Convention Association, 017-723-7211.
There was a combined "daytime nebuta + fireworks" set at 9,500 yen, but the official page now marks it as ended. It's gone for 2026.
And here's the one that matters for Route B: the second general release on July 18 covers August 2 to 6 only. August 7 seats went on sale separately, back on June 29. If the 7th is in your itinerary, don't wait for the 18th — call and ask what's left.
Nebuta individual seats / Kanto seating / Kanto online sales / Sendai Tanabata Fireworks seating / 72nd Aomori Fireworks
Book seats for the Aomori Nebuta Festival here
Book the Akita Kanto Festival Private Tour with S here
Food stalls and rain policies, festival by festival (August 2–8)
Food stalls are not the same story at these three festivals. Between August 2 and 8, whether there are stalls at all depends entirely on which festival you're at that night. Assume "it's a festival, so there'll be stalls" and you can end up spending the evening somewhere with nothing to eat.
The Sendai Tanabata Fireworks on August 5 has 76-plus vendors across five areas, open from 15:00. If bad weather cancels the fireworks, the vendors don't open either.
In Akita, the stalls the organizers actually list aren't on Kanto Odori at all — they're at three spots nearby. The City Hall site opens August 2, the night before Kanto starts; the Central site from August 3. Both run through August 6, 15:00 to 21:30.
The Gotochi Gourmet Festival at Omachi Event Hiroba also runs August 3–6, though its hours are still marked (planned).
For Aomori Nebuta (August 2–7) I couldn't find any mention of food stalls on the official site, the City of Aomori's pages, or Aomori Prefectural Police. Don't skip dinner on the assumption you'll eat there.
Sendai Tanabata's main festival (August 6–8) is its own question mark. As of mid-July, the organizers hadn't announced whether the Omatsuri Hiroba stalls at Kotodai Park are happening in 2026.
Rain rules differ too. Nebuta's street parade runs rain or shine — the organizers cover the floats in plastic sheeting and say they don't cancel for rain. Kanto's evening isn't normally cancelled either, though performances may be cut short.
The Sendai fireworks on August 5 run in rain but are cancelled in severe weather, with no rain date. For Sendai Tanabata's main festival, the organizers publish no rain policy at all.
August 7 in Aomori is the one to watch. The official site doesn't give a readable answer on severe weather, but Toonippo (東奥日報) reported on June 24, 2026 that the organizers had announced there would be no postponement — cancelled outright in bad weather.
Don't build an itinerary that counts on a rain date. If August 7 is the centerpiece of your trip, call the Aomori Fireworks organizing committee (017-718-1135, weekdays 9:00–17:00) and confirm before you book a room.
The individual festival guides
All three change from day to day. Once you've picked your dates, check the day you're going in each article.
Aomori Nebuta 2026: Day-by-Day Schedule, Dancing as a Haneto, and the Aug 7 Water Parade + Fireworks: how to join the parade as a haneto, and what makes the 7th its own day.
Akita Kanto Festival 2026 (August 3–6): Which Night to Go — Tickets, Food Stalls, Drone Show: the day-to-day differences, including the drone show that runs only on the 3rd and 6th and isn't on Kanto Odori.
Sendai Tanabata Festival 2026: Dates Aug 6–8, Fireworks the Night Before on Aug 5: how to look at the streamers, and why the fireworks are a different festival.
One week a year puts all three within reach of one trip. Get the axis right and the rest is just moving in the mornings.
This article was translated from the original Japanese with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team. The Japanese version is authoritative.
