Kotodai Park, Miyagi | Japan is Nippon

A city park in central Sendai beside the prefectural and city halls, with seasonal flowers and events all year, from a jazz festival to winter lights.

Open stone plaza and steps in Kotodai Park in central Sendai — Photo: KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Evening crowd watching a band on an outdoor stage during the Jozenji Streetjazz Festival in Kotodai Park — Photo: neuropower, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A park at the heart of the "City of Trees"

Kotodai Park is in central Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, in the district that is home to the Miyagi Prefectural Government and Sendai City Hall. It opened in 1955, laid out after the Second World War together with Jozenji-dori avenue. Sendai is known as Mori no Miyako, the "City of Trees", for all its greenery.

Its roughly 2.7 hectares are split by roads into three main sections. The park has an open-air concert stage, a round flower bed, a fountain that runs down a wall and sculptures, and its tall Himalayan cedars were designated by Sendai City in 1975. Flowers bloom through the seasons: cherry blossoms in spring, azaleas in early summer, crape myrtle in summer and Miyagino bush clover in early autumn.

A stage for city events

The Civic Plaza on the west side of Kotodai-dori is busy all year with all kinds of events and local produce markets. It is also one of the venues of the Jozenji Streetjazz Festival, a citizens' music festival that turns the city's outdoor spaces into stages. In winter, the SENDAI Bright-Nights STORY illuminations light up Jozenji-dori and Kotodai Park.

If you are hoping to stumble on an event during your trip, it is a good idea to check what is scheduled on Sendai City's tourism website before you go.

Getting there and what it's like now

It is right outside Kotodai-Koen Station on the Sendai Subway Namboku Line, two stops from Sendai Station. The Ichibancho covered shopping arcades and Kokubuncho, an area packed with restaurants and bars, are just a few minutes' walk away.

The whole park is being redeveloped, and completion is still several years away. Some areas are under construction, so parts of the plazas may be closed or look different.

Tips

Sendai City Hall's main building is also being rebuilt, so together with the park redevelopment the surroundings are changing. The area may look different from older photos.
On days without events it is a quiet park where you can rest on a bench in the middle of the city. It sits right on top of the subway station, so it is an easy stop during a day of sightseeing in Sendai.