Sendai & Matsushima
I visited Northern Japan in Autumn of 2015. Matsushima is on the coast by the Pacific Ocean. The bay has many small islands in it and it is known for its beauty. Matsushima Park is down by the bay front where a small bridge connects to the nearby island where there were a lot of funeral tablets and statues in caves they hollowed out of the soft sandstone.
Zuiganji Temple: We visited Zuiganji Temple (built in 1636 AD) and the nearby temple caves. The temple itself was undergoing restoration due to the 2011 tsunami, so we were unable to see it, but many of its artifacts were moved to the outer building that had already gone through restoration.
Sendai was ruled in 1603 by daimyo Date Masamune during the shogun times. He got the area as a reward for supporting the first Shogun when he took over Japan. His nickname was the "one eye dragon" because he had only 1 eye since childhood, oddly almost all the paintings and statues of him have two eyes. He was a fierce warrior who struck fear into his enemies. His Date clan ruled for 270 years. There were only the stone walls of the approach and the castle foundation left. Most structures were made from wood and were burnt during the many wars before and after the shogun era. Sometimes they were rebuilt in the old style, or just rebuilt. There is a temple on the top next to where the castle was, but where the castle was only a statue of the Date and his horse remain.
Read MoreZuiganji Temple: We visited Zuiganji Temple (built in 1636 AD) and the nearby temple caves. The temple itself was undergoing restoration due to the 2011 tsunami, so we were unable to see it, but many of its artifacts were moved to the outer building that had already gone through restoration.
Sendai was ruled in 1603 by daimyo Date Masamune during the shogun times. He got the area as a reward for supporting the first Shogun when he took over Japan. His nickname was the "one eye dragon" because he had only 1 eye since childhood, oddly almost all the paintings and statues of him have two eyes. He was a fierce warrior who struck fear into his enemies. His Date clan ruled for 270 years. There were only the stone walls of the approach and the castle foundation left. Most structures were made from wood and were burnt during the many wars before and after the shogun era. Sometimes they were rebuilt in the old style, or just rebuilt. There is a temple on the top next to where the castle was, but where the castle was only a statue of the Date and his horse remain.
