Japan Day 10: Sendai

The Hotel Onikoube Resort Park had a European atmosphere.

Breakfast was lovely and our blue bags were loaded onto the bus for our trip to Sendai.

The bus ride to Sendai with shopping along the way was... I think maybe 2-3 hours long. I can't remember.

Tour guide Yoko told us that there are 3,085 onsens in Japan. Japan is situated in a volcanic zone on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Hokkaido has the most with 247 onsens. Okinawa has the least with just 4.

We arrived in time for a beautiful lunch at Grill Tamaya in Matsushima.

Matsushima is ranked as one of Japan's three most scenic views with its 260 pine covered islands. It was hit by the 2011 earthquake, but escaped major damage because of its protected location in the bay.

Overcast skies unfortunately covered the area, and we hoped the rain would hold off.

It did.

There is a famous haiku that is supposed to have been written by Basho where he just couldn't find words to describe Matsushima's beauty.

Matsushima ya

Aa matsushima ya

Matsushima ya

Matsushima!

Matsushima!

Oh! Matsushima!

Zuiganji is a famous, important zen temple. Since my grandfather was a zen priest in Sendai, I was brought here every time I went to Japan.

We saw that a lot of the cedar trees leading to the temple had died from the salt water that had soaked the grounds during the 2011 tsunami.

Shoes had to be removed before entering the temple. We couldn't take photos inside the temple, but could take the outside gardens.

We did see a wedding taking place which was pretty wonderful to see.

My granddaughter had asked if I could buy her an education omamori (charm) as a blessing for her studies in middle school.

Since we hadn't been to any temples, I wasn't able to get one for her earlier. It was a relief to finally be able to grant this request.

And how perfect that it would be at a temple affiliated to her great, great grandfather's temple in Sendai.

We then walked across the street to the Godaido. The Godaido is a Buddhist worship hall built in 1604.

From the Godaido, we could see beautiful blue skies over Matsushima's bay.

Another fun thing that my daughter asked me to find was an eyeless Daruma.

A Daruma doll (達磨 daruma) is a hollow, round, Japanese traditional doll modeled after Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen tradition of Buddhism.                                                                                                --Wikipedia 

The fun thing to do is to color in one eye while making a wish.  When the goal had been reached or fulfilled, you would color in the other eye.

I wonder what KC and Tiffany would be wishing for. I was just feeling satisfied that I'd gotten the two things they'd asked for. It did take a lot of searching throughout the trip.

Our next stop was to see the statue of Date, Masamune (Date is pronounced dah-tay). This is another place that we are always taken to whenever we go to Sendai.

That eagle once stood on top of the pedestal, but toppled down during the 2011 earthquake.

Since I'm feeling nostalgic, I looked back 48 years ago to my first trip to Japan when I stayed with my grandparents at their Sendai temple. My grandmother took me to Matsushima where we had our photo taken with a tour group. You can see Godaido Hall in the background. And there I am in front of the Date, Masamune statue though my grandmother cut off poor Date.

The photo on the right shows me, my daughter and son with my grandmother and aunt in 1996. That was a very special time.

When our tour group reached our hotel in Sendai, I was surprised to see my aunt sitting there alone waiting for us. She looked so happy, healthy and beautiful, I wished my mother was also there to see her youngest sister for herself. Auntie told me she and the rest of the family were thrilled with the gifts from Hawaii that we'd sent at the start of the tour. I gave her the Aomori apples we'd picked. She thought that was rather funny.

That evening we were each again given another 2500 yen to spend. The area was so big that even with the map, it was hard to make a decision on where to eat.

We tried this ramen shop where you placed your order on a machine. Even with photos, it was hard to determine what would be good.

And no, it wasn't very good at all.

Ah well...

We had fun walking around Sendai city and yes... doing a little shopping at Daiso, a dollar store.

The Hotel Metropolitan Sendai was very lovely, but we'd be leaving the following day for Yokohama.