Page 308 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Japan

w
Sendai
仙台
! G3 ⌂ Miyagi Prefecture
k £ n At 2F JR Sendai Stn;
www.sendai-travel.jp/
Laid out in a grid pattern in
EXPERIENCE Northern Honshu north’s largest city. Osaki
the 1600s by the dynamic lord
Date Masamune, Sendai is the
Hachiman Shrine is a black
lacquer architectural beauty
in the northwest of the city.
Overlooking the ruins of Aoba
Castle from 1602 is a statue of
the warrior Masamune, nick-
named the “one-eyed dragon.”
The ruins are set in a park that
is a bus ride to the west of the
station. Nearby, the ornately
The five­story Buddhist carved Date mausoleums at
pagoda on Mount Zuihoden, rebuilt after the war,
Haguro, Dewa Sanzan are replicas of Momoyama-
period architecture.
In March 2011, Sendai
q which has the largest thatched became the epicenter of
the worst earthquake and
roof in Japan, Hachiko’s
Dewa Sanzan tomb. After the 1868 Meiji tsunami in recorded Japanese
出羽三山 Restoration, all Shugendo history. The city has made
temples were turned into much progress since the
! F2 ⌂ Yamagata Shinto shrines. The only true disaster and is now a safe
Prefecture @ From S Mall Buddhist struc ture left is the place for tourists to visit.
Bus Terminal, near JR
Tsuruoka Stn n In front of five-story pagoda at the foot
Tsuruoka Stn; (0235) 25- of the stone steps. BASHO AND HAIKU
Mount Gassan, also topped
7678
by a shrine, offers alpine Poet Matsuo Basho
Dewa is the old name for this flowers and summer skiing. (1644–94) perfected
region, and Sanzan are its three It is a two-hour trek to the top the form that came to
mountains – Haguro-san from the Hachigome bus stop. be known as haiku. A
(Mount Black Wing), Gassan The shrine on Mount Yudono, classical haiku is 17 syl­
(Mount Moon), and Yudono- a 2-mile (2.5-km) hike from lables (written 5­7­5),
san (Mount Bath) – opened the Yudonosan Hotel bus includes a seasonal
for religious purposes 1,400 stop, has a sacred hot word, and refers to an
years ago by Hachiko, an spring. Mummi fied priests, objective image in the
imperial prince turned examples of sokushin present. Basho spent
wander ing priest. The three jobutsu (living Buddhas), most of his life trav­
are sacred to yamabushi, can be seen at the eling and writing
mountain ascetics of the temples of Dainichi-bo haiku. His travel
Shugendo sect. and Churen-ji, on the journal The
The route to the peak of way to Mount Yudono. Narrow Road to
Mount Haguro is a climb up the Deep North
the 2,446 stone steps of the Mount Haguro details his
Japanese cedar-lined path. Take # Apr–Nov: 9am– five­month
the bus to Haguro Center to 4:30pm daily; 9:30am– pil grimage
start the climb. At the second 4pm daily in 1689, and
stage is a teahouse with a has since
view of the Mogami River Mount Gassan inspired many
valley. A side path goes to the # Jul 1–fall people to make
ruins of a temple where poet the journey for
Matsuo Basho stayed. At the Mount Yudono themselves.
top is the Dewa Sanzan Shrine, # Late Apr–early Nov
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