Our Weekend in Sendai - City Chillin' with the Sendai Daikannon and Date Masamune

The one thing Peter wanted to do most when we visited Sendai (besides eating gigantic shrimp) was to just walk around the streets of downtown Sendai and hang out, since that's not really something that he was able to do as a missionary.  He spent plenty of time in the city, but he was always going about his missionary work, so he really loved being back and being able to shop, eat out, and just enjoy the city life!

We took kids to shabu shabu for the first time in Sendai and they loved it!  And Benny didn't even grab the hot pot!

Sendai is home to the Sendai Daikannon which is like the 9th tallest statue in the world, or something like that.  So, we went to see it, but I was not prepared to see what we saw as we drove up the street:

This thing is HUGE!!!

And she's standing on a dragon!  It's pretty awesome.  Inside the diakannon are all of the gods representing the zodiac years as well as several buddha statues, and then you can go up 12 stories to see the views from the top.  It's amazing to be inside such a huge statue!

Right after we left the daikannon, we rushed over to the statue of Date Masamune, whose mausoleum we had visited a couple days before.  We were able to see the statue right as the sun was setting and it was beautiful!  And a great way to end our long weekend in Sendai!

Our Weekend in Sendai - Yamadera

A trip to the Sendai area isn't compete without hiking up the 1000 steps to Yamadera, a mountain shrine in Yamagata.  Yamadera is about an hour from Sendai, but it's worth it even just for the train ride!  The tracks run through the mountains and it's absolutely beautiful, especially in the fall.  Benny was being so funny on the train; he just kept hugging Clara and cuddling up to her!  

The hike, even though it's straight up a mountain and consists of 1015 steps, really wasn't too bad.  Clara actually walked more than half on her own before we stuck her in the backpack, and honestly, I think she could have made it the whole way had we just slowed down a bit.  And Will was a champ.  He had no problems getting up to the top with energy to spare.

Before the real trail begins (so after only one or two sets of stairs), there is a shrine with a large Buddha out front.  You can tell where he's been rubbed and patted by thousands of visitors over the years :)

The scenery along the path, the trees and foliage, stone carvings, and tomb stones were all so beautiful and interesting.  It was a really cool hike, with a lot to see all along the way, not just at the top!

But, as pretty as the hike was going up, the views from the top were unbeatable.  It's not possible to capture the breadth and scope of all that the eye can see from the top of the mountain!  And it's just mind-blowing that this temple was built hundreds of years ago on the mountaintop! 

After we got our work-out, we were plenty hungry and very cold, so we sat down for a delicious meal of mountain vegetables, soba, and tempura!  Oishii!

Our Weekend in Sendai - Matsushima

From 2001-2003 Peter served a full-time mission for our church in Sendai, which is about 5 hours north of Tokyo.  We couldn't live here and not take advantage of going back to visit his mission area, so we drove up there over Thanksgiving weekend.  We decided to rent a home through Airbnb during our stay, and it was definitely an experience we won't forget!  Not that it was necessarily that bad, but it was really, really COLD!!!!  The home was older, did not have central heat, and apparently was not built with any insulation whatsoever!  We got into the house and immediately put on all of our hats and scarves because it was colder inside that it had been outside!  Ha!  So, aside from freezing all weekend, it was a fun experience to stay in a Japanese home, sleep on futons (on the floor, aka where it's freezing!), and bathe in their super deep stainless steel tub.

Peter, Will, Clara, and I all slept on those two futons so that we could keep each other warm!  And, poor Benny had a hard time sleeping as well, so he joined us for a couple of the nights as well!  And check out that Winnie the Pooh floor!  I love Japan.

The first thing we did after dropping our things off at the house was drive in to Sendai to the mission home and office where Peter spent several months of his mission.  We stopped by and talked to the missionaries and took a few photos for nostalgia's sake.

The second thing we did after arriving in Sendai was find a restaurant that Peter has been talking about for 12 years since he came home from his mission.  I don't know the name, but here's a not-so-great picture of the restaurant for documentation's sake!

Peter has talked about the ebi tempura (fried shrimp) from this restaurant for years.  He'd love to tell people that the shrimp they serve is as big as your hand and an inch thick!  And, guess what?  He wasn't exaggerating!  These things were enormous!!!  And super delicious.  It was fun to eat there, but even more fun watching Peter revel in being back and reliving his mission days.

After a cold night's sleep, we woke up (extremely early, thank you very much, children) and drove out to Matsushima.  I hesitate to even try and articulate how beautiful this place is--and I'm afraid even our pictures won't do it justice!  The area of Matsushima is located on a bay and the water just off the coast is littered with islands, and it is absolutely gorgeous.  

We spent the morning walking around and exploring Godaido Hall and Fukuura Island.  Right on an islet next to the pier is Godaido Hall, which is a very small, but picturesque temple.

Fukuura Island is quite large and can be reached by crossing a very long red bridge.  It was SO windy on the bridge!!!  

 

The island was quite lush with vegetation and had incredible views of the bay and surrounding islands.  Our kids enjoyed running along the forest paths and getting sufficiently cold and hungry and ready to eat lunch before our cruise around the bay.  For lunch we made sure to get the local specialties: fried oysters and cow's tongue!  They weren't so bad, but I think can happily say that we've eaten them once and that's good enough for me!  

After eating lunch, we went back to the pier to catch our Matsushima Bay Cruise.  It was an hour long, and because there was enclosed seating, it was a nice break from the cold and walking around.  This was a great way to see some of the 200+ islands around Matsushima.  It was hard to capture their beauty with our cameras, but the islands scattered in the water were truly gorgeous.  Peter and the kids had fun standing on the back deck taking pictures and getting completely wind-blown :) 

The last thing we did in Matsushima was walk over to the Zuiganji Temple (which is currently under construction so we didn't go in), Entsuin Temple and the mausoleum of Date Masamune, a warrior who was known as the One Eyed Dragon because he wore a patch over one eye, and who founded the city of Sendai.  He is recognized all over that area!

The walk up to the Zuiganji Temple is amazing, with large trees lining the street and tombs carved out of the cliff walls alongside the paths.  

The Entsuin Temple and mausoleum grounds were incomparable to just about any other temple I've been to.  Especially with the fall colors.  There was a zen garden, more tombs in the stone walls surrounding the gardens, a western rose garden, and a heart shaped pond.  It was really stunning, and I'm glad that we took the time to visit!  Especially because as the weekend went on, we kept hearing more and more about Date Masamune, so it only seemed appropriate that we would visit his mausoleum since we were right there!

Stay tuned for the rest of our weekend's adventures in Sendai!  This is already too much for just one post!