The castle hill and the mausoleum: Date Masamune's city, by loop bus

The day, in order

1. Morning

   Zuihoden, in the cedar wood

   The mausoleum of Date Masamune and the lords who followed him stands in a cedar grove above the city, built to his own dying wish. The decoration is the point: lacquer, gold leaf, vivid colour and carved panels, all in a style that is deliberately more gorgeous than anything else in the city. The path up is short and steep, and the small museum beside it shows what excavation found.

   Read the city guide →
2. Late morning

   Sendai City Museum

   The museum sits on the third enclosure of the castle, so getting there is already part of the story. Inside are the black-lacquer armour of Masamune and the papers of the Keicho mission that sailed for Europe in the early seventeenth century, a national treasure and on the UNESCO Memory of the World register. The armour, an Important Cultural Property, is shown only at certain times, so check before building the morning around it.

3. Lunch

   Lunch at the foot of the hill

   Eat between the museum and the castle rather than at the top, because the plateau has nowhere to sit down properly and the view is better with nothing to carry. The streets between Aobayama and the city have plenty of ordinary places.

4. Afternoon

   Sendai Castle Site

   A broad grassy plateau about 130 metres up, with cliffs on two sides and the city and the Pacific below. The official history is that the castle was deliberately built without a keep, to avoid alarming the shogun: what remains is the stone wall, a rebuilt corner turret and the equestrian statue of Masamune in front of the empty keep base. It is free, and the walk between the walls is the point.

5. Late afternoon

   Osaki Hachimangu Optional

   The shrine Masamune ordered built is a national treasure, and its main hall is the oldest surviving shrine building in the gongen style: black lacquer, gold fittings, and a density of ornament that looks nothing like the plain shrines elsewhere in this guide. Worship is free, and it is ten minutes from the castle by bus.

Make it lighter

Two loop-bus stops and a long lunch between them: the mausoleum first, the museum in between, the castle plateau after. The shrine is left out.

Matsushima → The morning market and the zelkova avenue → Read the Sendai city guide →

If the weather changes

The museum, the mausoleum and the shrine hold up in rain; the castle plateau is open sky. In heavy weather, give the museum the afternoon and take the bus rather than the slope.

Check before leaving

Check the museum's closing days and whether the Date armour is on display, check the mausoleum's hours, and check the bus timetable for the season, because it runs less often outside summer.