Sightseeing in Aoba Ward, Sendai: Castle, Mausoleum and Lake, from the Western Mountains

What Kind of Place Is Aoba Ward, Sendai?

Aoba Ward is one of the five wards of Sendai and the central ward, home to the Miyagi Prefectural Government and Sendai City Hall. It was created in 1989 (Heisei 1), when Sendai became a designated city. The ward combines the northern and central parts of the old Sendai city with the former town of Miyagi, which merged with Sendai in 1987 (Showa 62), and most of its area is mountains and basins of the former Miyagi town. The ward’s name comes from “Aoba Castle,” the elegant nickname of Sendai Castle in the ward, and from Mount Aoba.

The Hirose River flows east from the Ou Mountains to the west, and the ward stretches long and narrow from east to west. This article introduces the sights in order of latitude, from north to south. We begin with a temple, a dam, a hot spring and waterfalls in the western mountains, pass through the shrine and zelkova-lined avenue of the city center, and arrive at the castle and mausoleum built by Masamune. Winters in the mountains bring deep snow, and road conditions change, so please check seasonal road closures and the like beforehand.

1. Jogi Nyorai (Saihoji Temple) (定義如来・西方寺)

Jogi Nyorai is the popular name of Saihoji, a Jodo-sect temple whose mountain name is Gokurakusan and whose principal image is Amida Nyorai. It stands along the Okura River at the foot of the Funagata mountains and Mount Izumigatake, on the east side of the Ou Mountains. Deep in the mountains though it is, it is known as one of the prefecture’s leading pilgrimage sites, drawing around a million visitors a year. “Jogi” has traditionally been pronounced “Joge” in the Sendai dialect, but many people now read it “Jogi,” so both pronunciations are mixed.

The temple preserves a legend of fugitives from the Heike clan: Taira no Sadayoshi, a chief retainer of Taira no Shigemori, is said to have fled to this land after the Battle of Dan-no-ura and lived here in hiding. Here Sadayoshi is said to have enshrined Amida Nyorai to pray for the repose of Emperor Antoku and the Taira clan, and to have changed his own name to “Sadayoshi” (written with the characters read “Jogi”), whose Sino-Japanese reading became the place name and the name of the Nyorai. Sadayoshi is said to have died in 1198 (Kenkyu 9) at the age of 60, and his followers built a small hall over his grave. This is not a tale backed by historical sources, but the story of continuing to mourn a defeated clan shapes the atmosphere of this temple in the mountains.

The present temple was opened in 1706 (Hoei 3) when a descendant of the followers took holy orders. In 1986 (Showa 61) a five-story pagoda, the first in Miyagi Prefecture, was completed using only Aomori hiba cypress, and in 1999 (Heisei 11) the present main hall was finished. On the hill behind the grounds is a tree in which two zelkovas have grown into one, said to mark where Emperor Antoku’s relics were buried, and it is loved as a tree for good matches in love. Because this is an active temple, please visit quietly and with respect for it as a place of worship.

2. Sakunami Onsen (作並温泉)

Sakunami Onsen is a hot spring area with inns scattered through the Sakunami gorge in the upper Hirose River. National Route 48, which links Sendai and Yamagata, runs through the spa town, and it is also known for its autumn colors. The waters are simple thermal springs and sodium-calcium sulfate-chloride springs, with source temperatures said to be 50 to 60 degrees Celsius.

There are old legends about the discovery of the hot water: that Gyoki found it when touring Tohoku in 721 (Yoro 5), or that Minamoto no Yoritomo rested his men and horses here in 1189 (Bunji 1) on his way to defeat the Oshu Fujiwara. Both, however, remain tradition. A gazetteer from the Horeki era of the Edo period already mentions the Sakunami baths, but at that time local people simply bathed in a pool ringed with stones, and it seems not to have been a hot spring that drew visitors from far away for cures.

Full-scale development began in 1796 (Kansei 8), when local people started work with the permission of the Sendai domain, and it is said to have taken eight years to prepare the roads and facilities. A record says that in 1878 (Meiji 11) there was one inn each at the old and new baths, with about 2,500 visitors a year, more than Akiu Onsen, also in Sendai. Once “Sendai’s inner parlor” meant Sakunami, but later Akiu took over the title. The way the lineup of hot spring areas has changed from era to era reflects the ups and downs of tourist places.

3. Okura Dam (Lake Okura) (大倉ダム・大倉湖)

Okura Dam was completed in 1961 (Showa 36) by damming the Okura River, the largest tributary of the Hirose. The embankment is 82 meters high and the total storage is about 28 million cubic meters, and the lake behind it is called Lake Okura. This double-arch concrete dam, with two arches in a row, is said to be the only one in Japan, and the multiple-arch dam type is said to exist in only two places in the country. In September 2023 it was certified as a Selected Civil Engineering Heritage site by the Japan Society of Civil Engineers.

Behind its construction lay Sendai’s water demand, which swelled suddenly after the war, and the floods the Okura and Hirose rivers repeatedly caused. In particular, the torrential rain of 1950 (Showa 25) is recorded as having caused heavy damage in the urban area. This dam, then, is a facility that supports the city’s water supply and also a device for protecting people from river flooding.

At the same time, the village that was the center of the Okura district lies submerged at the bottom of this lake. Over the dam plan there was a time when the policies of the prefecture and the city of the day were at odds, and the burden carried by the local community was not small. In this site’s view, one could say the stillness of the lake’s surface rests on the lives of people who left their hometown. You can enjoy the scenery near the embankment, but lake levels, weather and winter road conditions change easily, so please follow local guidance regarding access and passage.

4. Homei Forty-Eight Falls (鳳鳴四十八滝)

Homei Shijuhachi-daki (“Homei Forty-Eight Falls”) are waterfalls in the stream between Sakunami and Shinkawa in the upper Hirose River, about 25 meters in drop and 10 meters wide. In a valley pressed by mountains on both sides, large and small falls line up and fill the air with the sound of water. They are right beside National Route 48, so you can sense the stream even from a car window.

The “forty-eight” in the name does not mean there are actually forty-eight falls. It is a name used since the Edo period, and it is also explained that counting all the upstream falls, including those on tributaries, comes to forty-eight, but it seems that even then there was no fixed numbering of which was which. They were once also called “Bomekinotaki,” said to refer to the largest fall.

The name “Homei” seems to have arisen in modern times and its origin is unclear. One theory says the sound of the many falls was likened to the cry of the Homei, the legendary phoenix. A legend is also told that a celestial maiden once descended here and danced. This is our conjecture, but “forty-eight” was probably an idiom for “too many to count,” and the richness of the water sound ringing in the ear became the name itself. There are spots with poor footing, so please take great care when approaching the water’s edge.

5. Osaki Hachimangu Shrine (大崎八幡宮)

Osaki Hachimangu is a shrine in Hachiman, Aoba Ward, Sendai, enshrining Emperor Ojin, Emperor Chuai and Empress Jingu. Its main hall, ishi-no-ma (stone chamber) and worship hall are designated National Treasures. The date of founding is unclear, but the shrine’s tradition says it began when Sakanoue no Tamuramaro brought the deity of Usa Shrine to Isawa Castle, and that it was later moved to the Osaki clan’s domain and came to be called “Osaki Hachiman.”

The present shrine buildings were begun by Date Masamune in 1604 (Keicho 9) and completed in 1607 (Keicho 12). In the gongen-zukuri style, joining the worship hall and main hall into one by the “ishi-no-ma,” they are said to be the oldest surviving gongen-zukuri in Japan. Pillars and other parts are lacquered black and adorned with carvings and metal fittings in a splendid style that conveys the taste of Momoyama culture, and it is even said to have been a forerunner of Nikko Toshogu. Some of the carvings inside are said to be the work of the master carver Hidari Jingoro.

Masamune is said to have placed this shrine to the northwest of Sendai Castle in order to guard the northwest (inui) direction of the castle town. In the Sendai air raid of July 1945, most of the National Treasures in the city were destroyed by fire, but the shrine buildings of Osaki Hachimangu survived. The “Donto-sai” held every January 14 is known as an event where New Year decorations are burned. Because this is an active shrine, please visit with a quiet mind and follow the customs of the grounds.

6. Sendai Mediatheque and Jozenji-dori Avenue (せんだいメディアテークと定禅寺通)

Jozenji-dori is a tree-lined avenue running east to west through Sendai, known for the four rows of zelkova that arch over the street. Its name comes from Jozenji Temple, which Date Masamune is said to have designated in the Edo period as a prayer temple at the castle’s unlucky northeast quarter (kimon). The road is said to have been named because it led to that temple.

The origin of its present form lies in the Sendai air raid of July 10, 1945. The street was reduced to scorched earth that night, and in postwar reconstruction it was rebuilt as a wide road 46 meters across. A central green promenade was created, and zelkovas were planted in 1958 (Showa 33). Those trees have grown, and today the avenue has been chosen among Japan’s 100 Best Roads. The scenery that suits the phrase “City of Trees” was also raised by human hands from the burned ruins.

The Sendai Mediatheque along the avenue is a public facility that opened in January 2001 and houses a library, exhibition rooms and more. Designed by the architect Toyo Ito, it is highly praised for a structure that supports the building with only six floor plates and thirteen steel tubes like swaying seaweed. It is fully glazed, and a charm is that you can look out over the zelkova avenue from inside. Seasonal events are held on Jozenji-dori, including a jazz festival and a winter light event.

7. Sendai Castle Ruins (Aoba Castle) (仙台城跡・青葉城跡)

Sendai Castle is the castle whose layout Date Masamune began to plan on Mount Aoba at the end of 1600 (Keicho 5), after the Battle of Sekigahara. The land that had been called “Chiyo” is said to have been renamed “Sendai” by Masamune. There is a keep base, but no keep was built. It was a castle that turned its back on the fashion of the time, yet the envoy Vizcaino, who visited Japan, called it one of the strongest castles in the country, and in its history of more than 270 years it is said to have finished its service without ever being attacked in battle.

Because the main bailey on the mountain was inconvenient for getting to the town, the second lord, Date Tadamune, built a second bailey and moved the center of domain government there. The castle’s buildings were lost one after another from the Meiji era onward, and the Otemon gate and the side turret, once National Treasures, also burned in the 1945 Sendai air raid. The side turret, reconstructed after the war, still conveys the look of the Otemon. In 2003 the castle site became a National Historic Site, and the stone walls of the main bailey were rebuilt in a major Heisei-era repair, with each stone numbered and restacked, to preserve them.

At the site of the third bailey stands the Sendai City Museum, where materials relating to the Keicho Embassy to Europe are designated National Treasures, three of which were inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World register in 2013. It is also well known that the black-lacquered armor worn by Date Masamune is said to have influenced the design of Darth Vader in the film “Star Wars.” Goshikinuma Pond beside the castle site is spoken of as the birthplace of figure skating in Japan. From the main bailey site you can see Sendai’s cityscape and, far off, the Pacific, and feel why Masamune built his castle here.

8. Zuihoden Mausoleum (瑞鳳殿)

Zuihoden is the mausoleum enshrining Date Masamune, first lord of the Sendai domain, and stands on Kyogamine, facing the site of Sendai Castle’s main bailey across a bend of the Hirose River. Masamune died in Edo in 1636 (Kan’ei 13). It is said that he wished to be buried where he had heard the first call of a hototogisu (cuckoo) in life, and that Kyogamine was chosen as his burial place according to that last wish.

The following year the second lord, Tadamune, completed the mausoleum, and its splendid Momoyama-style construction was designated a National Treasure in 1931 (Showa 6). It was destroyed by fire, however, in the Sendai air raid of July 10, 1945. Momentum for rebuilding the mausoleum grew in the 1960s and 70s, and in the excavation survey before work began in 1974 (Showa 49), Masamune’s remains and burial goods were found. The main hall and other buildings were completed in 1979 (Showa 54), and Kansenden and Zen’oden, the mausoleums of Tadamune and Tsunamune, were rebuilt afterward.

The surroundings are designated a Sendai city historic site as the “Kyogamine Date Family Cemetery,” and next door is Zuihoji, Masamune’s family temple. The sight of Momoyama-style colors floating among the trees leaves a quiet impression of something burned and lost that people took time to win back. As the mausoleum is a place for remembering the dead, please be quiet when visiting.

Local Specialties: Food and Drink

When it comes to Sendai food, first comes grilled beef tongue. Sendai style is described as grilling over charcoal, seasoning mainly with salt and eating it as it is, without lemon juice. Taste and manner of eating differ from shop to shop, so this article does not introduce individual restaurants.

Zunda mochi, rice cake coated in mashed edamame paste, is a local sweet centered on Miyagi. There is said to be a record of its being made at farmhouses in Ayashi as an offering to ancestors at the Obon festival, so it was a flavor linked to summer observances. It is said to have been served as a local dish of Miyagi Prefecture when Emperor Showa toured the area in 1947 (Showa 22).

Sasa-kamaboko, fish paste shaped like a bamboo leaf, is said by one theory to have been born in the Meiji era so as not to waste flounder and other fish caught around Sendai. It became established, it is said, when sold under a name drawn from the bamboo-grass crest of the Date family. Sendai miso is said to have begun in the Edo period at the castle town’s miso and salt storehouse, and a merchant who hung out a sign in Kokubuncho in 1626 (Kan’ei 3) is said to be the originator. In autumn, the sight of imoni (taro stew) parties on the banks of the Hirose River is also a seasonal scene rooted in the lives of the citizens.

Rare Wildlife and Nature

The Hirose River, flowing through the ward, is an urban river through the center of Sendai, yet it keeps a landscape in which riverside cliffs and vegetation are in harmony. Its water quality is good for a large city’s river, and sweetfish and kajika frogs, which favor clear streams, live there. In 1985 (Showa 60) it was selected among the 100 Famous Waters of Japan by the Environment Agency, and in 1996 (Heisei 8) the voices of kajika frogs and wild birds were added to the “100 Soundscapes of Japan to Preserve.”

The cliffs along the river are also known as a place where buried wood and silicified wood can be found, showing memories the land has piled up over a long time. The western part of the ward is a heavy snow area where snow clouds easily enter from the west. Sekiyama Pass on the border with Yamagata is one of the sources of the Hirose River, and National Route 48 passes through toward the Murayama region of Yamagata. Mount Aoba is a hill whose highest point is 203 meters above sea level, and with forest spreading right behind the city it supports the landscape of the “City of Trees.”

Other Notable Things About This Town

The Sendai Tanabata Festival, held every year from August 6 to 8, is one of the Three Great Festivals of Tohoku along with the Aomori Nebuta Festival and the Akita Kanto Festival, and draws more than two million visitors in a typical year. Tanabata had declined in modern times, and its history includes shopkeepers in the early Showa years reviving it through decoration contests; after the war interrupted it, it returned in 1946 (Showa 21) to a burned-out city with 52 bamboo decorations.

The Sendai air raid burned the center of the city for about two hours in the early morning of July 10, 1945 (Showa 20). The city’s survey at the time put the dead at 987, while records compiled by citizens list the names of more victims than that. The wide avenue and trees and the rebuilt mausoleum cannot be separated from the memory of that night.

Because the former town of Miyagi makes up about 86 percent of Aoba Ward’s area, life in the center of the ward and in the western mountains is very different. That discussion of splitting the ward in the future has continued is also a story that symbolizes how this ward came to be.

The Night Side: Ghost Stories and Haunted Spots of This Town

So far we have walked through Aoba Ward’s daytime face: a temple and a lake in the mountains, a castle and a mausoleum, and an avenue of trees raised from burned ruins. Every one of these places carries layers of time in which people lived, prayed and lost.

That depth connects to the town’s night side as well. In Aoba Ward there are places where rumors are told about cemeteries, mountain roads, tunnels and the like, and this site treats them as records of haunted spots. We do not, however, recommend entering those places or visiting at night. In this site’s view, a ghost story is a kind of shadow that history and terrain cast on people’s hearts. The more you learn of the legends of fugitives and the memory of the air raid, the deeper your respect for quiet places grows.

At KARASU CHANNEL we record true ghost stories and haunted spots not so that people will go there, but so that they are remembered. Having come to know the daytime scenery, we hope you will also read the stories of the night.

Before You Go

Opening hours, fees, closing days and access change often, so they are not listed in this article. Before you set out, please check the latest information on each facility’s or local government’s official site. Some places may be restricted because of weather or disaster.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How should I plan a tour of Aoba Ward efficiently?

A. This article introduces the sights from north to south. Jozenji-dori, Osaki Hachimangu, the castle ruins and Zuihoden are fairly close together in the city, but Jogi Nyorai, Okura Dam, Sakunami Onsen and Homei Forty-Eight Falls lie in the western mountains and are far away. Please check the weather and winter road conditions and make a plan that does not push your limits.

Q. What is Sendai known for?

A. Grilled beef tongue, zunda mochi, sasa-kamaboko and Sendai miso are well known. Availability and offerings vary by shop and season, so please check the latest information before you go.

Q. Is it all right to visit in winter?

A. The western part of the ward is a heavy snow area, and mountain roads are affected by snow and ice. Roads may be closed, so please check national route road information and the weather. Many of the main sights in the city are easy to visit even in winter.

Official sites and references consulted
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/青葉区_(仙台市)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/西方寺_(仙台市)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/大倉ダム
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/作並温泉
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/鳳鳴四十八滝
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/大崎八幡宮
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/定禅寺通
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/せんだいメディアテーク
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/仙台城
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/仙台市博物館
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/瑞鳳殿
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/広瀬川_(宮城県)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/仙台空襲
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/仙台七夕