My main reason for coming to Sendai was Zuihōden, the mausoleum complex of Date Masamune and his heirs. I was keen to see how it would stack up against, say, Sensō-ji. Masamune, after all, was one of the most powerful daimyō of his day, and Sendai was the big city while Tokyo was still, well, Edo: a small fishing town with ambitions.
Getting there
I took the Loople, which goes directly to the mausoleum. Finding the right stop at Sendai Station was the hard part; once I was on board, it was smooth sailing. The weather was mixed, but the silver lining was that the complex was nearly empty, and the bus thinned out quickly after the initial crush. From the stop, a few steep stairs lead up to the entrance, and they weren’t the last ones of the day. Compared to Sendai, Tokyo is flat as a pancake.
At Zuihōden
Like so many historical sites, Zuihōden was flattened in WWII. It was faithfully rebuilt in the 1970s and 80s.
I walked past the museum to the Haiden, the prayer hall, and was immediately struck by the lavish, almost exuberant decoration. It’s a far cry from the rather austere Meiji Jingu. In the gallery, some beautiful Tanabata decorations were on display as well.
Next I passed through the Karamon to the mausoleum proper, which was built to Date Masamune’s own specifications. If the Haiden was impressive, this left me speechless. Gold and vivid colors against black wood make for a sensory overload, and I mean that as a compliment. It looks like the final-boss stage of a Sengoku game. The complex is both the peak and the swan song of the Azuchi-Momoyama period, which ended with Tokugawa Ieyasu‘s rise to power.
Masamune’s descendants added further mausoleums:
- Kansenden, built by his son Date Tadamune
- Zennōden, built by his grandson Date Tsunamune
- Myōunkaibyō, for the later descendants
The first two are stylistically very close to Zuihōden, while Myōunkaibyō is far plainer, with simple grave steles. From there, a small path leads to Okosamagobyō, where other children of the Date clan are buried.
All in all, I can wholeheartedly recommend this excursion to anyone interested in Japanese history off the well-trodden Western path 🙂