Sendai Toshogu Shrine

Sendai Toshogu is a shrine on a hill called Tamatezaki in Aoba Ward, Sendai, dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu. It is within walking distance of Toshogu Station on the JR Senzan Line, and in quiet grounds close to central Sendai it preserves richly decorated shrine buildings from the early Edo period.

The shrine was founded in 1654 (the third year of Joo). Date Tadamune, the second lord of the Sendai domain, asked the shogunate for permission and began construction in 1649, a major undertaking for the whole domain. The year of construction is confirmed by a ridgepole inscription. Conservation work under the guidance of the Agency for Cultural Affairs took place from fiscal 1977 to 1980, and several ink inscriptions were found during the partial dismantling of the main hall. The worship hall burned in 1935 and was rebuilt in 1964. The shrine is also a constituent of the Japan Heritage story "Date Culture Nurtured by Masamune."

The stone torii on the approach, a Myojin-style gate made of granite from Inujima in the old province of Bizen (now Okayama), is said to be the oldest of its kind in Miyagi Prefecture. The main hall, the Chinese-style gate, the openwork fence and the stone torii are national Important Cultural Properties, and the Zuijin gate was added in 1980. The main hall is a zelkova-wood building in the Japanese style, with a copper-tiled hip-and-gable roof, a front porch and cloisonne decoration on its metal fittings. Inside, an ornate shrine on a vermilion-lacquered platform enshrines a statue of Ieyasu. The Chinese-style gate has a copper-tiled roof with carved phoenix and kirin, flanked by openwork fences.

The main festival is held on April 17, the anniversary of Ieyasu's death. Until the Edo period the main festival was held on September 17. The Sendai Festival, a mikoshi procession, has been held every five years since 1984. Allow 30 minutes to an hour to take in the stone steps and the fine details of the buildings.

Nearby are the Sendai Anpanman Children's Museum & Mall (about 1.8 km), Jozenji-dori Avenue (about 2 km) and Ichi-ni-san Yokocho (about 2.6 km), so it combines well with a day in Sendai. For anyone interested in early Edo shrine architecture, it is a rare chance to see a shrine dedicated to Ieyasu up close in the Tohoku region.