#72 - Sendai Castle and Date Masamune

Castle Ruins

The first time I visited Sendai Castle was in the middle of April 2013. At the time, there were a few cherry blossom trees in bloom still, but it was at the end of the season so they looked rather poorly. I went with a fellow teacher and her student.

Unfortunately, due to time and other events, the castle no longer stands. Actually, it would be more accurate to call it castle ruins, and now only the foundation walls remain. Actually, the real name of this area is called Aoba Castle (青葉城 Aoba-jo) because it was built upon Mount Aoba.

Castle walls

There are a few ways to reach the castle, but whenever I went I always chose the same path. Its fairly easy to get to. You can get a bus in more-or-less a straight line from downtown Sendai and get off at the International Center. From there, cross the road to Sendai City Museum. If you walk behind the building, there is a tiny path which you can walk upwards towards the castle ruins.


It is completely free to visit the castle. In fact, I ended up visiting several times, sometimes during the day and sometimes at night. From the top of the castle walls, there is a great panoramic view of Sendai city. To the left you can see mountains and the large Sendai Daikannon - a great white statue of the Japanese Buddhist Bodhisattva Kannon which is 100 metres tall - which overlooks the city. To the right of the view on a clear day, you can see the ocean near the Sendai port area. On the castle grounds, there is also a Gokoku Shrine (護国神社 Gokoku-jinja) as well as a large statue of Date Masamune on horseback.

View of central Sendai from the castle ruins.
Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a photo of the whole view.

Date Masamune

Speaking of which, who is this? Date Masamune is a well-known historical figure in the Sendai and Tohoku region. You can see his figure on a whole plethora of souvenirs from Sendai. He was a daimyo (大名) - a powerful territorial lord - in the region, and helped to found the modern-day city of Sendai. 

Me and a bust of Date Masamune.

Rear of the statue of Date Masamune
on horseback at the castle.

Date Masamune is also known as the "one-eyed dragon" (独眼竜 dokuganryu). This is because he had an infection of small-pox in his right eye as a child which caused him to lose his eye. How he lost it, though, is unclear. Some sources say that he plucked it out himself.

Another symbol of Date Masamune was his famous crescent-moon shaped helmet. This won him a fearsome reputation. Actually, I have noticed that the figure of Date Masamune, or a similar design, is often used in anime or games (for example, Samurai Warriors). 

I also found out that the design of this helmet was the inspiration for Darth Vader's costume!