Tohoku's City of Trees — where Date Masamune's castle ruins overlook Japan's most spectacular bamboo forest, the Tanabata Festival fills every street with 10-metre paper streamers for three days each August, and gyutan (grilled beef tongue) is the obsession of every yakitori alley in the region
Sendai is Tohoku's largest city and the historic seat of the Date clan — the most powerful feudal domain outside the Tokugawa shogunate's direct control. Founded by Date Masamune (the 'One-Eyed Dragon') in 1601, Sendai was laid out as a castle town with broad zelkova-tree-lined streets that give the city its nickname 'Mori no Miyako' (City of Trees). The Aoba Castle ruins on the hill above the city have panoramic views over the city to the Pacific Ocean and, in clear conditions, to the Oshika Peninsula. Matsushima — 30 km northeast of Sendai — is one of Japan's 'Three Views' (Nihon Sankei): p…
The Sendai area's prehistory goes back to the Jōmon period, but the city as a planned entity dates to 1601 when Date Masamune relocated his domain headquarters from Iwadeyama to the Aoba Castle site — a strategic position on the Hirose River with natural moat protection and clear sightlines to the Pacific. The Date domain (Sendai Domain, or Sendai Han) became one of Japan's wealthiest and most culturally sophisticated: Masamune sent his retainer Hasekura Tsunenaga on Japan's first diplomatic mission to Europe (1613–1620, visiting the Pope in Rome) while simultaneously maintaining friendly rel…