Ian's photos 35 - the end

The view from the platform inside the tower with the hat was quite nice. Our hotel is the large building on the right - the one the sticks up into the background trees a little.
This spectacular tree was growing in one of the court yards. Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines almost always have many trees, bushes and flowers. Also they take great care of them, trimming and shaping them in artistic ways.
This open-sided L shaped building contained nothing but statues. Apparently the free standing ones on the right represent famous Buddhists. The next picture shows details of the ones on the left, the ones that are in the shade in this picture.
Buddhist, bodhisattvas, and other famous Buddhist characters are often depicted in bas-relief like this. However, they are usually found outdoors, rather then collected under a roof.
At this point the battery in Ian's camera gave up. Throughout the remainder of the pilgrimage, we searched for a replacement battery or a charger but to no avail.

This is the end of the material that I have on our Henro Pilgrimage. Ian and I are thinking about doing a 33 temple pilgrimage in this area. The temples are in three prefectures, Fukushima, Miyagi, and Iwate, but it will not be a continuous walking trek. We will take trains, cars, and buses to get close to the temples and then walk the last bit. In some case the round trip from the station to the temple and back will be 20 kilometers, in others just one or two. This pilgrimage is not as organized as the Henro and there are not lodges in critical places catering to pilgrims. Ian has just changed jobs so I am not sure when we will start but when we do I will post pictures and comments here. In the meantime I will start carrying a camera with me as I move around Sendai and try to post pictures and comments three or four times a week. If you are interested, you might check in once a week or so.