Before beginning I should briefly point out why I waited until today to post the first pictures. On Monday I had to go to one of my universities for a couple of meetings and then I went to the Sendai Book Club in the evening, so I had little time. Also I was very sore from all the walking on Sunday, much more than I have been doing recently. Tuesday my daughter and granddaughter decided to return home so I spent the day with them, not getting home from the station until late afternoon.
On Sunday Ian arrived at my apartment at about 10:30 and we walked to Yaotome station and took the subway to Sendai station. From there we took a train to Minami Sendai station, about three stops on a local. We bought some sports drinks at a convenience store and then started walking west toward the base of the hills. The ocean was only 10 or 15 kilometers to the east.
As you can see, the sky was clear and it was a beautiful warm day. For the first two or three kilometers we were walking on the sidewalk, or path as Ian calls it in British English, but we soon turned off into a farming area. Off in the distance we could see the snow-covered mountains, the backbone of Japan. You can just make out the ski slope on the mountain on the right. It is only about 10 kilometers from my apartment, which must be roughly in line with the right edge of the picture, but many kilometers away.
The next picture shows our first goal. On the right, exactly under the highest point in the hills, you can just see a light colored building. That is Temple number 2, our first stop. They are the only place where we can buy the the book in which we will get calligraphy and stamps at each temple. The blue net stretching horizontally across the picture is a windbreak to protect whatever crop is planted behind it. I think that is was negi, green onions.
As we got closer to the hills, we could actually see the temple. It consists of the buildings with bright, almost white, roofs. We knew that it was the temple because it is surrounded by a graveyard. Shinto has to do with purity, so death and burial is taken care of at the Buddhist temples.
We found this stunning tree standing alone in the middle of a huge flat area. Both Ian and I stopped to look at it.
Finally we reached Temple #2, which is a Soto Zen temple named Shurokusai. The entrance had what appeared to be a small Shinto shrine and a fairly large parking lot.
During the day I took more than 50 pictures so in the following entries I will gradually post them all, or at least the ones that are hopefully interesting.
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