The beginning of a very long, but interesting, day

 Ian and I made plans to meet at Kita Sendai and the walk in Shinrin Koen before going to Mr Donuts for coffee, donuts, and chat. As I walked along the levee on my way to the subway, I found this interesting plant. The strange looking flowers only last for a few days before some one cut down all the plants alone the sides of the path. The plants were leaning over the path so that on rainy days you got wet.

 After Ian left for work, I started to think about walking home, but changed my mind. Kita Sendai, the train and subway stations, is on the southern side of a east / west running row of hills. In the past these hills marked the very outskirts of the city of Sendai, so they were an ideal place for temples and shrines. I decided that I would walk west and visit each of the shrines and temples along the hill tops. As I walked from the station to the first shrine, I passed this sign. The top line is the phonetic representation of the English phrase mental health.The next line says Kita Sendai Clinic. From the details on the rest of the sign, the clinic specializes in mental health but also has a number of other specialties.

 At the first place where the hills come down to the road, there is an old house. I could not see any way to get to it so many the entrance is from the other side of the hills.

 Just a little further on I came to this old building.

 After passing a few houses, I came to a sign say that this was the entrance to Komyoji, where ji means temple and komyo means glory, hope or right future.

Going up the first short flight of stairs, I found a longer flight, flanked by flowering bushes.