Dou'unji - Cave Cloud Temple 02

Today I am still on the way to the temple. This first picture is the entrance to the largest Shinto shrine in the area. This is the one that we go to one New Years Eve. You can just see the main shrine building on the left, between the red banner and the dark brown post. One interesting thing about this entrance is that it is both the entrance to the shrine and a public road. There a three of four houses in addition to the residence for the shrine officials. Also just in front of the building complex there is a road leading off to the right. A little further up the street, there is a place where they make tatami mats. You can see a pile of mats on the right and the two machines that are used in the center. Even though they use machines, much of the work, particularly sewing on the covering and trim are done by hand.
This is one of the older houses along this stretch of road. It looks like parts of it, the gate and front wall, for instance, are very old and some part appear to have been rebuilt. There is a nice garden inside that faces the row of windows along the first floor.
This is at the corner where this main road intersects the main road going east from the Izumi Chuo subway station, which is the last stop on the line and about a 20-minute walk from my condo. This building, the ZAZA Annex, has an interesting set of occupants. The second floor is part of the ZAZA beauty parlor which is behind this build. On the first floor of the taller section there is a noodle shop. I have eaten there once and it is pretty good. The problem is the location. It seems too far from home to go to and it is also too far from anywhere we might be when we are out. On the first floor next to the noodle shop is a beauty parlor for dogs. They trim and treat dogs. Not a particularly appetizing place to have next door when you are eating. On the far left end is the final shop, which completes the incongruities - a computer school. How four places like that ended up sharing the same building I will never know.
Behind and to the right when I took this picture, there is a 77 Bank. This is the largest of the local Sendai banks and they have locations all over the city. In fact one of their advertising slogans is "Next to the 77 Bank is a 77 Bank".