Still on the ByPass

 This is part of the display outside a shop that carves stone statues, etc, for temples, shrines, parks and gardens.

 This is across the street. It is a shop that sells Buddhist altars and other Buddhist paraphernalia. Many families have a large altar somewhere in their home. It will be dedicated to deceased members of the family and food and drink will be left as well as incense burned. There will usually be black and white portraits of the deceased. Some people, particularly wives, will kneel in front of the altar, light incense, ring a small gong, and then tell the deceased about the events that have been taking place.

 I turned off the Bypass and started walking toward Shogen, which is on the hill behind Izumi Chuo. This tree covered area apparently belongs to the temple that is off to the left. On the other side of the hill there is a graveyard.

 I was quite surprised to find that one of the old wooden house was being demolished. Many houses in Sendai do not look damaged from the outside but have so much internal structural damage that the city has condemned them.

 As I moved further up the hill, I found that another house had already been torn down and the one in the back was also being destroyed.

The trees along the road here are severely cut back every year (In the past I posted pictures of the trimmed branches with any leaves). Now they look a bit strange. If they were not trimmed yearly, they would be almost round.