We spent the first day exploring the city. Going to the mausoleum of Date, the castle ruins and the Hachimangu shrine which was the family shrine of Masumune. Other than it being winter, when I’d last visited in summer, it was just as wonderful as I remembered. I would go into detail about the history of such a lovely city but I’ll leave that to my summer post from a couple of years ago. That day it just felt nice to explore with new eyes and enjoy a place I love so much with my best friend. We had a wonderful afternoon shopping and snacking and tucked in for an early yet relaxing evening with a wonderful movie.
The next day we went to Matsushima. The sky was blue with only a few clouds but it felt as if it had dropped quite a few degrees since the day before. This might have also been because we were now out at the edge of the ocean and the sea breeze was not kind. First we went to my favourite bridge in all of Japan! Well that’s not quite fair as I have so many of them: the vine bridge in Shikoku, the megane bridge in Kyushu, Saruhashi of course and just about every little red bridge that I come across. Well if nothing else, this one is the longest red bridge I’ve ever crossed and it leads to a little island. We walked around a bit and took these stairs cut into the sandstone down to a secret little beach where I’d played that first summer.
After, we went back to the mainland for some omiyage shopping and to see some of the sights like shrines and the stone Buddhist caves at the temple. We ate French fries and watched the ocean and finally went to the aquarium.
I always think Nikki is the one dragging me to the aquariums but it always ends up that I’m the one more excited and this was no exception. Affected by the tsunami there were still a few signs of what a disaster it had been but luckily it seems most of the fish survived. There is a sign on the penguin exhibit that shows how close it got though. It was bizarre to think I would be chest deep in ocean had I been standing there on March 11. To cheer us up there was a seal show going on across the way and Nikki and I went to watch what I thought was only in movies! A seal was balancing all sorts of things on his nose and playing volleyball with his friends. I was very entertained. But the best part by far was a dolphin I befriended. I can’t remember its actual type but it was nicknamed ‘panda dolphin’ and it was easy to see why. I had never seen one before. I went up to the glass to marvel at them when one came right up to the glass and started doing little spins. I ran my hands along the glass and he followed. When I went to the other window he followed me there too, playing around in the water the entire time. He was simple adorable and if I could have taken him home I would have. I settled instead for a panda dolphin stuffy Nikki bought me at the shop instead. It was hard to say good bye yet I was convinced to leave because of the ‘penguin walk.’ The keepers actually let the penguins out of their tanks and they walked around the entrance way to the delight of the audience and myself included. Like I said, I think I enjoyed the aquarium way more than I thought I would.
But alas, cold and tired we headed back to Sendai. We were just about to stop for dinner when the most amazing thing happened: We walked down a covered shopping street with the illumination glowing around us and the sound of a recorded shamisen playing traditional New Year’s melodies. For three days we passed what appeared to be a little shrine tucked down the narrowest of alleys but for three days it seemed closed and unwelcoming. Each time I would stop, looking towards it wishing I could sneak down the alley, ring the bell and awaken the spirit there to listen to my prayers. Instead we kept walking until on the last night we passed by and it radiated warmth. The narrow alley was not lined by cold steel doors as I’d previously seen, it was lined by tiny shops selling green tea, amulets and incense that summoned us towards the shrine at the end. There people were bowing to the gods within and praying for a good New Year. As beautiful as it was I felt I was intruding and turned to leave with Nikki. Just as we did so a man caught up with us and in English asked where we were from. For some reason I chose to play the part of a tourist for once and politely replied I was from Canada leaving out that I lived in Japan. He suggested we go back to the shrine to pray and I looked back as if beckoned there. Before I knew it he’d whisked us back towards the shrine and up the stairs asking us to take our shoes off so we could enter the room and kneel down before altar. There he guided us through the simple cleansing ritual in his broken English. Humbled by his offering I kept my Japanese to myself for he seemed so much more powerful than me in that moment and there was no room for my pride. He put incense on our left hands and told us to rub it all over and on our faces and bodies to cleanse. We prayed, thanked him and bowed to both him and the gods before exiting back down the alley and back into the chaos of the city. I almost thought if I looked back the shrine, the priest who had blessed us would no longer be there.
The last morning we woke early to grab breakfast and catch the train home. I’m so glad I got to bring Nikki to Sendai at last and if there was any reason to justify staying this last year, that was it.
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