The main mausoleum
Gold and red.
lumoplank — CC0 · Zairon — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Zairon — CC BY-SA 4.0 · 663highland — CC BY 2.5 · Zairon — CC BY-SA 4.0
Zuihōden is a mausoleum complex in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, built for the daimyō Date Masamune and his heirs, about 2 km from the city centre in a straight line on a hill covered in cedars. Date Masamune, known as «the one-eyed dragon» and founder of the Sendai Domain, died in 1636, and his mausoleum was built the following year as he had instructed. It was named a National Treasure in 1931, destroyed in 1945, rebuilt in 1979, and restored in 2001 to look more like the original. It is built in the Momoyama style, in vivid black, red and gold, with fine carving on the gates and eaves and the gold Date crest on the doors. The complex also holds the mausoleums of the second and third daimyō. You climb to it by stone steps and a path shaded by towering cedars, and there is a small museum on site. Mornings are best, when the light is softer on the colours.
Gold and red.
Stone steps.
On the gates.
Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, Japan
A short flight of steps.
About an hour.