Travel Guide Sendai

Sendai is a city of more than one million inhabitants, little known by tourists, but which has many endearing sides. Considerably bombed during the Second World War, it has managed to recover a dynamism that makes it the real capital of Tōhoku. It is said that the name of Sendai is linked to Sabunai, which referred to the Hirose gawa river. A fortified city against the Ezo (inhabitants of northeastern Honshū, later assimilated to the Ainu) in the 8th century, Sendai reached its peak under Masamune Date, a prominent feudal governor, who established it as a powerful capital, including the construction of his Aoba Castle in 1601. He used his political skills and knowledge to enrich Sendai's culture, and its heritage has been consolidated over the centuries. Called "Mori-no-miyako" (capital of forests), Sendai is also a renowned university city. The city suffered the full force of the 2011 tsunami and although it still bears the marks of the disaster, the economic and tourist activity of the region has become dynamic again.