Sendai Castle Ruins (Aoba Castle)

Aoba Castle was built atop Mt. Aoba in 1600 by Date Masamune, the one-eyed lord who founded Sendai and whose bronze equestrian statue still faces the city from the main bailey. The original buildings burned in 1882 and were fully destroyed in World War II bombing, but the massive stone walls that wound up the forested hillside remain. The views from the main bailey stretch over the city toward the Pacific. An on-site museum uses scale models and computer graphics to reconstruct the castle's former scale, with exhibits on the Date clan and the development of the city. The ruins draw particular crowds during cherry blossom season and winter illumination events.