History
Sendai exists because of one man: Date Masamune, a regional lord who lost an eye to smallpox as a child (earning him the nickname “Dokuganryu,” the One-Eyed Dragon) and built Sendai as his castle town in the early 1600s after backing the winning side in the wars that founded the Tokugawa shogunate. Everything about how Miyagi presents itself today — the tree cover, the castle ruins, the mausoleum, the annual Date-themed festivals — traces back to him.
Miyagi and the wider world
Date Masamune’s most surprising legacy is diplomatic: in 1613, he sent a delegation led by his retainer Hasekura Tsunenaga across the Pacific to Mexico, then on to Spain and finally Rome, where Hasekura met Pope Paul V — making it Japan’s first direct diplomatic mission to Europe, seven years before Sakoku (the closed-country policy) would have made such a voyage impossible. The mission sought a trade and missionary agreement with Spain; it largely failed, and by the time Hasekura returned to Japan seven years later, the political climate toward Christianity had turned hostile. Hasekura’s own descendants and several crew members are believed to have stayed behind in Spain, and a small Spanish town, Coria del Rio, still has residents with the surname Japon today, reportedly tracing back to them.
Neighbors: Miyagi and the rest of Tohoku
Sendai is unambiguously Tohoku’s biggest city and functions as its de facto regional capital — the hub other Tohoku prefectures (Iwate, Akita, Yamagata) route through for anything that needs a bigger city than their own capitals offer, closer in relationship to Fukuoka-and-Kyushu than to any classic rivalry.
Getting there and getting around
Sendai Station is a Tohoku Shinkansen stop, about 1.5 hours from Tokyo, and Sendai Airport has domestic and limited international connections. Matsushima and Yamadera are both easy half-day trips from Sendai by local train.
