“Godaido Shrine” and “Zuiganji Temple in Matsushima

When I visited “Tohoku” (Fukushima and Miyagi) I stayed at a hotel in Matsushima. I enjoyed snowy winter scenes of Matsushima Islets from the hotel room on March 11 in the morning.

The scenery from a hotel room I stayed

 

As we (group tour members) had a very little free time we were able to took a short walk around Matsushima Bay area and visited “Godaido” and “Zuiganji Temple.

“Godaido” on the top of an islet.

Matsushima (literally means “islands with pine trees”) is located in the central part of Miyagi Prefecture, and is considered one of the three most beautiful sites in Japan. “Godaido Shrine” and “Zuiganji Temple are two main buildings in the area.

A closer look of the Godaido Shrine (a part)

An old pine tree survived from the tsunami

 

“Zuiganji Temple” : The main buildings are now under renovation. We were able to enter its outer garden and saw a number of statures of the Buddha of Compassion in snow!

 

The temple was established  in 828. At that time there were no enough buildings for young monks to stay, so they used these types of caves for housing purpose. A voluntary guide told us there was a front door (or like a screen) at that time. (good!)

 

Old cypress trees alongside the main approach of Zuiganji.