Anagura Shrine, Sendai 29th April 2019

While walking back down the hill from the impressive and popular Buddhist temple and mausoleum complex associated with Date Masamune and his family, just before reaching the bottom of the path we saw a small and quiet left turning that no one seemed to be taking. We decided to take a look and stumbled on a small Shinto shrine in a clearing overlooking the river valley. It was a simple shrine but behind the main wooden building there was an interesting row of small shrines dedicated to Inari Okami (fox gods). The shrine was called Anagura and according to internet reports written by Japanese visitors had been used by Date Masamune to pray for success in battle etc. 

Looking at the map there is a long straight road that approaches the shrine from  the river valley ending at the Tori gate and flight of steps, so maybe it was a much grander place in the past.