Haikyu!! Pilgrimage in Sendai: Monuments, Manholes & Akiu

Header photo: the steps up to Sendai City Museum, photographed in 2007, before the monument was installed beside the entrance. Photo: 663highland, CC BY 2.5 (resized). Source.

Haikyu!! is a volleyball story, and Sendai — one of its settings, as the city puts it — marks it in a way you can still visit while the city gymnasium is shut for renovation: four glass monuments, each carrying two characters drawn for the city by the manga’s author, plus four design manholes on the way to one of them. Three of the monuments are in the city and can be seen in a day on the subway — at a gymnasium in the north, in a park in the south and outside the city museum. The fourth is out in the hot-spring valley of Akiu, under an hour away by bus, and is worth a second day if you want the gorge and the town as well. This guide sets out both, without a car, from Sendai Station.

Why This Place Matters in Haikyu!!

The city describes Sendai as one of the settings of Haikyu!!, and since 2023 it has named the series’ characters as Sendai tourism envoys (仙台観光特使), two at a time, each pair marked by a glass monument with artwork drawn specially by the manga’s author, Haruichi Furudate. What a visitor can see is that programme: official monuments and manholes placed by the city. It is not a list of places matched to scenes, and this guide does not say that any of these buildings is the model for one in the story.

Four pairs, four places

• 2023 — Hinata and Kageyama, outside Kamei Arena Sendai (the city gymnasium), now moved into Tomizawa Park next door while the arena is renovated.
• 2024 — Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, by the main entrance of Sendai City Museum.
• 2025 — Oikawa and Iwaizumi, by the main entrance of Motoyama Seisakusho Aoba Arena, the Aoba gymnasium in the north of the city — a different building from Kamei Arena.
• 2026 — Aone and Futakuchi, in front of the multipurpose hall at Akiu Sato Center, open to the public since 10 August 2026.

What has closed or ended

Kamei Arena Sendai has been closed for major renovation since 21 May 2025; the city’s planned closure period runs through 15 March 2027. It is not open to visitors. Check the arena’s official notices for the reopening date. The Haikyu!! artwork on its construction hoarding came down on 23 September 2026, earlier than planned, the city reports. The summer 2026 events — the Tanabata streamers, the station pop-up and the collaboration sales — have also finished, so nothing in this guide depends on them.

Back to contents

Anime Pilgrimage Spots

The three city monuments sit on the subway: Aoba Arena in the north of the city near Kita-Sendai on the Namboku line, Tomizawa Park at the line’s southern terminus, and the museum near International Center on the Tozai line. The city says the gymnasium monuments can be seen at any time; each comes with a request to keep out of the way of people using the building, and to come back later if the spot is crowded.

Please respect local rules and manners at every location, and follow signs and staff guidance.

Aoba Arena: Oikawa and Iwaizumi

The Oikawa and Iwaizumi monument stands beside the main entrance of Motoyama Seisakusho Aoba Arena (本山製作所青葉アリーナ), the city’s Aoba gymnasium at Tsutsumi-machi 1-1-5. The city says it can be seen at any time, but that on days when the gymnasium holds an event it may not be possible to get to it, its page adds.

• Getting there: about 5 minutes on foot from North Exit 2 of the subway’s Kita-Sendai Station, by the arena’s access page. Kita-Sendai is 6 minutes from Sendai on the Namboku line.
• Before you go: the arena publishes a monthly event schedule, and closes once a month for maintenance (the next is 21 October 2026) and from 28 December to 4 January.

Tomizawa: four manholes and Hinata and Kageyama

Four design manholes with Haikyu!! artwork are set in the pavement of the road north from the subway’s Tomizawa Station towards Kamei Arena. The city’s location map numbers them 1 to 4 from the station end, on the same stretch of road before it crosses the Old Zaru River, so you pass them in order as you walk. They are in a footway: stop to one side, let people pass, and stay out of any construction area.

The Hinata and Kageyama monument, the first of the four, used to stand by the south entrance of Kamei Arena. While the arena is renovated it has been moved into Tomizawa Park (富沢公園), next to the arena, for a period planned to run from 23 May 2025 to around March 2027, the city says. It is permanently installed and can be seen at any time. Do not go looking for it at the arena’s entrance; the arena is fenced off for the works. Kamei Arena’s own access page gives about 10 minutes on foot from Tomizawa Station.

Sendai City Museum: Tsukishima and Yamaguchi

The Tsukishima and Yamaguchi monument stands beside the main entrance of Sendai City Museum (仙台市博物館), on the site of Sendai Castle’s third enclosure. There is no Haikyu!! exhibition inside, the museum says, so seeing the monument and visiting the museum are two different things.

• The monument: outdoors and free. Unlike the gymnasium pages, the museum’s page gives no viewing hours for it, so plan to see it while the museum is open.
• The museum: open 9:00 to 16:45, last entry 16:15; closed on Mondays (open if the Monday is a public holiday), on the day after a public holiday with some exceptions, and from 28 December to 4 January, its visitor page says. The permanent exhibition is 460 yen for adults.
• Getting there: about 8 minutes on foot from South Exit 1 of International Center Station on the Tozai line, by the museum’s access page.

Akiu Sato Center: Aone and Futakuchi

The newest monument stands in front of the multipurpose hall in the exchange wing of Akiu Sato Center (秋保・里センター), the free visitor centre for the Akiu hot springs. It opened to the public on 10 August 2026, as the city’s tourism site announced, and the centre’s own notices confirm it is in place. The unveiling ceremony was closed to the public, but the monument is open to everyone; as at the gymnasiums, though, an event at the centre can stop you reaching it on the day.

• The centre: open every day, 9:00 to 18:00 (to 17:00 from 31 December to 3 January), free to enter, the centre says.
• Getting there: the Miyagi Kotsu bus from Sendai Station to the Akiu Sato Center stop, about 50 minutes by the ordinary route or 35 by the weekend rapid; details are under Best Way to Get Around.

Back to contents

How to Get There

Everything in this guide starts from JR Sendai Station: the subway for the city route and the Akiu bus both leave from there.

From Tokyo

The Tohoku Shinkansen runs from Tokyo Station to Sendai. Journey times depend on the train, so use JR East’s Sendai Station timetable for the one you want rather than a single figure.

From Sendai Airport

The Sendai Airport Access Line runs from the airport station to JR Sendai Station in about 25 minutes, with two or three trains an hour, the operator says. The fare is 680 yen, or 672 yen by IC card, on its fare chart of 14 March 2026. The time starts at the airport station: allow for immigration, baggage and the walk to the platform before you count on a train.

Back to contents

Best Way to Get Around

The subway, for Route A

Route A uses both subway lines. The Namboku line runs north–south through Sendai Station, with Kita-Sendai to the north and Tomizawa at its southern end; the Tozai line runs east–west, and International Center is three stops west of Sendai. The city’s travel-time table gives 6 minutes from Sendai to Kita-Sendai, 19 from Kita-Sendai to Tomizawa, 12 from Tomizawa to Sendai, and 5 from Sendai to International Center.

• Single fares for the route are 250 yen (Sendai–Kita-Sendai), 340 yen (Kita-Sendai–Tomizawa), 310 yen (Tomizawa–Sendai), and 210 yen each way between Sendai and International Center, on the fare table: 1,320 yen if you leave the station at Sendai for lunch, as the itinerary does.
• The subway one-day ticket is 840 yen for adults, or 620 yen on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, the transport bureau says; it is sold from ticket machines and is valid on the day of purchase. For Route A it costs less than the single fares on any day, and it also takes the museum’s admission down to the group rate of 360 yen, by the museum’s fees page.
• It does not cover the Akiu bus, which is run by a different company, Miyagi Kotsu.

The bus to Akiu, for Route B

Use the Miyagi Kotsu Akiu line from stop 8 of the bus pool in front of Sendai Station to the Akiu Sato Center stop (秋保・里センター), the stop before Akiu Onsen Yumoto. The fare is 940 yen each way on the operator’s fare search, whichever way the bus goes. The timetable revised on 19 September 2026 is different on weekdays and at weekends:

• Weekdays, to Akiu, morning and midday: from Sendai Station at 9:13, 10:03, 10:42 and 12:42, reaching Akiu Sato Center about 53 minutes later. Some other buses start at JR Nagamachi Station instead, calling at the subway’s Nagamachi-Minami Station.
• Weekdays, back, from late morning: from Akiu Sato Center at 11:59, 14:03, 15:57 and 18:01 to Sendai Station, about 52 minutes. The 9:53, 16:56 and 19:23 terminate at JR Nagamachi Station, from where you take the subway on.
• Weekends and holidays, to Akiu, morning to early afternoon: from Sendai Station at 8:56, 9:48, 10:48 and 12:08 by the ordinary route, and at 10:25 and 14:05 by the rapid via the Sendai-Nishi road, which takes about 35 minutes and does not call at Nagamachi.
• Weekends and holidays, back, from late morning: from Akiu Sato Center at 10:57, 12:57, 15:58 and 17:47 to Sendai Station, and the rapids at 11:57 and 14:57. Several others end at JR Nagamachi Station.
• Paying: cash, or an IC card — the operator’s icsca guide notes that Suica and other cards work on its buses, without earning icsca points.

Car

Not needed. The city’s pages for the two gymnasium monuments ask visitors to come by public transport, because the car parks are for people using the gymnasiums, and the museum asks the same because its own car park is limited.

Back to contents

What to Eat and Drink

Gyutan at Sendai Station

Grilled beef tongue, gyutan, is the dish Sendai is associated with, and Route A passes back through Sendai Station between Tomizawa and the museum, which makes it the place for lunch. The station’s third floor has a row of gyutan restaurants; one of them, Rikyu Sendai Station (利久 仙台駅店), is open 10:00 to 21:30, last order 21:00, every day, its own page says. On the one-day ticket, leaving the gates at Sendai for lunch costs nothing extra.

Zunda

Zunda — sweet mashed green soybeans — is the other Sendai flavour, and Zunda Saryo has two shops in Sendai Station that keep different hours, the company lists:

• Zunda Komichi shop, 3rd floor: shop 9:00 to 21:00, café from 10:00 with last order at 18:00, every day.
• Zunda Shake Express, 2nd floor: 9:00 to 19:30, every day, for the zunda shake to take away. The soy versions of the shake are suspended at present.

Lunch in Akiu

The simplest lunch on Route B is in the same building as the monument: Restaurant HACHI Akiu Onsen, in Akiu Sato Center, serves Western-style dishes such as pasta and hamburger steak from 10:00 to 17:00, last order 16:30, the centre says. It closes on 31 December, 1 January and the centre’s two maintenance days a year, in June and January.

Back to contents

Beyond the Anime

Inside Sendai City Museum

For anyone interested in history, the museum is worth its own hour or two: it was founded to keep the collection given by the Date family, the lords of Sendai, and its permanent displays change with the seasons, the museum says. It is a separate visit from the monument outside, with its own ticket, and there is nothing about Haikyu!! inside.

Rairaikyo gorge

Rairaikyo (磊々峡) is a gorge of stacked rocks on the Natori River, about a kilometre long around the Nozoki Bridge (覗橋), with a path of about 650 metres downstream of the bridge, the centre says. It is about 3 minutes on foot from the Akiu Sato Center stop, and a path behind the centre gives a close view of the river through the gorge. Go in daylight and keep to the paths; after rain, take care on wet rock near the water.

Foot bath and hot springs

• The centre’s foot bath, Jueimon-no-yu, is free, but it is open only on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from April to November, 11:00 to 16:00, and not in bad weather, the centre says. On a weekday, or from December to March, it is closed.
• Bathing at a hot-spring hotel is a separate thing from the foot bath. Several Akiu hotels take day bathers, and the centre keeps a list, but it warns that prices and conditions change without notice; check with the hotel before you go. This guide does not name one.

Back to contents

Souvenirs

At Akiu Sato Center

The tourist information desk at the centre sells towels with the Aone and Futakuchi design, its notice says.

What has ended

The summer 2026 Haikyu!! Week at Sendai Station and the collaboration packaging sales were time-limited and have finished. Neither is a reason to plan the trip now.

Back to contents

Where to Stay

This guide names no hotels and gives no prices. Where you sleep decides how much of each day is spent on transport.

Around Sendai Station

The simplest base for both routes: the subway lines cross at Sendai Station, and the Akiu bus leaves from its bus pool. Each day starts and finishes there.

In Akiu

A night in Akiu turns Route B into a hot-spring stay, with the gorge in the early morning. It adds the bus to and from the city to one of your days, and the centre’s list of hotels is the place to start.

Back to contents

Suggested Itinerary

Route A is the city in a day: the three city monuments and the manholes, by subway and on foot. Route B keeps that day and adds a separate day in Akiu for the fourth monument, the gorge and lunch in the valley. Both start and end at Sendai Station.

Which route	A — Sendai in a day	B — two days, with Akiu
Time	4 to 6 hours from Sendai Station and back, a planning estimate with lunch; the upper end includes the museum’s galleries	Day A, plus an Akiu day of 5 to 7 hours from Sendai Station and back
What you see	Oikawa and Iwaizumi at Aoba Arena, the four manholes and Hinata and Kageyama in Tomizawa Park, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi at the museum	All of A, plus Aone and Futakuchi at Akiu Sato Center, Rairaikyo gorge, and the foot bath on weekends from April to November
Transport	Subway and walking	Add the Miyagi Kotsu bus to Akiu and back
Fares, per adult	Subway one-day ticket 840 yen, or 620 yen at weekends and on holidays (single fares 1,320 yen); museum 360 yen with the ticket if you go in	A, plus 1,880 yen for the bus there and back
Check first	The museum’s closing days; events and the maintenance day at Aoba Arena	The same, plus the Akiu bus times for a weekday or a weekend, and events at Akiu Sato Center
Car	Not needed	Not needed

A — Sendai in a day

Ride the Namboku line from one end of the route to the other, then switch to the Tozai line: north first, then south, then west. That way nothing is visited twice, and the museum comes last, inside its opening hours.

• Buy a subway one-day ticket at Sendai Station and take the Namboku line to Kita-Sendai, 6 minutes. North Exit 2, then about 5 minutes on foot to Aoba Arena for Oikawa and Iwaizumi.
• Back to Kita-Sendai and south to Tomizawa, 19 minutes. Walk north from the station past manholes 1 to 4 to Tomizawa Park for Hinata and Kageyama — about 10 minutes by the arena’s own figure — and back.
• Tomizawa to Sendai, 12 minutes, and lunch at the station — gyutan on the third floor, or a zunda shake.
• Tozai line to International Center, 5 minutes. South Exit 1, then about 8 minutes on foot to Sendai City Museum for Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, and the galleries if you want them.
• Back to Sendai, 5 minutes.

If your day is a museum closing day — most Mondays, most days after a public holiday, and 28 December to 4 January by its visitor page — the museum is shut, and its page gives no hours for the monument outside. Put Route A on another day, or use that day for Akiu.

B — two days, with Akiu

Day 1 is Route A. Day 2 is Akiu, timed to the bus from Sendai Station’s stop 8, which differs on weekdays and at weekends (timetable of 19 September 2026):

• On a weekday: the 10:03 from Sendai Station reaches Akiu Sato Center at 10:56. See the monument, walk Rairaikyo, have lunch at the centre, and take the 14:03 back (Sendai Station 14:55) or the 15:57 (16:48).
• At a weekend or on a holiday: the 10:25 rapid reaches Akiu Sato Center at 11:00, or the 9:48 at 10:40. The foot bath is open from 11:00 to 16:00 from April to November, weather allowing. Back on the 14:57 rapid (Sendai Station 15:33) or the 15:58 (16:49).
• Check where the bus is going before you board for Sendai: some return buses end at JR Nagamachi Station, and you finish on the subway from there.

Back to contents

Travel Tips and Etiquette

At the monuments

• The city’s requests: if a monument is crowded, come back later rather than letting a queue block the way; keep clear of people using the gymnasium, the park or the museum; and keep an eye on your surroundings while you take photographs.
• Events can block the way. On event days at Aoba Arena or Akiu Sato Center you may not be able to get to the monument. Aoba Arena’s monthly schedule is the place to check.

Around Kamei Arena and the manholes

• Kamei Arena is closed for the works. Do not go inside the fencing or look for the monument at its old place by the south entrance; it is in Tomizawa Park.
• The manholes are in a footway. Stop to one side, let others pass, and do not stand in the road for a photograph. The city’s page also asks people not to contact Kamei Arena about them.

In Akiu

• The foot bath is weekends and holidays only, April to November, and closes in bad weather, the centre says. Do not plan a weekday soak around it.
• Rairaikyo is a gorge. Keep to the path and away from the water’s edge, especially after rain.

Back to contents

Plan Your Trip

Do this first

• Pick a day for Route A that is not a museum closing day, and look at Aoba Arena’s schedule for that day.
• Buy the subway one-day ticket from a machine on the day; it is 840 yen, or 620 yen at weekends and on holidays.
• For Route B, choose a weekday or weekend bus from the Akiu timetable, and note the last one back that goes all the way to Sendai Station.

Combine it with another guide

This is the only Tohoku guide on this site so far, so none is suggested as a pairing. Every published guide is listed on All published guides, and by region on Destinations.

How this guide was put together

This guide was researched and planned from published sources rather than written up from a visit. Checked on 17 October 2026: Sendai City’s pages on the four monuments, the manholes, the hoarding artwork and the gymnasium closure; Sendai City Museum for its hours, fees and access; Aoba Arena and Kamei Arena for access and closures; Akiu Sato Center and the city’s tourism site for the Akiu monument, the centre, the foot bath, Rairaikyo and the restaurant; Sendai City Transportation Bureau for subway fares, journey times and the one-day ticket; Miyagi Kotsu for the Akiu bus fare and IC cards, with the timetable published by the centre; the Sendai Airport Access Line for the airport train; and Rikyu and Zunda Saryo for their station shops.

What is an estimate, and what could not be confirmed. The 4-to-6-hour and 5-to-7-hour figures and the times at each place are editorial planning estimates built from the published times, not official durations. The reopening of Kamei Arena and the return of its monument are planned dates, not confirmed ones. Tomizawa Park and Akiu Sato Center have no published position that could be confirmed, nor does International Center Station, so the map lists them by name or address. Viewing hours for the museum monument and the day-bathing terms of individual hotels were not published in a form this guide could confirm.

Written and edited by Nick, who runs Anime Routes Japan from Japan. More about Nick, and about how these guides are made, is on the About page.

Opening hours, fares and bus times change, and monuments can be moved or closed off for works. Confirm the ones your day depends on before you travel.

Back to contents