As he opens this section, Basho makes a point to saying they crossed the Natorigawa as this is a famous pillow word that has inspired much poetry. The city of Sendai itself was the capital of the Sendai domain, the largest domain in the north country and ruled by the Date clan. Date Masamune had moved to this location from his castle in Iwate in 1602.

Ayamefukuhi is a festival celebrated on 5.5. On the day before that iris are hung on the eaves and roofs of the houses. This creates a mood of elegance. The term Ayamefuku means 'thatching with iris.'

According to Sora's diary, on the morning of 5.4 (6.20) they left Shiraishi around 7:30, passed Iwanuma, saw Takekuma no matsu, then continued north seeing Minowa and Kasajima in the distance, crossed the Natorigawa River and arrived in Sendai at evening. Basho tells us they spent several days in Sendai. Sora says they arrived on the evening of the fourth and departed on the morning of the eighth.

It is widely believed that the artist Kaemon's real name was Yamada Shohei II and that he ran a woodblock carving establishment called Yamadaya. As proof that he was also a painter, there still exists an ema painted and signed by him. His youngest son, Joshibo Hakkyo, was also a well known haiku poet. There are, however, other views about this man. Sora's diary entry for 5.7 suggests that his name was actually Kitano Kashi; in which case he would not have been related to Joshibo Hakkyo. What is certain is that Kaemon wrote poetry under the pen name Kashi.

Miyagino is located SE of Sendai. It was a military parade ground and famous for its bush clover as we see in the many poetic references to it such as the anonymous love poem from KKS:
Miyagino no/ moto arano ko/ hagi tsuyu wo/ kasami kaze wo matsu goto/ kimi wo koso matte.

The sense of this poem is that the stalks of the hagi appear tangled. This hagi is heavily weighted down with dew and is waiting for the wind to blow just as I am wait yearningly for you. Interestingly, Basho's contemporary, Ihara Saikaku, traveled in this region in the 1660s and reports the plain covered with small pines and no hagi. Evidently the hagi was replanted in the 1670s and in Basho's time it was as it had traditionally been. As usual Basho moves around in the seasons. He visits here in summer, but imagines how it will look in the fall

Basho notes that the asebi was blooming. Asebi is a plant of the rhododendron family which produces white, vase-like blossoms, but Basho was here on 5.7 (6.23) which, even in this northern region, is too late for Asebe to still be in bloom. Miyamoto Toshiyori had once written a poem:
Toritsunage/ ta mada yokono/ no hare koma/ tsutsujinooka ni/ asebi saku nari.

Basho apparently wanted to make an allusion to this poem by linking asebi with Tamada, Yokono, and Tsutsujigaoka. Or rather he imagines the asebi blooming in all these places and is reminded of Toshiyori's poem.

The dew falling from the trees reminds Basho of a poem from the Azuma Uta section of the KKS: Misaburai/ mikasa to mouse/ miyagino no/ ki no shitagiri wa/ ame ni masareri.

Basho makes allusion to this poem.

The Yakushido was built by Date Masamune and today is designated as a national treasure.

Basho describes Kaemon as furyu no sharemono . Sharemono usually means someone who is foolishly obsessed, but Basho uses the word as an affectionate term of praise rather than of contempt.

In Basho's poem Ayame is the season word indicating summer. There are two interpretations of this poem. 1) The purple thongs of the sandals are reminiscent of the ayame iris. These laces make it seem as though they are tying iris on their feet as they continue on their way. But the ayame associated with the Boy's Festival is not a purple flower, so the poem loses its vitality if we read it this way. 2) Another interpretation is that they actually tied the ayame to their feet. The rationale for this is to reflect the practice of thatching the roof with iris at the time of the Boy's Festival. Putting iris on their feet is a way of praying for a safe journey. An associated idea is that because they are pilgrims who have abandoned worldly possessions such as their homes, they cannot thatch their roofs with iris, so they attach it to their sandals instead, again a prayer for a safe journey. Thus, these laces are not simply an expression of elegant taste, they also serve a practical purpose. The poem is also an epxression of Basho's warm feeling for Kaemon.

When Basho was preparing to set out on this journey he said he was dreaming of Matsushima, now he is much closer and receives drawings of Matsushima. As he gradually comes closer to the place he moves from dream to reality.

This section deals with sightseeing at several places beginning with Miyagino which is famous in poetry, and including Tamada, Yokono, Tsutsujigaoka, Konoshita, and Yakushido. Basho's love of travel and sightseeing is clearly expressed in this. At the same time, his meeting with the cultivated painter Kaemon was very pleasant. They called at the home of a well known poet of the north country, Oyodo Sangenpu, but he was not at home, though Basho does not appear to have been too disappointed. Instead he enjoyed making the acquaintance of Kaemon. As at Nikko where Basho discovered Hotoke Gozaemon, he has unexpectedly come across a remarkable person in a remote place. Kaemon was certainly not uneducated. Regionally he was recognized as a poet, and he was a fine painter who drew maps and paintings of the famous places Basho and Sora were about to see. He also gave them each a pair of sandals with purple laces as a farewell gift. Basho is warm in his praise of this man of generosity and good taste, the sort of person he had not expected to find in such a remote place. The several days Basho spent in Sendai were very pleasant indeed.