Editing Sendai (section)

=== Modern era ===
The first railway line between Sendai and Tokyo, now the [[Tōhoku Main Line]], opened in 1887, bringing the area within a day's travel from Tokyo for the first time in history. [[Tohoku University|Tohoku Imperial University]], the region's first university, was founded in Sendai in 1907 and became the first Japanese university to admit female students in 1913.

Sendai was incorporated as a city on 1 April 1889, with the post-[[Meiji restoration]] creation of the modern municipalities system following the [[abolition of the han system]]. At the time of incorporation, the city's area was {{convert|17.45|km2}} and its population was 86,000. The city grew, however, through seven annexations that occurred between 1928 and 1988. The city became a [[City designated by government ordinance|designated city]] on 1 April 1989; the city's population exceeded one million in 1999.

Sendai was considered to be one of Japan's greenest cities, mostly because of its great numbers of trees and plants. Sendai became known as The City of Trees before the [[Meiji Restoration]], after the feudal [[Sendai Domain]] encouraged residents to plant trees in their gardens. As a result, many houses, temples, and shrines in central Sendai had {{Nihongo|'''household forests'''|屋敷林|yashikirin}}, which were used as resources for wood and other everyday materials.

In 1925, the [[Senseki Line]] to [[Sendai Station (Miyagi)|Sendai Station]] became the first underground railway segment in Japan, preceding the opening of the [[Tokyo Metro Ginza Line]] (Asia's first subway line) by two years.

The [[2nd Division (Imperial Japanese Army)|2nd Infantry Division]] was known as the "Sendai Division" as it was based in Sendai, and recruited locally. During the Second World War it was involved in many different campaigns, but one of the most important was the [[Battle of Guadalcanal]]. During the [[bombing of Sendai during World War II]] by the United States on 10 July 1945, much of the historic center of the city was burned, with 2,755 inhabitants killed and 11,933 houses destroyed in the city.

<gallery mode="packed" style="text-align: center;" caption="Gallery" heights="130px" perrow="3">
File:Sendai map circa 1930.PNG|A city map of 1927, Japanese language edition
File:Tohoku Imperial University,1913.jpg|[[Tohoku University|Tohoku Imperial University]]
File:Basho no Tsuji circa 1930.JPG|Basho no Tsuji (1930)
File:Sendai after the 1945 air raid.JPG|[[Bombing of Sendai during World War II]]
File:Tohoku Daigaku Honbu.jpg|[[Tohoku University]] Katahira Campus
</gallery>