Sensōji Temple (浅草寺)

What?! Two posts in one weekend? I'm feeling generous and I kinda like you cuz you're so cute, so don't say I never do nothing for ya. 

My goal this time was to see one of two shrines that allegedly started the Maneki-Neko ("Lucky Cat"), but I randomly wandered into another temple and spent more time there than I should have. I know, right? So the second Lucky Cat shrine will have to wait (and it's closer to Atsugi, anyway)... I'll save the first one for another blog post when I've seen the second shrine.

Naturally, the temple I randomly wandered into is actually one of the most famous Tokyo temples because it's one of Tokyo's oldest temples (built around 628 A.D.). Its name? Senso-ji temple. 

The story of Senso-ji's creation involves two young fishermen (Hinokuma Hamanari & Hinokuma Takenari) who were out fishing and drinking beer when they thought they caught the big one. As they pulled up their nets in anticipation of re-telling their fisherman story to the local ladies, they realized they'd pulled up a statue. Deciding it might be something important, they brought it to their village leader Haji no Nakatomo, who realized that it was an important Buddhist deity (Kannon, Bodhisattva of Compassion), and thus a temple was created. Why was a statue in the middle of this river? Who knows. 

Painting of the brothers doing their fisherman thing 

Unfortunately for us mere mortals, a Buddhist priest later decided that statue should be hidden from human view For. Ev. Er.

An interesting connection to my post on Nikko was that the Shogun Ieyasu decided to make this the official place to pray for the shogunate. Coolio! 

When you get to the temple, you first come upon the Kaminarimon Gate, also known as the "Gate of Thunder". It's called this because the God of Thunder and the God of Wind are on either side of it... because I took their photos back in Nikko, I will spare you this time. The gate itself was created by the commander Taira no Kinmasa, and was used by people to ask for protection against typhoons and tsunamis. That being said, the gate was burned down. I guess it didn't account for fires. The red lantern in the middle is well-known to those in Japan.

After that, I wandered down a street of shops known as Nakamise Dori. For whatever reason, this was a massive little (oxymoron?) street vendor area that was selling a bunch of random Buddhist stuff. Probably good for tourist souvenirs but nothing really caught my eye.

I just liked this picture because of the old guy giving me the stink eye, ha.

The blossoms were beautiful leading up the next part of the temple, as well.

Next is the Hozomon Gate (Niomon Gate). Remember the Nio I told you about before? Yeah, they're here again to protect the temple! 

On the opposite side of the gate was a pair of giant sandals called O-Waraji, and apparently act as a charm against evil. I guess if you touched it, you gained protection, but it was pretty far up there.

After that was the Main Hall, which contains the statues of Kannon. For some reason I didn't really take a photo of that, so I guess you don't get to see it full on. Ha. 

But I did take a photo of the incense smoke that people would waft on their bodies to ward off illness. Despite being a medical professional, I did it too. Hey, you never know!

Off to the side of the Main Hall were a bunch of smaller temples and statues. Below is the bronze hokyoin-to, which is a pagoda based on a Buddhist text called Sutra of Casket Seal Dharani (Hokyoindarnikyo).  Its importance is in the fact that it provides evidence of casting techniques used in the 18th century. Right next to it was a Buddha statue, but my photos of it didn't turn out well since people were actually using it to pray.

The Saibutsu Itabi is a monument "that reveals medieval religion". Inscribed on it is a syllable representing Syaka Nyorai (not sure who that is) and below that is the syllable image of Jizo Bosatsu standing on a lotus base. It's all very exciting. 

The blossoms were in full bloom here... these were taken at a temple for the protection of women. 

Next up is the Demboin garden, planned by Kobori Enshu, a famous garden planner (I wish that was my job). To quote the pamphlet, "If we walk around it, we can enjoy watching various scenery." It was actually a really pretty area that used to only be open to the rich and famous, and even now has a very limited season (March 21st - Mary 7th), though apparently you can always ring the doorbell to be let in. I'm serious, Frommer's said it.

You can see the five-storied pagoda in the above photo, but here's another shot for your viewing pleasure.

Next was the Asakusa Jinja shrine, built to honor the two brothers who found the Kannon statue. Lucky dudes. 

I also saw statues of two Buddhas sitting next to each other. The one on the left gives mercy to worshipers, and the one of the right gives wisdom. Can I take a little of both?

They also had a "bell that announced the time" (sorta like a clock chime) that used to be used to help the locals tell time. 

I have no clue what that little Jizo guy is about, but there you go! 

Overall, a pretty neat temple despite its tourist-trap vibe. A sad point to note is that most of the original buildings were destroyed in the Tokyo bombings during WWII. I'll leave you with a view of the Tokyo Skytree as seen near the temple.