In Tokyo, there are many distinct "areas" or "districts." Much like the boroughs of New York, they have their own distinctiveness and highlights. This particular area is Asakusa and is the north part of Tokyo. MG found this temple complex while apartment hunting...one of the places she was viewing is just a few blocks from this temple (too bad those blocks contain gambling houses, an amusement park and what appears to be an adult theater).
This temple is Tokyo's most sacred and spectacular temple. The story of the temple is listed throughout the captions, and there's even some more in-depth info available for the true nerds among us. (Can you tell MG was really into this place?)
This
is the Kaminarimon Gate, and it's the front gate of the temple. It was rebuilt
in 1960...the original burned down around 1865. If you look closely at the
picture, there's a statue built into each side of the gate. On the right is
Fujin, the god of wind. Raijin, the god of thunder is in the left.
After
you enter the Kaminarimon Gate, you encounter Nakamise - row after row of shops.
The Nakamise is a long street closed to traffic and was absolutely packed with
people the three times that MG visited, but she managed to find a small stretch
of it with few enough people to allow a shot of the shops themselves. In the
picture on the right below, you can see how crazy the place usually is. Fans,
kimonos, dolls, hats, sweets, snacks, textiles, souvenirs...you name it and they
probably sell it here. On one of those visits, MG bought an amazing brown
leather backpack that matches her eyes and that she will treasure always as her
special purchase while in Japan. Look for the silly thing in just about every
picture of her from now on.
Once
you've walked down Nakamise (which you can see a bit of in the picture on the
right) , you reach the fabulous Hozomon Gate. It is three stories tall, and the
upper two floors store Buddhist scriptures edited in the Yuan era (1279-1368) in
China and other random cultural properties (which were not accessible to the
public as far as we know).
The view on the left was taken standing quite close to the gate. The view on the right is taken from the middle of Nakamise.
The Hozomon is a 1964 reconstruction, and is made of ferroconcrete. The original gate, and most everything else at this complex had to be rebuilt as a result of air raids in 1945.
OK, this is going to get complicated. This whole
area that we're talking about is referred to as Asakusa Kannon. The official
name of Asakusa Kannon is Sensoji, and the area is called the Sensoji Temple on
maps and in guidebooks. The thing on the left is the Main Hall of the Sensoji
Temple. In the picture it looks small. That's because you had to get so far away
from it to get it all in the picture. In truth, the thing is absolutely HUGE.
This picture was taken just as you passed through the Hozomon Gate, but there
was another 50+ yards of open space, stalls selling charms and statues before
you even got to the front steps of this thing. In the main hall, various
Buddhist services are observed, monks gather at the alter three times a day to
chant sutras, and prayers are offered to Kannon for the protection of people,
Japan and the world (at least that's what the brochure says).