Sensoji Temple and Asakusa

Stepping out of the airplane at Narita Airport, the first thing I noticed about Japan was that everyone was tiny. Literally everyone in this country is almost a foot shorter than me. I would soon discover that non only was everyone in the country shorter than me, but all the architecture was designed with them in mind, and not a six foot two Gaijin. Tokyo is built with space as a premium, and the Japanese as a people don't seem to need much. Buildings are built nearly on top of each other with tetris like engineering. Riding into the city on a raised railway system, I saw that the roofs of some buildings were so close together that you wouldn't even have to jump to climb from one to the next. I can only imagine what it was like before the war, when everything was made of wood and more traditional architecture was the norm.

Tokyo today is a weird mix of architectural styles, with western apartment buildings sharing space with shinto shrines. From my hostel roof I can see influences from at least four distinct cultures from three continents. From that same roof it is easy to see how I got lost earlier today while trying to find the Sensoji Temple, a large temple located in the heart of of the Asakusa district.

The Sensoji Temple is possibly the most popular Buddhist temple in Tokyo. It's located in a complex of shines and temples near the Sumidagawa River and includes the Asakusajinaja Shrine and the Dempoin Temple. And yes, I am getting better at pronouncing those names. Still can't read anything though, and my new favorite word is Arigato which means "thanks".

The Sensoji Temple is cool because of it's size and complexity. My camera died just as I went inside, but I have a few photos of the exterior. As I made my approach I was puzzled by a near constant clinking sound: closer inspection revealed the noise to be the near constant dropping of coins into a large (9 foot x 5 foot) donation box. As far as I can tell, any coin worth less than 100 Yen is near worthless, kind of like a penny, but even dropping 20 or 50 yen coins in I can only imagine the daily income of just that one collection box. That was only one of perhaps a hundred collection boxes in the entire complex, not to mention the places where you could buy incense for burning or small wooden prayer cards to be tied onto shrines.

Only the foyer of the Sensoji was open for tourists, so there was no need to remove my shoes, but most of the other temples and shrines in the area make you take your shoes off. This is a traditional Japanese practice, and as few as forty years ago, I would have had to take my shoes off to enter any building. I like it. Makes you feel more connected, and puts an emphasis on the concept of a sacred threshold, where if you're crossing into some one's home or business or place of worship you are a guest and must behave with the manners of guest. Manners are kind of a big deal here. One of the things I learned today is that it is considered rude to eat and walk. I of course learned this while reading my guidebook after walking back from a grocery store. While eating an apple.

Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

-Doug

P.S. Fun fact about the Dempoin Temple, which is right next to the Sensoji Temple. It's so impressive that when it was constructed the Sri Lankans gave the monks of the temple a bone relic from Buddha. Put in perspective, that's essentially the same thing as having a bone from Jesus or Moses or Muhammed blessing your church/temple/mosque. THAT IS SO COOL. Unfortunately, Dempoin is not open to the public, for probably that very reason.