Tokyo Jaunt, pt.2: 浅草寺 The Sensou-ji temple, aka 浅草観音 Asakusa Kannon, 7/04/2012

Tradition and modernity: The Buddha of Mercy (one of the pair) and the Sky Tree - freshly constructed pride of Tokyo.

Asakusa area (浅草 lit. Shallow Grass) has a long history of merchant life thriving over here during the Edo period. Merchants, although wealthy, could not buy themselves any actual power, titles or religious favours. They couldn't even carry real swords, the symbols of perhaps impoverished, but still prestigious samurai caste. According to the Buddhist principles, in most cases their wealth and lifestyles crossed out the chances of any religious salvation. That's why at some point merchants turned to their very own saviour: Kannon Bosatsu 観音菩薩, a Goddess of Mercy, Amida Buddha's aide who's job was to save all the beings trapped in the cycle of reincarnation, the beings craving for, but unable to reach the Buddhahood. Sensou-ji, or the temple of Kannon of Asakusa as it is also known　(Sensou is the onyomi reading of Asakusa), is a wonderfully colourful, vibrant place, and is certainly worth visiting while in Tokyo.

The twin of the first Buddha, The Buddha of Wisdom (note the attribute and the hand position)

The main gate of Sensou-ji temple; around it - the little city of flashy coloured food stands spoiling every possible picture.

Temple gate; the lantern says Kofune-chou (place name)

Dragon engraving on the base of the lantern

Big 草鞋, waraji, straw sandal; a donation

These roofs never fail to impress me!

A five-storey pagoda, a Buddhist temple must-have.

The Main Hall of Sensou-ji

Ceiling painting of the Main Hall; photographed with permission and without the flash.

The Main Hall

Massive incense burner in front of the Main Hall. People light up a thick incense and cense themselves with a smoke, directing it on the face and rubing it into their chests. I swear I've seen the man who rubbed it onto his male parts (!), it might be some remedy or a protective ritual then.

The juicy green leaves were the great joy to the eyes.

Freshly baked melon pan, a sweet bun with melon aroma and crusty top layer. Bought in a little bakery just opposite the temple (located by the two Buddhas I mentioned in the beginning). It was the most delicious melon pan I've ever eaten!

Sky Tree, a new neighbour towering over the area. It is the tallest building in Tokyo now, and from late May it will be open to the public!

... and needless to say, we, happy-go-lucky explorers, traditionally had to forget about something... 

image source

Coming from the other side, and then leaving in the direction of the promissing brand new Sky Tree, we missed the famous 雷門, Kaminari-mon, the Thunder Gate. Oh well, next time, hopefully!

The Tokyo journey continues!

比叡山延暦寺 - Mt. Hiei and Enryakuji Temple. 20/03/2011

Kyoto from above, one of the hills leading to Mt. Hiei and Enryakuji, 20/03/2012

Couple of days ago I had an amazing opportunity to form a hiking team with few international students to join our lovely dorm manager (whom we nick-named ninja for his amazing personality and ability to achieve/ obtain/ fix the impossible) on a tiring but nevertheless brilliant hiking in Mt. Hiei to see Enryakuji temple, one of the most important temples in Japanese buddhism, and itself a Unesco National Heritage Site. The day was lovely, and we all had a great time (and delayed-onset muscle soreness, that's for sure, but it was certainly worth it! :-) 

Setting off through the giant toori gate marking the local shrine grounds.

We climbed a very steep ravine slope of Kirara-zaka, so very quickly the bird-eye views of Kyoto started to emerge.

Our steep path up! In the photo - F, my great Italian friend. She's gonna kill me for this one, but I will risk the statement that it's one hell of an energetic beast in her natural habitat. :-)

Sacred statues scattered around the woods. Some of them so weathered you can't see the details anymore.

Beautiful views on the way.

Yup, it really is snow up there!

That little patch between the hills is one of the tiny Kyoto nearby cities. Note the sky - doesn't it look like Magritte?

Tiny bit of Kyoto... and still unidentified white chapel-like building on the slope over there... Ninja-san suggested it might be a part of a film studio, Hmmm...

Approaching Enryakuji... more and more sacred statues.

The carving presenting Pure Land Buddhism Amida Triad - Amida Buddha in the middle, Kannon Bosatsu (representing compassion) on the right and Seishin (representing wisdom) on the left; more valuable information on this great site

Japanese cypresses (hinoki), planted by the sacred area below. They were MASSIVE!

Steep stairs leading to the Buddha Hall. See that person in red jacket not using the stairs? Guess who can that be, if not a real ninja!

Bad fortune omikuji tied up to the tree to ward off the bad luck.

The Great Buddha Hall. It was really beautiful and fragrant inside, I wish I could have taken a snap or two (unfortunatelly, not only forbidden, but there was also a very strict-looking Japanese granny sitting there, keeping an eye on things, I wouldn't stand a chance)

A bell. For a humble donation you can bang it yourself for good luck!And that's of course, what I did, applying slightly too much power and enthusiasm into it... My right ear's hearing will never be the same again...

As the kind monk explained to us, it's one of the old sanscrit letteres for Buddha's name, therefore cherished greatly.

Believe it or not, but down route was much steeper (and potentially more lethal) than climbing one! The water over there is lake Biwa, the biggest lake of Japan.

At this point, we were so tired we just wanted to run to the station and sit in the train...

An old shrine at the foot of the mountain. Felling Spirited Away, anyone? :-)