Sensoji By Night

Located in the historic district of Asakusa, the Sensoji is Tokyo’s oldest temple. Dating back to the year 645, legend has it that the temple was built on the site where two brothers found a statue of Kannon, the bodhisattva of infinite compassion, in a river. As the story goes, they repeatedly tried to put the statue back into the river but it kept coming back to them, so they decided to build a temple in her honor on the site. Fair enough. While the temple grounds are quite ancient, most of the structures themselves have been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times during the course of history-most notably after the American firebombings of Tokyo during the Second World War (not-so-fun-fact: those air raids killed more civilians than both atomic bombs combined).

This is Kaminarimon, the temple complex’s main gate. The paper lantern that hangs in the entranceway is supposedly the largest of its kind in the world.

Hozomon is the main gate that you pass through on your way to the temple. Notice the rows of shops and booths lining the sides of the path. The entire walkway to the temple is lined with them and during the daytime vendors hock their wares to passerby; everything from locally produced snacks to Godzilla toys can apparently be found here. This shopping street, known as Nakamise, dates back hundreds or perhaps even thousands of years.

Just past the Hozomon is Sensoji’s famed five-story pagoda. According to legend, some of the ashes of the historical Buddah (Shakyamuni, in Japanese) as well as a memorial tablet are laid to rest inside.

Finally we arrive at Sensoji’s main temple.

In the garden just outside of the main walkway there are a number of statues dating back to the Edo period. These two seated figures represent Kannon and Seishibosatsu, the bodhisattva of strength and power. Did you know that the Canon camera company is named after Kannon? I’m not sure what cameras and scanners have to do with infinite compassion but hey, what do I know?