Asakusa

photo by BriskWalkThroughCiliwung · CC BY-SA 4.0

The Kaminarimon lantern, 3.9 m tall and weighing 700 kg, is remade by a single workshop in Kyoto.

You enter through the Kaminarimon, the gate with the large red lantern hanging between the statues of the wind god and the thunder god, and walk for 250 metres under the signs of Nakamise-dōri, among the souvenir and sweet stalls that have sold to pilgrims heading for the temple since 1685. At the end, beyond the second gate, the Hōzōmon, the courtyard of Sensō-ji opens up, with the five-storey pagoda on one side.

According to the temple's tradition, in 628 two fisherman brothers found a small statue of the bodhisattva Kannon in their net in the Sumida River: they took it back and built a small shrine for it, the origin of Sensō-ji. In the following centuries the neighbourhood grew as a pilgrims' town and as the main entertainment district of Edo. The Kaminarimon, first built in 941, burned in the last great fire of 1866 and was missing for almost a century: the current structure, in reinforced concrete, was dedicated in 1960 with funding from the founder of Panasonic, Konosuke Matsushita. The neighbourhood, damaged by the 1923 earthquake and by the bombing of 10 March 1945, was rebuilt both times.

ℹ️ Nakamise-dōri and the gates are public spaces, always open; the main hall of Sensō-ji opens from 6:00 to 17:00 (from 6:30 between October and March). The shops of Nakamise and of Kappabashi-dōri, the street of knives and kitchen equipment, keep daytime business hours. In May, during the three days of the Sanja Matsuri, the area around Sensō-ji gets crowded: over one and a half million people take part in the festival. Station: Tokyo Metro Ginza (Asakusa), Toei Asakusa, Tobu Skytree Line, Tsukuba Express.

🚉 Asakusa · 3 min walk

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · japan-guide.com · watabi.it · onedayawaytravel.com · asakusajinja.jp

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