Sugamo Walking / Tokyo SC, Roku Jizou

I always get up late on weekends normally, however, now in the summer, I have to get up early like weekdays because Lee can not walk outside in the daytime. Currently air temperature has been raised around 30-35 degrees C, and the road surface become hotter than that. It is too hot to walk with his bare feet, and also might be a cause of the heat stroke.
Of cause I like early morning walk. That is fun. There is no exhaust gas and no crowd. Let me introduce the scenes which were taken during our recent walking.

Tokyo Swimming Center (Tokyo SC)

One of the oldest swimming school in Tokyo. This is the home ground (home pool?) of Kosuke Kitajima; the Gold Medalist of 100m and 200m breaststroke in Athen(2004) and Beijing(this week!) Olympic games. Kitajima started swimming here when he was just 5 years old, and even now, he belongs to this SC.

This picture was taken just before the Beijing Olympic. There are the messages for the Olympic swimmers here on the window.

It says "Go in and win! / Kosuke Kitajima / Reiko Nakamura / Haruka Ueda / 2008 Beijing Olympic Game".

And this is the current picture.

“Congratulations! / Reiko Nakamura _ 100m back _ Bronze Medal _ Japan record./ Kosuke Kitajima _ 100m and 200m breast _ Gold Medals, two consecutive win _ World record of 100m breast: 58.91sec.”

Tokyo SC is located in the north east side of the JR Sugamo station. It takes about 10min on foot. Go and see the lesson If you want your kids to become Olympic swimmers!

Rokujizou / Shinsho-ji temple

Go out the JR Sugamo station, cross the multilane roadway(Hakusan-dori), and turn to the right. Walk through the pavement several minutes, then, you will see a big Jizou statue on your left side.

Jizou is a kind of buddha. I explained about it simplistically in the previous post, so please check here for further infomation.

In Tokyo area, there are famous six big Jizou statues, and they are called “Edo Roku Jizou”. And this is the 3rd one of these six(roku) Jizou. They are in Shinagawa(#1), Asakusa(#2), Sugamo(#3), Shinjuku(#4), Fukagawa(#5) and Ueno(#6).

According to the guideboard, this statue was built in the year 1714.
Actually, Sugamo is famous nationwide for "Togenuki-jizou". So, sometime people who watch this statue are confused this statue with togeniki-jizou. Togenuki-jizou and this roku-jizou are different Jizou in different temple.

Urgent Information!!
I was surprised when I walked by the Sugamo Roku Jizou this morning, because there were no Jizou statue. Actually, he was here when I saw him in the end of July. Where has he gone?!

The sign board said:

“The Jizou statue was built 294 years ago and there are some corrosion damage in his body now. He needs some fixing. So Jizou has gone to Kyoto for repair since August 2008 until May 2010.”

A new miniature sized Jizou was there on behalf of him.

Kaiseki cuisine @Sugamo Tamura

I'd like to say very sorry I haven't posted for a long time..... if there are any kind guys who look forward to reading my new article. You do? Wow, I appreciate it!

Actually, I've been suffered from my PC trouble since this July. My PC does shutdown & reboot automatically every 20 minutes. It could be a fatal damage for a slow hand-writer like me, and this is why I haven't renewed this blog for 3 months long. I think it may be a sign of the time for the PC replacement. Good grief... Anyway, the times they are a changing, regardless of the PC trouble. The hot and muggy summer has gone. It's time for new posting. I don't give a damn about rebooting!

Today I'll introduce the autumn flavors what we enjoyed last month. We had a gorgeous(!) Kaiseki lunch in Ryoutei, Japanese traditional restaurant.

Kaiseki Ryori (Kaiseki cuisine) is a kind of Japanese most authentic and traditional full course cuisine. The base-line of Kaiseki is soup+sashimi+grilled fish+simmerd vegetable. Adding to that, meat, seasonal ingridients and some deserts are lined up by the artistic sense of the cook. You can enjoy that delicate flavors, textures, taste and appearance.

The theme of that day was "early autumn".

1st dishes

From the upper left to bottom right, Kurumi Dohfu(walnut-Tofu), Tamagoyaki(Japanese style omelet)+ beans with sweetened miso-paste, Prawn-sushi + Canard viande, Gindara Saikyouyaki(grilled sablefish with miso flavor), Terrine + eschalot.

2nd dish

Clear soup with mashroom.

3rd dish

Sashimi; very fatty tuna.

4th dish

Tempra; Kisu(Sillago), Shishitou(green chilli pepper), Shiitake, Shimeji, Sweet potato, etc.

5th dish

Simmered vegetables. The texture and flavor was so delicate.

It was in a cute bowl.

Closing

Miso soup and rice with otsukemono(pickles).

Basically, they serve plain white rice for closing, but Sekihan(red rice) was served at that time.

Usually, Sekihan is served as a congratulant meal.

Desert

Did you enjoy the lunch?

Sugamo Tamura; the Ryoutei where we enjoyed the Kaiseki lunch.

(from Tamura's website; http://www.sugamotamura.co.jp/)

I think its a very good Ryoutei where you can enjoy authentic Japanese cuisine with comparatively reasonable prices.

Tamura is located next to the Shinsho-ji temple. Around 5 minutes from JR Sugamo station.

Tori-no-Ichi / Sugamo Otori shrine

Hi! it's Lee.
Last Saturday, Sis, Mom, Shige and me went to the Tori-no-Ichi of Sugamo Otori shrine. I enjoyed looong-awaited night walking with my whole family! Yeah! (The black dog in the night. Can you see me?)

It was a "Ichi no Tori" the first day of Tori-no-Ichi, so we had expected it would not be so crowded. However, against the odds, Sugamo shrine and the approach were packed with visitors.

Sis returned the old Kumade that mom had purchased last year. These Kumades will be burned up with the invocation by the shrine priest.


This is the most reasonable Kumade in the Tori-no-Ichi, costs just 1,000yen!
You want to get a bigger one? Did you prepare a wad of bills?

Mom were holding me because the shrine yard and approach was very crowded.
"Hi, daddy-o! How's business? "

There were many food stall along the approach. Sis tried "age-mochi" deep fried rice cake with bonito broth.
"Mmm, looks yummy. Can I have a bite?"

"Ni no Tori","San no Tori"the 2nd and 3rd day of Tori-no-Ichi wil be held on 16th and 28th November.
Regarding the Tori-no-Ichi imformation, please have a look the site bellow.
Asakusa Torinoichi official site.
Shige's posting of Sugamo Torinoichi 2005 (part1, 2&3).

The Tori-no-Ichi is coming! (4th, 16th and 28th November)

This year's Tori-no-Ichi (the Cock fair) will be held at the Ohtori shrine across Japan on 4th, 16th and 28th November. (Please refer to the last year's posting for the detailed commentary of the Tori-no-Ichi part1, 2&3)>
This year's 1st day of Tori-no-ichi is settled on Saturday, so I'll visit the Otori shiline of Sugamo with Lee and Kana, then will post some photos.

In Tokyo, Tori-no-Ichi of Hanazono shrine (Shinjuku) or Chokokuji (Asakusa) are splendid. If you have a chance to get to Shinjuku or Asakusa on Saturday, don't miss it!

Have a good weekend.

Sugamo Ohtori shrine / Tori-no-Ichi (the Cock fair) - part 3

1st photo: Praying for prosperity.



2nd & 3rd photos: It's about 11pm, but bargaining has been continued.

Sugamo Ohtori shrine / Tori-no-Ichi (the Cock fair) - part 2

On November 21st 2005, Shige visited Tori-no-Ichi at Sugamo Oh-tori shrine. He couldn't had left his office until 10pm, so he'd thought it's too late to visit there, because most of shrine festivals would be closed around 10PM.

He reached there at 10:30PM and was surprised that there were lots of people around the shrine. There were many stalls selling snacks and many people who had bought "Kumade" walked along the street. In the shrine precinct, "Kumade" sellers was raising there voices, and people were looking around for good "Kumade" and try to haggle with "Kumade" seller. It was lively and filled with joyous mood.

Three hours before Shige visited there, around 7pm, Shige's wife and daughter had visited there, but they said they felt some sense of danger because there were so many people. They couldn't walk appropriate direction and couldn't even enter the shrine. They just bought a small "kumade" at a stall on the gateway and back home.

Why don't you come "Tori-no-Ichi"? You can enjoy it till midnight.

Sugamo Ohtori shrine / Tori-no-Ichi (the Cock fair) - part 1

Sugamo Oh-tori shrine is located near the Shige's condo, it takes about 10 minutes on foot. It's very small shrine and I've seldom seen the people visiting there. But Kazu, Shige's friend, taught me this shrine was famous for "Tori-no-Ichi".

There are many Oh-tori of shrines in Japan. It enshrine Oh-tori(Phoenix).
In 4th century, Japanese hero "Yamato Takeru" tried to beat northern tribes and got win after the fierce battles. At the beginning of the war, he had prayed their victory at Oh-tori shrine. After the war he visited the shrine again. He thanked god their victory and dedicated a weapon "Kumade" to the shrine. "Kumade" is a kind of rake used for sweeping the ground, but originally it was a weapon. The day of Yamato Takeru's visiting became a festival day of Oh-tori shrine. It was named "Tori-no-Ichi(the Cock fair)".

"Tori" means birds but this sound of Japanese also means "take", "get" or "earn". From that sound, people of Edo era (around 16-17th century) thought "Tori-no-Ichi" could be the festival for "getting" wealth, happiness or luck. Then it became a festival for ordinary people who lived in urban area like merchants, carpenters and others, and "Kumade" became a symbol of "raking" wealth and luck.

The "Tori-no-Ichi" of this year(2005) are 9th and 21st November. A lot of "Kumade" manufacturer will open the stores in the precincts of the shrine, and a lot of people will gather to buy decorated "Kumade".
If you are living in Tokyo area, I recommend you to visit the "Tori-no-Ichi" of the Hanazono shrine of Shinjuku or the Asakusa Oh-tori shrine. I bet you'll be surprised their atmosphere of excitement.
Do you want to go there, Lee?
No way! I don't want to be stomped on. I'll go to the Sugamo Oh-tori shrine.

Togenuki-Zizou (Kougan-Ji Temple) / Sugamo Toshima-ward

Sunday morning, Shige and Lee went for a walk to Sugamo, the northwestern area of Tokyo. It takes about 20 minutes on foot from Shige's condo. Sugamo is very famous for "Togenuki-Zizou"(Kougan-Ji temple(photo Upper)) and this area has been called "Granny's Harajuku" because lots of grannies are coming shoping and walking around there every weekend.

"Zizou" is one of the most popular Buddha, who has been believed to protect people's life. Togenuki-Zizou" here is said that it can heal/cure the human diseases. Actually, the statue of “Togenuki-Zizou” is kept inside the Temple and we can’t see that. Instead of that, there is a Buddha statue outside the temple building(photo Center). That Buddha statue is called “Arai Kan-non” (Washing Kan-non) and that is believed to cure the human diseases, too (Kan-non is also one of the Buddha believed to save peopele). People who suffered from knee dysfunction wash the statue's knee. People who suffered from back-pain wash the statue's lumbar, like that. In earlier days, the statue was washed with brush, but recently it is washed with towel because of abrasion.

There were some grannies there although it was early, before 7AM. They were washing the statue with towel(photo Lower) . We weren't brave enough to join the grannies, but I think I should have joined and washed the head of the statue.