Tenso Jinja Shrine/ Komagome, Bunkyo ward

It's November already, but not getting so cold here in Tokyo.
I think, in an average year, this weekend would be the best days for enjoying yellow colored ginkgo trees, actually the Ginkgo Festival was held in Jingu-Gaien today. But, at least in my neighborhood, gingko leaves have not turned bright yellow yet.


Komagome Tenso Jinja Shrine. According to the sign board, this shrine was established in 820 years ago,,, really?



There are some big ginkgo trees in the shrine yard. It's slightly colored yellowish green. I'll visit here next weekend to get the bright yellow ginkgo leaves.

Azalea / Nezu shrine

Azalea festival is held at Nezu shrine.

These photos were taken on 24th April. I guess they are full bloomed now.

This shrine has 3000 trees of Azelea. So gorgeous! Don't miss them.


The azalea festival will be held until the last day of the Golden week.

Regading the history of this shrine, please refer to the previous posting (click!).

For a long while, we hadn't walk such a long distanse. It became two and a half hours walking. Lee looked tired a bit... Me, too.

The closest station of this shrine is Nezu or Sendagi of Tokyo Metro Chiyoda-line. It takes about 5 minutes from these Metro stations on foot.

The other Nezu shrine postings:
The celebration of 300 aniversary (Sep. 2006)
Fallen leaves (Dec. 2006)
Azalea (May. 2007)
Ume (Feb. 2009)

Goblins at work / Kishibojin @Zoshigaya, Toshima ward

Kishibojin. My favorite place.

I love this cozy temple and have often visited here with Lee, but I realized that I had overlooked an interesiting creature in this temple until today.

Can you see that?

Here it is!

Goblin has received the weight of the roof.
Other goblins are on the both side and also have held up the roof.

Right side,

... and left side.

The name of these goblins is Amanojaku. They are not so outrageous bad creature, but they try to do anything that is against the rule intentionally anytime. So, Buddha commanded them to hold the temple roof as punishment.
There are many goblins in the Buddhism art work. You can see them holding up big heavy incense burner, trampled dowm by the guardian statues.... poor Amanojaku!

The antique market is opened here on the 4th Sunday of each month.

Owners were preparing for open stalls.

Wow, Otis Redding's "(Sittin' on) the dock of the bay"!

Assumedly, this might be the first press in Japan. I forgot to ask the price of the disc. Interestingly, the title was written on the cover as "Dock ov bay" in Japanese characters. The disc on the right is Mary Hopkin's "Those were the days". You can see the Apple record's logo in the cover. Please click on the picture to enlarge.

"No dog toys?"

The biggest event of this temple "Oeshiki" is coming soon (16-18th Oct.).

Regarding the Oeshiki, please visit my previous posting(1, 2).

Other Kishibojin postings are here(1, 2).

"Let's get back home through the Homeiji temple yard."

Meaka Fudo, Nankoku-ji temple / Hon-Komagome, Bunkyo ward

Perhaps, the place names "Meguro" and "Mejiro" are well known to the people who live or had lived in Tokyo area. And if you have some knowledge of Japanese, you would know that the terms "Meguro" and "Mejiro" are consisted of "Me(eye) + kuro(black)" and "Me(eye) + siro(white)" respectively. And you might know there is Meguro(black-eyed) Fudo Buddha statue in Meguro and also Mejiro(white-eyed) Fudo Buddha statue is in Mejiro.

Interestingly, there are three other colors (red, yellow and blue) eyed Fudo statue in Tokyo. Lee and I visited "red" one today.

Meaka (red-eyed) Fudo.

Fudo (Fudo-myo-oh) is one of Buddha. It is recognized as "immovable guardian". They say his angry face means his posture to the sin in the world.

There was the Meaka Fudo statue in this small temple. Inside the temple was dark and I couldn't confirm the color of eyes of the statue.

Other color eyed Fudo are Megi(yellow-eyed) and Meao(blue-eyed). They are located in Taito ward and Stagaya ward respectively. Someday, I would like to visit them.

Meaka Fudo is enshrined in the Nankoku-ji temple.

The closest station of the temple is Hon-Komagome (Tokyo metro, Nmboku-line).

Have a short break at Mac after walking!

Ume and Komagome Ogannon / Kogenji-temple, Bunkyo-ward

Let me introduce some last month’s photos.

There are a lot of old temples around Yanaka-Sendagi-Nezu area (YANESEN area). I found Ume flowers were blooming in the yard of Kogenji-temple in mid-Feburuary.

Kougenji-temple was opened in Kanda area in the end of 16 centuries, then moved to YANESEN area in 1648. This temple has been famous for the big statue of “Ju-ichi men Kan-non (goddess of Kan-non with 11 faces)”, which was made in 1697. This Kan-non statue was called “Komagome Ogannon”, and became one of the sightseeing spot of Tokyo. Below is the picture of the statue appeared in the guidebook “Edo meisho zue” published in Edo-era.

Unfortunately, that statue was burned out in the fire of the Tokyo Air Raids 1945. In 1993, they rebuild the statue.

I heard that the Hozuki festival would be held at the yard in July. I’d like to visit there at that festival and post the photos on this blog.

The closest station is Hon-Komagome of the Nanboku-line (Tokyo Metro). It takes about 5min on foot.

--revised on March 9th.--
Speaking of the Tokyo Air Raids, tomorrow, March 10th is the 64th anniversary of the Great Tokyo Air Raids. The serial bombing burned out not only the historical things like Komagome Ogannon, but also tremendous numbers of Tokyo citizens. Tonight, I would like to pray for the victims of the raids and for all victims of all of the war and the terrorism which occurred /have been occurring all over the world.
Peace for all of the people who live in the earth.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Ume (P.mume) in Nezu shrine

Please forgive my long absence. Zee, I can't believe that we are already in the month of March!
It has been getting warm here in Tokyo, and Ume flowers are in full bloom now.
Two weeks ago, Lee and I went to the Nezu shrine. The main building (Haiden) and the big gate (Roumon) have been under the restoration, so most of the architectures are covered with white vinyl sheet, but the Ume flowers are welcoming the visitors with sweet smell.


Turtles did sunbathing.


According to the official site of the Nezu shrine, the restoration will be finished this September.



Please visit the previouse post of the Nezu shrine:
Mar. 2007 (Azalea)
Dec. 2006 (Fallen leaves)
Sep. 2006 (Maturi) ...you can find a Shige's photo here