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Trip to Asakusa: Temples and Shrines
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Though Kyoto is my favorite place for temples and shrines sight-seeing, one place that really caught my attention is Asakusa (浅草）, in Tokyo. Asakusa has Tokyo’s most beautiful, biggest, and oldest temples and shrines, and tons of festivals all year round too!
Here’s a torii that leads to Asakusa Shrine, one of the most famous Shinto shrines in Tokyo.
One of the coolest thing about sightseeing in Japan is that Shinto shrines and toriis are mixed with Buddhist Temples and Pagodas: The torii above is also the entrance to Sensouji (above), Tokyo’s oldest ancient Buddhist temple, founded on the year 628. The temple above doesn’t look that big but it’s actually huge — compare the size of the temple with the size of a pedestrian.
Lamp (chochin) closeup from the temple above. Not sure how big it is but I think it’s about 3 meters tall.
It was getting late and I expected the place to be a bit empty, but Asakusa was quite crowded. To my experience, I personally saw lots of Chinese-speaking tourists in Japan, which makes me feel like home!
Though as you can expect, Japanese locals make up for most of the tourists on these places. I find it great that so many Japanese people like to go out with friends or family to their temples and buy omiyage presents and all. I love people who love their own culture!
Picture is a bit blurry but there’s something important hidden behind this one. As you may or may not know, Japan’s infrastructure was heavily damaged on World War II by air raids, including hundreds of historical places, Asakusa being one of those. Most of the temples you’re seeing were actually rebuilt after the war. However, this gate in particular, 二天門 (Nitenmon), was one of the few lucky structures which are the actual real thing — impressive to know that something made of wood more than one thousand years ago still exists.
Take a look at the lantern’s size — it’s humongous! Miss my JFriends ^^;;
People praying. In case you didn’t know, most Japanese people are very open to religion, and so it’s okay for anyone to pray to their own favorite JDeity =) what’s your take on religion?
Close up of Sensouji Pagoda. As I said before, I love seeing the mixture of culture and religion in Japan. In Taiwan, I only got to see Buddhist temples. What you won’t find on every corner are catholic buildings like churchs, which are common in many countries including my own Costa Rica =)
Omiyage stores everywhere in Asakusa! Stuff around here are obviously more expensive that purchased in normal stores but you’ll get tons of cultural presents that you may not find elsewhere. The Maneki Neko I spotted around here is not the case though!
Snapped this picture of two cute Jgals around Asakusa. Or do you prefer the Cute Kyoto Girls?
Back home to Urawa, we caught one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen. Oh, the above is a common Japanese graveyard, as packed as it can get, like most big cities in Japan! Fortunately, most of Japanese and Asian folks are cremated — if not, space would be a grave problem. How about your own country?
Asakusa City is beautiful too, though I’ll save it for a future post. On the riverbank you can spot a few baseball fields and parks. Quite a big number of homeless live in this area which kinda impressed me.
And here it is — above is my favorite photograph from my Asakusa adventure. Summer was hot but it was all worth seeing this sunset, no wonder they call Japan the land of the Rising Sun!
There’s a Chinese saying, 「夕陽無限好、只是進黃昏」, means Enjoy the infinite beauty of the sunset, and bemoan the dusk coming ahead. It’s hard to explain, but also means that the most beautiful things in life only last for a few seconds. Which means we must make the most of them, no matter what :3
And is there a better way to enjoy the day than a bowl of good ラ～メン (ramen)?
Hope you enjoyed today’s article! Time to sort Miyajima’s album for my next article, which is one of the places I’ve enjoyed the most! If you like my content, subscribe to my RSS feed, ne? ヘ(^_^ヘ)(ノ^_^)ノ
(Thanks Osk for a couple of pictures that looked better than mine >.<)
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Comments for this article (11)
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Tasty~
Great photos and great introduction to Asakusa! I always tell people that I consider Asakusa to be the one “must see” sight in Tokyo, though I’m far from being a Tokyo expert.
Returning late in the evening when no people are around and while the temple structures are lit is another nice way to experience the area. The touristy shops are all boarded up, but that is not such a bad thing. :-)
I love Asakusa… The first time I went there I thought it was such a magical place. I don’t know why I felt such a peaceful atmosphere even though it was so crowded.. (it happened to be Asakusa’s Matsuri day, such a sweet coincidence for me hehe).
It’s so cool to see the contrast between the temple (which gives such an ancient feeling) and the city around :).
Cool pics hehe :D
I enjoyed your article! had the right photos. I was in Asakusa in 1998, a client who took me there treated me to a cool drink which as she explained was always given to her by her grandmother because the bottle had a small cristal ball like on the neck of the top…I am trying to remember the name of the drink…do you know about it? the small cristal ball moved and made noises while you drink , it is cool.
Asakusa is my favorite place in Tokyo, I’m looking for lodging there on every trip to Tokyo.
I like your article and photos!
Sup Hao. I think aslong as the photos are good having a lot is all good :)
My sister recently came to Japan and when I took her to Asakusa she made the same point that you did. There are so many Japanese people doing sightseeing in their own country :)
Oh yeah, if you go to Asakusa you have to eat the Agemanjyuu!!!!
*writing down in my “places-to-visit in Japan” list*
Very nice!
Nicely done! Your use of photos really adds to the story.
BTW, I’m not sure what kind of camera you were using but you might do well to check out a lens hood if they’re available. It can cut out some of the light that tends to seep in from off-frame, especially when shooting midday or in the general direction of the sun.
When visiting the sites in Asakusa, hunt around a bit for the restaurants. There are a couple of *really good* unagi places in the area.
Thanks everyone =)!
Didn’t expect to see so many Asakusa fans around here!
As for the food, you guys are gonna kill me but I think I didn’t eat anything in Asakusa!
Michael: And I love unagi T_T
Thanks for the tip about the camera too, as you say many of my picture are over exposed to light, but I still love them. Used a point and shoot camera for these pictures — one of my priorities is to upgrade my equipment :)
Muza-chan: Great to know you’re an Asakusa fan too — your Senso-ji pictures are simply amazing!
Prometheus: If you haven’t gone to Asakusa it’s a great place, glad you liked the pictures!
Savage Japan: I’m actually a Tokyo newbie, but this place is definitely a must see. Unfortunately, we had to return before our last train most of the time, so we couldn’t do much sightseeing at night :(
Gorgeous photos as always :)
I think the number of them is perfect – maybe 2-3 more would be good too.
Definitely the Kyoto girls ;)
Absolutely love reading your captions/descriptions ^_^
Really cool blog, thanks for posting all this!