Tuesday

I decided I would try to start off my day with a visit to the Kanda shrine in Akihabara. It is a Shinto shrine about a 20 minute walk from my accommodation and once again, was quite busy. I had planned to request a goshuin from this location but when I saw that it was a pre-written separate page goshuin I decided to move on and explore other places instead. I am not a huge fan of goshuin pages that have to be glued into my book unless they are special edition ones that take an extra long time for the priests/monks to prepare. So I decided I would circle back toward the end of my trip if I had room in my book.

I took a 25ish min stroll from here then toward the Ueno park area (stopping along the way for a snack) where I re-visited the Shinobazuno Pond – which is full of lotus plants. I have always ever visited during the time of year when they are in full bloom and there was something of a different kind of beauty to see them in the phase of life cycle when they are buried in the mud.

There is an island in the middle of the pond where the Shinobazunoike Bentendo temple is located. Here I stopped to purchase two pet health charms for Dante and Dmitri – they were blessed for pet health and traffic safety and designed to be worn on the collar. I also received my first goshuin of the day in my book and discovered that this was the 5th and final stop of a one-day walking pilgrimage of temples in the Ueno park area. I decided this would be my quest, although I would just do it in reverse since I had already started at the end.

My next stop was #4 – up the hill to the Kiyomizu Kannon-do Temple. Here they have trained a tree into this circular shape so that standing at the main entrance you can look down the hill and see the Shinobazunoike Bentendo temple down below in the middle of the pond.

This Temple is probably the biggest and most well-known temple in the park – it is also closest to the main train station as well. This was also the shortest walking distance between two temple spots that I encountered on this little quest.

Stop #3 consisted of collecting 2 goshuin from one location. This was the Ueno Daibutsu Shrine. The original temple was destroyed years ago by an earthquake. I believe the body was used for materials in the war but they were able to save the face and the very top of the temple spire and they just keep these two items on the top of a small hill in an open air temple space.

Stop #2 Was a tough one to find, and quite a distance away. The maps they had up around didn’t have very clear markers, were all in kanji, and not to scale – so I kept taking turns far earlier than they needed to be taken. The name of the temple is Kanei-ji Kaishan Hall – there are two separate halls and I ended up at the Kaishan Hall, although there is also the Rinnoden hall. I did not know about the Rinnoden hall until later and I just told myself it’s the intent that counts at the end of it.

This temple ground is dedicated to warding off plague so you can imagine that it has been very busy for the last few years.

The final #1 stop was a bit of a hike as I didn’t want to backtrack the way I had already gone and wanted to see new things – instead I walked behind the national museum. My map wanted me to walk through what looked like a school grounds which I didn’t feel comfortable doing so I took a longer loop around and eventually I ended up at the main Kaneiji Temple grounds and the Konponchu-do Temple where I completed my official pilgrimage. The monk flipped through my book to look at the stamps I had collected and congratulated me and placed an additional little paper talisman in my book for completion. I also sat in the temple for an extra 15 mins to just breathe for a bit at the end of the journey.

At this point I was ready for another snack, so I hopped on the metro and made my way back to Asakusa to get that melon pan that I wasn’t able to get the day before. I inhaled it with gusto too quickly to remember to try taking a photo, but it was super satisfying. Then I decided I would be brave and visit a brand new place, the Zozo-ji Buddhist Temple. It is also super close to Tokyo Tower which I have not visited before in all my other trips to Japan.

I arrived an hour before the evening service was scheduled to begin so I decided to visit the temple office for goshuin request and then wander the grounds for a while. I came back when I heard the pre-chanting begin and then sat to experience the service.

After this I walked up to the Tokyo tower. I was considering going up the tower today to see the city view at night. It would have been a very good evening for it since it was clear – I was also hungry and there were a lot of shops and places to eat inside of the tower. There is also a shrine at the top of the tower where I read I could get a goshuin – although a paste in the book kind of goshuin… but special edition for new years at least!

I decided I was too tired to take on a new series of tasks and instead headed back toward my hotel. I picked up an omurice to eat at my hotel and tanked out pretty early. Next update will have a brief summary of Wednesday since it was fairly uneventful, and then more detail on Thursday when I got to attend the Sumo Grand Championship Tournament!