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Destinations... Japan Travel Guide The Yamasa Institute |
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Destinations... Japan Travel Guide The Yamasa Institute |
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Edited by: Declan Murphy Recommended: Suggested Itineraries Favorite Tokyo moments... Best ways to get there Tokyo Photogallery Newsgroups: fj.rec.travel.japan, Alt-FAQ Bulletin Boards: Fun/Clubs/Nightlife  Accommodation/Discounts
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The symbol of Asakusa with its huge red paper lantern is the Kaminari-mon. This lantern is a reproduction from the famous ukiyoe painting by Hiroshige Ando, and it hangs from this gate facing Asakusa-dori. Kaminari-mon, literally "Thunder Gate" is named after the gods of Thunder and Wind (Raijin and Fujin). It is these two gods who are represented by the statues stand guard inside the pillars of Kaminari-mon. Through the gate is Nakamise Dori, the walkway leading to Sensoji Temple. Nakamise Dori is full of tiny stall-like shops selling traditional Japanese crafts. Like the rest of the area, this is one of the best places in Tokyo to shop for souvenirs.
Beyond the usual tourist fare, Asakusa also has areas and shops dedicated to specialized categories of goods. One of the most fascinating of these is Kappabashi-dugo-gai, or "Kitchenware Town", where enough utensils, tableware and even plastic food displays to stock a restaurant can be purchased or ordered. Nearby Inari-cho has many businesses offering Buddhist altar articles and stores like the Miyamoto Unosuke Shoten, across from the Rox department store, have more eclectic specialties, in this case, Japanese percussion instruments and festival equipment. Rox department store also has a Drum Museum where, for 300 yen, visitors can survey a wide range of international percussion instruments and even try playing on some of them.
During the Edo period, when the city gradually transformed from a fishing village into the world's largest city, Asakusa developed into a pleasure quarter, eventually becoming a center for kabuki and bunraku theater when those forms of entertainment were banned from being performed in central Edo during the 1840's. When Japan was re-opened to the West during the "Meiji Restoration", it was in Asakusa that the first cinemas opened, music halls were built and, in the Teikoku Gekijo Theater (Imperial Theater), that Western opera was first performed before Japanese audiences. The area also was known for a long period since the 1650's as a home to brothels, and it was also where cabaret and the striptease was introduced to Japan. There is even the old-fashioned Hanayashiki Amusement Park, west of Sensoji, which includes a haunted house, a carousel, and a roller coaster that runs very close to the local private residences. The Stars' Plaza in Asakusa Public Hall follows the district's entertainment-serving history with its Hollywood-style display of hand prints and autographs of modern celebrities engraved on the ground at the entrance. Asakusa was the place to be and be seen. Famous entertainers such as Enomoto Kenichi (Enoken - Japan's "Charlie Chaplin") worked the stage, the screen and the bars, and not necessarily in that order.
The bright lights of Asakusa went out in 1945. The massive firebombings just before the end of World War II saw Asakusa lose many of its characteristic entertainment enterprises to other less damaged districts in the city. Sensoji Temple was rebuilt and scores of stores, restaurants, and other businesses re-emerged to greet the thousands of visitors who regularly visit the area. While never quite to the pre-war level, entertainment did return. Rakugo and mantan, a traditional form of comedy show and satire, is a popular nightly entertainment attraction. Kitano "Beat" Takeshi, now a famous filmmaker (when abroad) and television personality and game show host (when in Japan), first made his debut as a comedian at the Asakusa Entertainment Hall.
Today, in addition to those wishing to pray at Sensoji, the area hosts numerous events throughout the year that flood the already busy streets with visitors from the rest of Tokyo and beyond. The Sanja Matsuri, held on the third weekend in May, is chief among them. This is the largest of the big three annual festivals of Tokyo. The Sanja Matsuri features omikoshi, or portable shrines. On one day, over a hundred omikoshi, each weighing about a tonne and handled by about seventy people, are paraded throughout the streets of the neighbourhood. On another, a procession of three omikoshi (portable shrines) are brought out from the main building to be sent around in different directions of the area from the morning to late afternoon. Sensoji is also extremely busy at New Year's when millions of residents, in and out of Tokyo, converge on the temple to make their first prayers in the Oshougatsu rituals.
It is not all tradition and religion in Asakusa. The area hosts an annual Samba carnival at the end of August and the banks of the nearby Sumida River is the center for the Fireworks Festival held on the last Saturday in July where 20,000 pieces are set off near the Komagata and Kototoi bridges. The Tokyo Historic Pageant, held annually on November 3, features historical costumes from the seventeenth through twentieth centuries. Worth a look if you are in town at the time.
Sensoji Temple
This temple was completed in the year 645 to enshrine a tiny 7.5 centimeter golden statue of the Kannon, the Buddhist
goddess of mercy and happiness, who is believed to have the aility to release humans from all suffering.
According to legend, the
statue was pulled out of the nets of the Hirokuma brothers, Hamanari and Takenari, who were fishing in the nearby
Sumida River in 628. The present temple, also known as the Asakusa Kannon, is a concrete based
reconstruction funded by the Japanese people after the original burned down during the bombing raids at the close of World
War II.
Most of the buildings on the site were also rebuilt after being destroyed during the war, the notable exception being Niten-mon, the East Gate, which was built in 1618 and designated a national cultural property. The gate's plain wooden pillars are all that remains of the Toshogu shrine honouring Tokugawa Ieyasu, which was relocated to Ueno in 1651 after a series of fires. Niten-mon has since been rededicated and now houses two seventeenth-century Buddhist guardians of the south and east. The road heading east leads to the narrow riverside park, Sumida-koen. The river here provides the stage for one of the great summer firework displays ( hanabi taikai ) held on the last Saturday of July.
The statue of the Kannon is considered too sacred to be shown to the public. Even so crowds regularly flock to the temple to pray, especially at New Year's for first prayers. In addition to the presence of the Kannon, the Tokugawa Shogunate government designated Sensoji as a prayer hall during the Edo period, further encouraging frequent visits to the temple by the common peope. As well as worship, there is fun. Visitors often buy an Omikuji. You shake the Omikuji container and then pull out a small numbered bamboo stick from the container, exchanging the stick for the Omikuji fortune corresponding to the number written on the stick. You will see these paper fortunes tied to racks, ropes, even branches.
Nakamise Dori
Between Kaminari-mon and the Hozo-mon gate closer to the temple is this shopping arcade with souvenir shops, traditional
crafts, Japanese snack foods, and every other manner of street-side store or stall imaginable for an attraction of this
scale. There are about 150 businesses lined up along this 300 meter path to Sensoji
which began to develop as a market in the 17th century.
Asakusa Jinja Shrine
Tucked away in the northeastern corner of the temple grounds is this shrine dedicated to the two Hirokuma brothers, who had
found the Kannon statue for which Sensoji was built, and Hajinoatai Nakatomo, their lord
who initially enshrined the statue in his private residence. The origins of the Sanja Matsuri are rooted with the Sanja-sama,
the Shrine of the Three Guardians, by which this place is also known.
The shrine was founded in 1649 by Tokugawa Iemitsu,
the third Tokugawa shogun.
Sumida Park
This park, along the banks of the Sumida River where the sacred Kannon was found, was opened as a restoration project after
the Great Earthquake of 1923. Regular boat cruises ferry passengers between Asakusa and the Hama Rikyu Garden in Shimbashi
making it a popular connection between the two tourist sites. The cruise takes about forty minutes from the dock under
Azuma Bridge to Asakusa, passing under twelve bridges along the way. Sumida Park is also the center of Tokyo's biggest
annual fireworks display held on the last Saturday in July.
Tours - The Japan Discovery Tours visits Asakusa
Click here for more information regarding when Discovery visits this destination.
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Opening hours, prices, booking procedures, schedules etc are subject to changes beyond our control. This site is just a guide, and we advise that you always check and confirm in advance. Suggestions, additions and correction of errors are always welcome. Please contact us.
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