Asakusa

Asakusa is another of the more important temples (and shrines) in Tokyo. If it's a Buddhist place of worship, it's usually referred to as a temple; Shinto buildings are called shrines. Asakusa contains both, Sensō-ji (a Buddhist temple) and Asakusa jinja (a Shinto shrine).

But it all starts with a famous gate, called Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate).

It houses a giant traditional paper lantern, almost 4 meters high, 3.3 meters wide and weighing 700 kg (supplied by Panasonic, then known as Matsushita Electric). I was on a guided tour and the host told me it does not glow (maybe it just needs a female lantern to get turned on :-).

The guided tours are twice a day on weekends, at 11.00 10.30 (as of 2018) and 13.15. They're provided by volunteers, and as such are free of charge, just like the entry to the grounds. The meeting point is at the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Centre, right across the street from the gate. The centre itself is very pleasant to spend some time in, with lots of information and a gift shop to browse through.

But back to the temple.

The gate is a home to God of Thunder and God of Wind. However, it sucks to take pictures of them, not only because of throngs of people milling through, but also because of wire mesh place before them.

That's why I have no pictures of them.

It's a little bit better from the back, meaning (crowds not counting in billions, just millions :-). There are different divine beings though:

A certain Tenryu...

...and his soulmate Kinryu.

God Tenryu is, as matcha-jp.com writes, a Heavenly Dragon, whereas Goddess Kinryu translates to Golden Dragon. They are on the other side of the blokes Fūjin and Raijin, who lend the gate it official name: Fūjin Raijinmon - The Gate of the Gods of Wind and Thunder. Kinryu, in turn, bestowed his name on Sensō-ji, officially known as Kinryuzan, which means The Mountain of the Golden Dragon. Incredibly interesting so far, right?

The gate leads to Nakamise-dōri, the most crowded shopping street I have ever seen, even though the prices are steep. I guess the rent must be sky-high, considering the attractiveness of the place, which also keeps it free for regular tourists.

It is a genuine Japanese shopping mall, one is tempted to say copy from a tourist leaflet description

After you squeeze through throngs of shoppers (it takes some time even though the distance is short), you pass the Hōzōmon gate (Hōzō means Treasure house and mon stands for gate) and on your left you'll see a quite high 5-story pagoda:

You can't go inside (far as I know it's only for registered believers, whose ancestors' remains are placed there for veneration), but it does make for quite a nice sight from outside.

Or from above!

Then you pass all sorts of fortune-telling contraptions and other good-luck-related shticks (literally!) and on to a purification spring, along with an incense burner place, situated in a large cauldron. Scores of people blow the smoke on themselves, as it's supposed to heal an afflicted part of your body or bring good health in general.

Then you'll finally get to see the magnificent temple:

To the right of it is the smaller Shinto shrine, with typical Japanese torii - gate:

To get to Asakusa grounds, you can get off at Asakusa station (D'oh! Obvious). It is served by Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, TOEI Asakusa Line and it's one of the Tokyo termini of the whole Tōbu system.

Some more bits and pieces of history can be found here and here.

Bye-bye.