Here are some of the photos from the temples we’ve seen.

The Meji Shrine is a Shinto shrine:

It is in a park setting surrounded by trees. It is hard to believe it is in the middle of Tokyo.

And the Asakusa temple compound is Buddist:

This shrine compound is very large. It has a five story pagoda.

The amazing thing is that this is right in the middle of the Asukasa neighborhood. This is one of the few old parts of the city that are preserved. The market runs right up to the gates of the temple compound.

The story is that two fishermen dragged a statue of the godess of compassion out of the river sometime in the 600’s AD. The temple was built around it. Noone is allowed to see the statue, so the story goes that you do not know if it is really there, you just have to trust that it is. Interesting to think about practicing faith in such a way that you have to learn to trust in compassion.

The interior of the temple.

What do you think?
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Categories:   Travel.
Posted:   Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 at 6:11 pm