Tour of Japanese shrines and temples

Hatomori Hachiman Shrine [Tokyo]

ktanaka — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 02:47:25 +0000

【Hatomori Hachiman Shrine summary】 Hatomori Hachiman Shrine was built in 860. According to the legend, in the old days, Zui-un (auspicious clouds) often appeared in the woods here, and when the villagers entered the woods, they saw many white pigeons flying off to the west, so they built a shrine and enshrined it as Hatomori. ...

Shinjuku Gyoen [Tokyo]

ktanaka — Sat, 14 Dec 2024 00:47:50 +0000

【Shinjuku Gyoen summary】 Shinjuku Gyoen is the former residence of the Naito family, the feudal lord of Takato in Shinshu, and was used as an imperial estate and farm in the early Meiji period. The vast land was developed into a Japanese garden and a formal garden in 1906 and named “Shinjuku Gyoen”. In spring, ...

Heirin-ji Temple [Saitama]

ktanaka — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 09:14:33 +0000

【Heirin-ji Temple summary】 Heirin-ji Temple is officially called Kinpozan Heirin-ji Temple. It was founded in 1375 (Eiwa 1), about 650 years ago during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, in Saitama-gun, Musashi-no-kuni (Saitama County), present-day Iwatsuki Ward, Saitama City. In 1663, the shrine was relocated from Iwatsuki to Nokidome, Niiza City. Admission is 500 yen for ...

Mejiro Garden [Tokyo]

ktanaka — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 10:09:50 +0000

【Mejiro Garden summary】 Mejiro Teien (Mejiro Garden) is an authentic Japanese garden with a site area of 2,843 m2 and a pond in the center of which it takes about five minutes to walk around. It is a municipal park in Toshima Ward and was established in November 1990 as a place to nurture nature ...

Togo Shrine [Tokyo]

ktanaka — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 07:48:04 +0000

【Togo Shrine summary】 Togo Shrine was built in 1940. The shrine is dedicated to Admiral Heihachiro Togo, a Meiji-era naval general and Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet. After Togo Heihachiro’s death in 1934, there were many requests from all over Japan for a shrine to honor him, and the shrine was built at the current ...

Kuroyama’s Three Waterfalls [Saitama]

ktanaka — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 07:39:35 +0000

【Kuroyama’s Three Waterfalls summary】 Kuroyama Santaki Falls is the collective name for three waterfalls and a sightseeing spot in the Kuroyama Prefectural Natural Park in Koshi-cho, Saitama Prefecture. It was opened as a center of the mountain religion Shugendo during the Muromachi period (1398-1573), and it seems that Eien, a Shugendo practitioner, established the Shugendo ...

Tokyo St. Mary’s Cathedral [Tokyo]

ktanaka — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 07:18:20 +0000

【Tokyo St. Mary’s Cathedral summary】 The St. Mary’s Cathedral was designed by architect Kenzo Tange and built in 1964. When the Pope visited Japan in 2019, a mass was held in this church. The funeral of Kenzo Tange, the designer of the building, was also held here. When viewed from below, it is said to ...

Higo Hosokawa Garden [Tokyo]

ktanaka — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 06:57:37 +0000

【Higo Hosokawa Garden summary】 Higo Hosokawa Teien became the residence of the Hatamoto (vassals directly under the Tokugawa clan) in the mid-Edo period, and then the residence of the Shimizu and Hitotsubashi families in the late Edo period. At the end of the Edo period, it became the residence of the Marquis Hosokawa of Kumamoto ...

Gokoku-ji Temple [Tokyo]

ktanaka — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 06:28:46 +0000

【Gokoku-ji Temple summary】 Gokoku-ji Temple is the head temple of the Toyoyama School of Shingon Buddhism. *The head temple is Hase-ji Temple in Nara Prefecture. It was built in 1681 by Tsunayoshi Tokugawa, the fifth shogun, for his mother, Keishoin. Therefore, it was a temple for the Tokugawa Shogunate until the Meiji Restoration. After the ...

Suitengu [Tokyo]

ktanaka — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 04:05:22 +0000

【Suitengu summary】 Suitengu was originally built in 1818 by Yorinori Arima (1797 – 1844), lord of the Kurume domain, who invited Kurume Suitengu to his domain residence in Mita-Akabane. The common people of Edo at that time wanted to worship at the Suitengu located in the mansion, so the shrine was opened to them, and ...