Smoke gets in your eyes. You can’t help it. The smoke is everywhere.
Only this isn’t ordinary smoke but something more sacred. Beyond the majestic gates and giant lanterns, it’s these clouds of incense enveloping us – the two of us in a sea of human bodies, devotees and tourists alike – that will be what we remember about Senso-ji long after we leave the temple.
We have come here to offer our devotions. The Buddhist temple in the heart of Asakusa is emblematic of Tokyo for so many of us. A day spent here feels like a stroll into the capital’s past but also an exploration, a walking meditation.
If being surrounded by hundreds of other people can be a meditative practice, that is. The smoke helps.
Also known as Asakusa Kannon Temple, Senso-ji was built in 645 A.D. and is Tokyo’s oldest temple. Legend has it that there were once two brothers. Passing by the river Sumida one day, they found a statue of Kannon, the Japanese-Buddhist goddess of mercy. The brothers would return the statue to the river, yet the statue always found a way back to them. Back then, this was as good a reason as any to build a temple for a goddess.
And so we approach the temple with a deep reverence. We first enter through the Kaminarimon, the Thunder Gate. Not only the temple’s outer gate but the symbol of Asakusa and the city of Tokyo.
We pass through thunder, we walk beneath the giant red lantern hanging above our heads. Are we expecting monks in robes to greet us? Or bells tolling, the hum of prayers, the silence of mindful worshippers?
Whatever we expect, what we get is a funnel of retail therapy. What we get is Nakamise-dori, a shopping street spanning over 200 metres. Despite its obvious tourist trappings – standard souvenirs such as colourful yukata made from cotton and silk, sensu folding fans emblazoned with cranes and dragons, omamori charms that promise good fortune – Nakamise-dori has, in fact, a redoubtable history of several centuries.
Appearances can be deceiving.
There are also many stalls along Nakamise-dori offering Japanese snacks such as osenbei (rice crackers), age-manju (deep-fried dumplings filled with red bean paste) and imo-kin (sweet potato cakes). We needn’t ever worry about going hungry at Senso-ji.
Nakamise-dori takes us to the temple’s inner gate. Hozomon the Treasure-House Gate. Arrive early enough in the morning, before the hordes appear, and there is an unparalleled view of the main temple from the Kaminarimon through the length of Nakamise-dori to the Hozomon. It’s quite splendid.
Beyond the Hozomon is Senso-ji’s Main Hall, dedicated to Kannon. The Five-storied Pagoda, stretching towards the sky. The Asakusa Shrine, built in the year 1649 by Tokugawa Iemitsu, where the temple’s three founders are enshrined. The temizuya water ablution pavilion to purify ourselves before approaching the main hall.
So much to see, so much to take in.
All the more reason to slow down, then. We head over to the “wall of fortunes” where, should we receive a less than stellar fortune or omikuji, all we have to do is tie up the piece of paper on the rack. There, that’s our bad luck wished away.
If only it were so easy in real life. Don’t we all feel our lives lack something? More money, a smaller belly, nicer clothes, a bigger house. And not just the material. We want to be more talented, to be kinder, to be wiser. Respected, envied, feared. To be loved.
Wouldn’t be it be wild if we already have everything we need? That what we have now, what we are now, is enough?
No omikuji can give us that belief unless we believe it, unless we believe in ourselves, already.
It is dark when we amble back to Senso-ji for the night illumination by lighting designer Motoko Ishii, first started to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Edo Shogunate. Everything looks familiar yet different also. Senso-ji basks in a strange, heavenly glow in the shadows.
The hall, the pagoda, the gates, the lanterns. All lit up. Vermilion and moonglow. In this light, we can believe. No omikuji needed.
| 2-3-1 Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan Open daily: Main hall 6am-7pm Apr-Sep & 6:30am-7pm Oct-Mar. Night illumination daily from sunset to 11pm. Temple grounds always open. Tel: +81 3-3842-0181 Web: senso-ji.jp |
| Getting there It’s a quick walk from Asakusa Station to Senso-ji Temple. The station itself is reachable via two Tokyo Metro lines (Ginza Subway Line and Asakusa Subway Line) as well as Tobu Railways. |
| A blessing of smoke Everyone swarms around the jokoro, a giant earthenware incense burner in front of the temple’s main hall. Cover yourself with as much of the fragrant smoke rising and you’d purify yourself, body and soul. Some folks try and cover their heads with the billowing clouds; they believe that by “healing” their heads, they will become wiser. If the entire procedure feels oddly similar, this might be due to the kinship Senso-ji shares with other Chinese Buddhist temples. Along with Buddhism, incense burners were also brought to Japan from China at the close of the feudal Sengoku Period (戦国時代 or “Age of Warring States”; c. 1467 – c. 1603). As with other Buddhist temples throughout the Chinese diaspora, there is a shop next to the temple where you can buy incense. So even if one isn’t Japanese, for some of us, the very ritual has a touch of coming home. Spiritually uplifting, yes, but also being in communion with others performing the exact same actions. We are all being blessed by smoke. |