Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan, famous for the Sensō-ji, a
Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other
temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as the Sanja Matsuri.
For many centuries, Asakusa used to be
Tokyo's leading entertainment district. During the Edo Period (1603-1867), when
the district was still located outside the city limits, Asakusa was the site of
kabuki theaters and a large red light district. In the late 1800s and early
1900s, modern types of entertainment, including movie theaters, set foot in
Asakusa.
The complex resembles the Edo-period site,
with several imposing gates, including the Kaminarimon or the Thunder Gate,
with its iconic giant red lantern, and a five-story pagoda. The giant red
lantern is 4 meters tall, 3.4 meters in circumference and weighs 670 kilograms.
The front of the lantern displays the gate's name, Kaminarimon. Painted on the
back is the gate’s official name, Fūraijin-mon. A wooden
carving depicting a dragon adorns the bottom of the lantern.
The Asakusa temple is dedicated to the
bodhisattva Kannon. According to legend, a statue of the Kannon was found in
the Sumida River in the year 628 by two fishermen, the brothers Hinokuma Hamanari
and Hinokuma Takenari. The chief of their village, Hajino Nakamoto, recognized
the sanctity of the statue and enshrined it by remodeling his own house into a
small temple in Asakusa so that the villagers could worship Kannon.
Every year on a weekend in mid May, a
festival takes place in the Asakusa area , called the Sanja Matsuri. It is one
of Tokyo’s most popular festivals. It is held in celebration of the three
founders of Sensoji Temple, who are enshrined next door to the Sensoji Temple
in Asakusa. Its prominent parades revolve around three mikoshi (portable
shrines), as well as traditional music and dancing. The procession of Sanja
Matsuri for the three mikoshi, begins from
Nakamise-Dōri towards the Kaminarimon. These three elaborate shrines honor and
represent the three men responsible for founding the Sensō-ji. During this
final day of the festival, these three
important mikoshi are split up in order to visit and bestow blessing to all 44
districts of downtown and residential Asakusa.
Nakamise Dori is a shopping street that
runs from the Kaminarimon right up to the Senso-ji Temple. Around 90 stores
line up along the 250 meter long strip, transforming this street into the prime
shopping spot in Asakusa. Nakamise Dori is one of the oldest shopping streets
in Japan.
Various products are sold here, such as Japanese
chopsticks, wooden combs, fabrics, dolls,
art products and traditional Japanese snacks.
Further down between Asakusa and Ueno there
is Kappabashi-dori, also known just as Kappabashi or Kitchen Town, a street which is almost
entirely populated with shops supplying the restaurant trade. These shops sell
everything from knives and other kitchen utensils, mass-produced crockery,
restaurant furniture, ovens, and decorations, through to esoteric items such as
the plastic display food (sampuru) found outside Japanese restaurants.
If you’re after some reasonably priced
traditional pottery, kitchen utensils, sake or tea sets, chopsticks or knives, you
won’t leave disappointed.
Source: Wikipedia
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