Up early for gym and early breakfast. Trying to beat the crowds to the Meiji Jingu. We did it!
The Meiji Jingu is a Shinto Shrine. To quote the visitor pamphlet in detail:
Shinto is called Japan’s ancient and original religion, and it is deeply rooted in the way of Japanese life. Shinto has no founder, no holy book, and not even the concept of religious conversion, but Shinto values for example harmony with nature and virtues such as “Magokoro (sincere heart)”. In Shinto some divinity is found as Kami (divine spirit), or it may be said that there are an unlimited number of Kami.
After Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken passed in 1912 and 1914, the shrine with the forest was created in November 1920. It’s a remarkable place.
I appreciated the ritual of purifying oneself by washing hands, washing out your mouth, and washing hands again. There is something missing in my life by not having a spiritual practice. Showing reverence today felt good.
We also filled in some prayers on paper that would be hung up as part of their next ritual. That felt great as well.
Notably, the Emperor and Empress are not buried here, but the shrine is amazing. The grounds are beautiful.
The scale of the place is difficult to comprehend. I am including this image from the Japan News website, hoping they don’t mind as I am linking their article here.
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/social-series/20201203-189526/
It’s just magnificent.
Emperor Meiji was the 122nd emperor and empowered as part of what is called the Meiji Restoration because the Emperor had little to no power during the reign of the Shogun from 1192 until 1868. Various factions supported deposing the Tokugawa Shogunate (which had reigned since 1603) and Meiji was the heir to the throne who was only 15 years old when he found himself in this culturally pivotal moment in 1868 when the Emperor was “restored” to his full power after nearly 700 years of Emperors being merely a figurehead.
Meiji led the country into the modern world, embracing Western ideas while preserving much of Japan’s traditional culture. He cut off the traditional top knot and wore western clothes. There’s a lot to the history which I know nearly nothing about. So I will leave it there. But I will include a public domain picture (taken by Uchida Kuichi in 1873) of Emperor Meiji here.
Following that journey, we rode the train to Senso-ji. My word! Was it ever busy! Similar to the Zojo-ji Buddhist temple we visited a couple of days ago, this one featured many ways to buy objects like amulets, fortunes, and materials for practically interacting with the religion. At the Zojo-ji temple you might recall the Tokugawa family remains rest behind the temple. It’s a lot of history here and I am not the most qualified to explain, but I will share what I gathered.
Similar to the Zojo-ji temple the Senso-ji temple is near a large tower. Sky Tree Tower is the tallest tower in the world and the third tallest structure in the world. So tourists were in the street taking pictures of themselves with the tower in the background, of course.
In fact, the street was blocked off and pedestrians filled the lane. However this was nothing compared to the lane leading up to the temple Senso-ji.
The scene reminded me of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco and other tourist areas. So many people packed into this street lined with souvenir shops on all sides ready to make a sale. We felt overwhelmed and decided to go get lunch.
It seems the places we spend more money on lunch, the worse the food is and maybe the service as well. I’m sure it didn’t help that we were in a tourist area, but we got fed and made our way to see about a boat ride down the Sumida River.
Unfortunately three large groups filled up the boat just before we arrived. It’s disappointing, but such is life. We consoled ourselves that we would have certainly been rained on and other such justifications as to why things work out as they do.
The days began with a spectacular and mesmerizing walk through a beautiful manmade forest and ended in this cute little laundromat a few minutes walk from the hotel. Next door I got a few snacks from the 7Eleven. These are fun for Americans who have a different convenience store experience at home, but abroad they transform into a conbini with onigiri rice triangles wrapped in nori and fluffy egg salad sandwiches. I bought those for my Lady and myself and purchase some 7eleven socks for one of my team at the bookshop because I thought he would get a kick out of it.
From the majesty, through a series of disappointments, to the simple act of laundry and the marvels of the mundane, this day seemed to be a fine ending for our time in Tokyo. We are ready to get out of this biggest city in the world!
Tomorrow we ride the train to Kyoto!
