A walking tour of Asakusa
Sensoji is Tokyo's oldest temple. Founded in the 7th century and therefore already well established long before Tokugawa settled in Edo, Sensoji Temple is dedicated to Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy, and is therefore popularly called the Asakusa Kannon Temple. According to legend, the temple was founded after two fishermen pulled a golden statue of Kannon from the sea. The sacred statue is still housed in the temple, carefully preserved inside three boxes; even though it's never on display, people still flock to the temple to pay their respects.
Within the temple is a counter where you can buy your fortune by putting a 100-yen coin into a wooden box and shaking it until a long bamboo stick emerges from a small hole. The stick will have a Japanese number on it, which corresponds to one of the numbers on a set of drawers. Take the fortune, written in both English and Japanese, from the drawer that has your number. But don't expect the translation to clear things up; my fortune contained such cryptic messages as "Getting a beautiful lady at your home, you want to try all people know about this," and "Stop to start a trip." If you find that your fortune raises more questions than it answers or if you simply don't like what it has to say, you can conveniently negate it by tying it to one of the wires provided for this purpose just outside the main hall.
To the right (east) of the temple is the rather small:
10. Nitemmon Gate
Built in 1618, this is the only structure on temple grounds remaining from the Edo Period; all other buildings, including Sensoji Temple and the pagoda, were destroyed in a 1945 air raid.
On the northeast corner of the grounds is a small orange shrine, the:
11. Asakusa Jinja Shrine
The shrine was built in 1649 by Iemitsu Tokugawa, the third Tokugawa shogun, to commemorate the two fishermen who found the statue of Kannon and their village chief. Its architectural style, called Gongen-zukuri, is the same as Toshogu Shrine's in Nikko. West of Sensoji Temple is a gardenlike area of lesser shrines and memorials, flowering bushes, and a stream of carp.
Farther west still is:
12. Hanayashiki
This is a small and corny amusement park that first opened in 1853 and still draws in the little ones.
Most of the area west of Sensoji Temple (the area to the left if you stand facing the front of the temple) is a small but interesting part of Asakusa popular among Tokyo's older working class. This is where several of Asakusa's old-fashioned pleasure houses remain, including bars, restaurants, strip shows, traditional Japanese vaudeville, and so-called "love hotels," which rent rooms by the hour.
If you keep walking west, past the Asakusa View Hotel, within 10 minutes you'll reach:
13. Kappabashi-dougugai Dori
Generally referred to as Kappabashi Dori, Tokyo's wholesale district for restaurant items has shop after shop selling pottery, chairs, tableware, cookware, lacquerware, rice cookers, noren, and everything else needed to run a restaurant. And yes, you can even buy those models of plastic food you've been drooling over in restaurant displays. Ice cream, pizza, sushi, mugs foaming with beer -- they're all here, looking like the real thing. (Stores close about 5pm.)
Winding Down--The Asakusa View Hotel, on Kokusai Dori Avenue between Sensoji Temple and Kappabashi Dori, has several restaurants and bars, including the clubby Ice House (the hotel's main bar), a coffee shop, and Japanese, Chinese, and French restaurants. Another good place to end a day of sightseeing in Asakusa is Ichimon, 3-12-6 Asakusa, near the intersection of Kokusai and Kototoi avenues. Decorated like a farmhouse, it specializes in different types of sake. For inexpensive dining in a convivial, rustic setting, head to Sometaro, 2-2-2 Nishi-Asakusa, just off Kokusai Dori, where you cook your own okonomiyaki or fried noodles at your table.
Frommer’s is America’s bestselling travel guide series. Visit Frommers.com to find great deals, get information on over 3,500 destinations, and book your trip. © 2006 Wiley Publishing, Inc. Republication or redistribution of Frommer's content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Wiley.
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM 24-HOUR LAYOVER: TOKYO |
 24-Hour Layover: Tokyo Section Front |
| Add 24-Hour Layover: Tokyo headlines to your news reader: |