Day 6: Sensoji temple

Hello~

Today, I'm going to share about our experience in Senosji temple, Tokyo's oldest Buddhist temple that's located in Asakusa. It's also one of Tokyo most colorful and popular temples due to its rich and ancient culture ヾ(＾∇＾). 

Anywhere that allows me to get into the insight of the Japanese culture and practice appeals to me! So, I marked a Sunday to visit the temple with my dear ヾ(☆▽☆) . 

My OOTD!!

 It's more appropriate to look 'pure' when visiting a holy place right ⊙▽⊙?

Close-up shot

After we reached Asakusa, we had our lunch at a Tempura restaurant located right across the temple.

In the restaurant (2nd floor) served by cute and friendly old ladies (≧∇≦).

My dear's tempura rice

My tempura set

The food wasn't fantastic. Nevertheless, it was good and I like the traditional Japanese settings ('∀'●)♡. 

Then we arrived at the Kaminari Gate Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate) Sensoji Temple!! Take a look at the GIANT lantern behind me (*≧o≦)!! It's simply amazing huh? 

Also, Kaminarimon contains two protective deities - (left side) Raijin - God of Thunder and (right side) Fujin - God of Wind, which I didn't get the chance to take a photo of due to our excitement to enter the temple (T_T). 

After entering the gate, we arrived at Nakamise-dori. It's the street leading to the Sensoji Temple itself that is lined with small shops selling omiyage (souvenirs) of many kinds -- from kimono to fans to scrolls and shoes. 

But the souvenirs there were pretty expensive, so we decided not to buy anything ( *___*). 

Like the Meiji shrine, there's a cleansing place for you to wash your hand and mouth to purify yourself before entering the temple with friendly visual instruction ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ . 

Walking towards Hozomon Gate Sensoji Temple...

Inside the temple, you can see a stately five-story pagoda...

...and next to that view is a fortune telling stand where you can donate 100 yen and get your fortune or questions answered. It's a very simple procedure. After making the donation, pick up the metal container and shake it until one stick drop out. There will be a number on the stick and you can retrieve your fortune or answer by finding the number from one of the 100 possible drawers ("⌒∇⌒").

This is what I got...

Good Fortune  ＼（＠￣∇￣＠）／!!! 

Yeahhhh!! How lucky!!

Please take note that it's supposed to be read from right to left, and 吉 means good fortune while 凶 means bad fortune. 

The back of the paper contains the English and Chinese translation of your fortune. Sensoji Temple is also famous for its very accurate fortune telling, and it seems pretty true as the first statement of the fortune focused on the two questions I asked (0.0). It did shock me a little, but I do hope that it's as accurate as the reputation of the temple claims (/‾▿‾)/.

Do remember to keep your good fortune after you got it!!

Sadly, for those who received a bad fortune, you are supposed to tie your fortune paper on the string like what my dear was doing...

It's said to help chase away all your bad luck... 

My poor dear o(≧o≦)o~

As far as I could remember, Lady Luck is rarely on his side, and he kept ranting why he always seems to get such bad luck...

"Noooo!! Now even the temple say I bad luck!" that was what he exclaimed ≧△≦.

So to improve his luck, I brought him into the temple to pray after he tied the paper...

There is a custom that by spreading the smoke of incense on yourself, it will purify, heal and bring luck. So to help my dear gather good luck, I made him stand around the incense for quite some time until he could not stand the heat and smoke lol.

On our way into the prayer hall...

Inside the main hall where we pray. 

*Give my dear good luck ( ˚̯́ ‿˚̯)*

Ohmmmmmmmm~!!!

Shockingly, the prayers and spreading of incense actually worked, as he went to ask his fortune again after that and got a 'Regular' fortune ( ˚̯́ ﹏˚̯̀)!!

Regular is better than bad~

There's an improvement ヽ(∀゜ )人( ゜∀)ノ!!

After our prayer, we toured the temple for a bit and saw a performing monkey!!

OMG! かわいい o(≧▽≦)o !!

Wahhhh!! See how talented and well-trained it is (*ﾟﾛﾟ)! 

It did all its stuns and tricks with ease, and can even walk using long poles!! 

The cute monkey has its mischievous side too. After the show, when most of the audience left, we witnessed it pestering an elder lady for more fruits after she offered it an apple.

The trainer kept shouting: "Dame ( meaning: don't do that in Japanese)! Dame!" but it refused to listen to him unlike how obedient he was when performing. 

I guess a monkey listens to no one when it comes to food haha (≧∇≦). 

Lastly, we saw an interesting ritual...

It's called 茅の輪くぐり.

It is said that if you pass into the roof made of grasses, you can remove impurities for the next half a year and  live safely during the coming summer.

So, we followed the instruction and walk through it until we complete a '8' formation. 

So interesting huh (＾▽＾)?  

We felt so well blessed after visiting Sensoji temple!! It's definitely a place I must visit again during my next Japan trip!!

That's all for today post!!

See you again soon~

Ashley (＾▽＾)❤