Tokyo - Oldest Buddhist Temple of Sensoji

Annual pilgrimage in Japan heralds Buddha’s birthday

Among Japan’s holidays, April 8this special. On this most holy day, my friend and I celebrated Buddha’s birthday at Sensoji, Tokyo’s oldest Buddhist temple.

Crossing Japan’s sprawling capital of Tokyo by train eased our pilgrimage to Asakusa, the ancient town center. There, bustling streets were decorated with cherry-blossomed streamers and white lanterns. The flower festival evolved from the ancient custom of leaving small branches of cherry blossoms at temples, and continues today in honor of Buddha’s life.

Joining the throngs, we admired one of Tokyo’s most popular icons, a giant Buddha holding up a red lantern. Among snacks offered to passersby, I sampled zesty osenbei (rice crackers) and ningyoyaki (small cakes filled with sweet red bean paste).

Pink and blue kites appealed to us as something we could use at home for windsocks on our deck. On Children’s Day in Japan, these kites are flown all over the country, symbolizing daughters and sons. Using my trusty Japanese phrase book I proceeded to negotiate, “Good Day! Excuse me! We’d like a kite.” Shyly covering her smile, the shopkeeper said. “Sunny today. Kites 1200 yen cost.” I gestured to the pole’s unwieldy length and added. “Suitcase. Discount?” Though dickering is uncouth, she gracefully understood our problem. “Yes. Kite, no pole, 1000 yen.” Our transaction concluded with polite nods and a final bow.”

The street known as Nakamise-dori ends at the two-story Treasure Storing Gate housing 5,428 volumes of the sutra library. Passing through the gate, visitors are served refreshing cups of honeyed green tea.

According to legend, it rained tea on Buddha’s birthday 2,500 years ago and The Enlightened One has long been given an unusual tribute. At a small shrine, we joined the multitudes respectfully ladling tea over a small bronze Buddha.

Beyond the bronze Buddha lay an extensive courtyard and Sensoji’s impressive main hall, known as The Honda, featuring a swooping tiled roof, burnished wooden walls, ornate brass work and red lacquered trim.

Crowds gathered around a large caldron shrouded in a haze of incense. After waving the curling smoke over our heads and hands in a ritual of purification, we joined hundreds of worshippers ascending the stairway to enter The Honda. Sprays of purple orchids with red scripted blessings were bestowed on all visitors as we threw coins into an offering box.

Inside the impressive hall, a colorful dragon and angels holding lilies animated the ceiling. Between two fiercely grimacing kings, Aizen Myo-o and Fudo Muo-o, a gold-plated inner shrine enclosed a significant artifact. According to legend, two brothers netted a little golden statue from the Sumida River in 628. These fishermen believed the statue to be a Buddhist goddess of mercy. Sensoji was built and dedicated in her honor. Before descending the stairway, the Hondo’s westward verandah offered us a new perspective. Typical of temple grounds, an ancient garden, complete with a meditating Buddha and a five-storied pagoda, had been meticulously designed to project a foretaste of paradise to visitors. Nearby the towering pagoda rose a monument to pigeons.

Buying bird seed at a nearby kiosk, we joined others in feeding the many pigeons. On this site that abounds with stone and bronze Buddhas strewn with floral tributes, the venerated pigeon would not go hungry.

On the opposite side, we entered a simple gate into the bustling Asakusa Shrine. Many Japanese worship both as Shintoists and as Buddhists, and Asakusa represents the historic relationship between Japan’s two principal religions.

As early Buddhists profoundly influenced Japan’s architecture, the shrine’s smaller buildings resembled temple structures. After early Buddhists linked Shinto gods as manifestations of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, 17th century imperial policies decreed that Buddhists share temple sites with Shinto shrines. Asakusa was built during that period in 1649. Shinto priests then deified the brothers who found the mysterious golden statue.

In tasting Japanese life as pilgrims on Buddha’s birthday, spring took on a special significance. Contented and perhaps even somewhat enlightened, we returned to our hotel in Toyko. Our spiritual pilgrimage to Sensoji had embraced the essence of Japan.

Author : Rick and Chris Millikan