Todoroki-fudoson Temple and Todoroki Ravine in Setagaya Ward of Tokyo

It is a bit of a surprise that there is a ravine in Setagaya Ward of Tokyo.

Todoroki is in the southern part of Setagaya Ward. Beyond this green corner there is a temple.

This is the main entrance of Todoroki-fudoson Temple.

The main hall of the temple

Cascades through a pair of dragons

A path through the forest

Todoroki Ravine

Benten pond and its bridge

Benten-do Hall beyond the bridge

The precinct of Todoroki-fudoson Temple

A beautiful scene from the observatory

 

Gotoku-ji Temple in Setagaya Ward of Tokyo

Gotoku-ji Temple is in Setagaya Ward of Tokyo. This temple was founded in 1480 and had been the main part of Setagaya Castle until it was dismantled in 1590. In 1633 Naotaka Ii who was the lord of Hikone Domain reclaimed this temple as Ii Family's temple.

This is the approach to Gotoku-ji Temple. I was surprised how holly it was!

This is the main entrance to Gotoku-ji Temple.

This is a Buddhist hall- so called butsuden- in which five statues of Buddha have been preserved. When Naotaka passed away, his daughter ordered a famous scalptor Shoun(1648-1710) to carve them.

This is the inner sight of butsuden.

This is another picture focused on the two statues on the right.

This is the main hall of Gotoku-ji Temple.

This is the inner sight of the main hall.

Gotoku-ji Temple is said to be the birth place of  a 'Maneki-neko' which literally means a 'Beckoning Cat' or  a 'Welcoming Cat'.The above picture shows a hall- Shobyo-den- in which cat dolls have been enshrined.

I bought this Welcoming Cat at Gotoku-ji Temple

Temple's office

A bell

A three storied pagoda

Around the wall of the pagoda there are scalptures of animals of the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac.

Naosuke Ii's tomb stone

PS:
1. Naosuke Ii

Iis were lords of Hikone Domain and also vassals of Tokugawa in the Edo Period in Japan. Naosuke was the 15th lord of Hikone Domain and was the second highest officer in the Tokugawa Government after Shogun. So, he was the de facto head of the government. Naosuke proceeded his policy of opening Japan to foreign countries and purged the dissidents in 1859 including Shoin Yoshida who was excuted at Ansei Purge.

Mito warriors who were againt Naoseke's forcible policy assassinated him at Sakurada-mon Gate near the Imperial Palace in 1860.  

Naosuke's statue is at Kamonyama Park in Yokohama.  

2. Shoun

Shoun was the scalptor who carved the statues in the Buddhist hall of this temple. His sitting statue is at the corner of Rakan-ji crossing in Meguro Ward of Tokyo. Shoun carved more than 500 statues of Buddha's disciples and more than half of them have been displayed at Gohyaku Rakan-ji Temple in Meguro.

Written and poissted by Mitsutoshi Masunari

Shoin-jinja Shrine in Setagaya of Tokyo

Shoin-jinja Shrine was built in 1882 to enshrine Shoin Yoshida(1830-1859) who was a scholar of the Choshu Domain, current Yamaguchi Prefecture. This site had been used as a Choshu Domain leader's quaters in Edo.

This is a sitting statue of Shoin Yoshida. After studying in Choshu Domain, Shoin went to Edo(=Tokyo) to study under Shozan Sakuma in 1851. When Commodore Perry came to Japan in 1853, Shoin went to see the black ship in Uraga and made up his mind to study abroad.  He went to Nagasaki to try to get on board a Russian warship. The next year when Perry came to Japan for the second time, Shoin went to Shimoda to get on board an American ship. Both attempts ended in vain and Shoin was sent back to Choshu and was detained in a jail.
In 1855 Shoin presided a cram school named 'Shoka-son-juku' in Choshu Domain where he educated Hirobumi Ito(=the first Prime Minister of Japan), Shinsaku Takasugi and others who later became the leaders of the Meiji Restoration.

In the precinct of Shoin-jinja Shrine there is a model house of Shoka-son-juku Cram School.

A list of people who studied under Shoin.

In 1858 Edo Government made the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States without Emperor's permission. Shoin critisized it and tried to assassinate Edo Government's high ranking officer Akikatsu Manabe. Shoin was arrested and detained in a jail. In 1859 Naoseke Ii, the second highest ranking officer after Tokugawa Shogun decided to purge extremists who were against the opening of Japan to foreign countries including Shoin who was finally excuted. 

Soon after the excution Shoin was buried in Kozukahara Kaiko-in Temple in Arakawa of Tokyo but in 1863 his ashes and bones were transferred and buried in his current cemetary in Setagaya. 

In this cemetary Choshu Domain's influential people have also been buried.

Written and posted by an interpreter Mitsutoshi Masunari. I have a national license as an interpreter and tour guide which covers all over Japan. Send me an e-mail for your request: mitch68canada@yahoo.co.jp

  

Setagaya Kan-non-ji Temple in Tokyo

I grew up in Setagaya Ward of Tokyo and lived there until I turned 33. In 1961 a new temple was built in Setagaya by a Buddhist priest Bokken who asked Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa to preside the inauguration ceremony and consecrate the new temple and a Goddess of Mercy.

This is another entrance of Setagaya Kan-non-ji Temple which is in the center of a quiet residential area.

The Goddess of Mercy which had been preserved in Ise of Mie Prefecture was invited to this temple as the idol.

Another Goddess of Mercy which changes our nightmare into a good luck.

Naki-ryuu, a crying dragon being attached to the ceiling of the main gate. When you clap your hands, you can hear the dragon crying. 

Odawara Local Administrator's house was relocated from Odawara to Setagaya.

During World War Ⅱ, a lot of young pilots lost their lives as special attack corp; they have been enshrined here.

My parents' daily visit to this temple were answered; they lived happily until they passed away in their 90s.