About two blocks from our apartment is a rather large Shinto shrine with which I was completely unfamiliar. So a few days ago I walked down there to check it out. To my surprise, the English sign inside said that it was a shrine to....wait for it.......
literature. On top of that it's adorable with random bull statues and a little river with a bridge and benches in shady spots.
The shrine has a couple of names but
"Yushima Tenman-gū" seems to be the most correct. The sign inside doesn't tell the whole story---apparently its history goes back to 458 AD when it was built to house a spirit of sports and strength. Much later in the 1300's it was expanded to also house Tenjin, the spirit of learning. So the spirit of sports and the spirit of learning are roomies, ironically enough.
The current buildings seem to be pretty recent and from what I read the shrine is most famous now for its plum (which are sometimes called Japanese apricots) trees. There's even a small plum tree festival in late winter. And nowadays students come to the shrine before their exams to pray for good scores---it's convenient because we're really close to Tokyo University. In fact I gather that this area has always been known for schools, universities, libraries etc.
 |
| entrance |
 |
| sign (click to enlarge) |
 |
| wood buildings |
 |
| I liked the lamps |
 |
| the river |
 |
a shrine maiden or "miko" walking through.
I also saw people who were clearly on their lunch breaks |
 |
| I'm gonna hit these stairs when I want to start labor |
 |
| I have no idea what the bull's for |
No comments:
Post a Comment