 Most viewed - Ikegami Honmonji Temple 池上本門寺 |
Way to Ikegami Honmonji Temple. Belonging to the Nichiren Sect, this is one of Tokyo's major temples.355 views
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See the baby buddha's hands pointing to Heaven. Sweet tea is poured over a statue of a baby buddha. According to legend, sweet rain (or perfumed water) fell when the Buddha was born.289 views
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Soshido Main Hall, Ikegami Honmonji. The original Main Hall was burned during an bombing raid in April 1945. 大堂（祖師堂）285 views
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Hanamatsuri, Buddha's birthday on April 8. A small statue of the baby Buddha is in a miniature temple called Hanami-do (花御堂). This is Ikegami Honmonji temple in Tokyo.271 views
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Map of temple grounds. There are both traditional and modern buildings.256 views
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Statue of Rikidozan (1924-1963) at his grave at Ikegami Honmonji temple, Tokyo. He was a sumo wrestler until 1950 before becoming a pro wrestler.242 views
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Niomon Gate 仁王門（三門）199 views
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Hoto means "Treasure Tower." A beautiful building. Ikegami Honmonji, Tokyo 宝塔194 views
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Inside Soshido Hall, view of left side. 大堂（祖師堂）193 views
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Ikegami Station platform on the Tokyu Ikegami Line193 views
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The hall was reconstructed in 1964 financed by donations from all over Japan. It is a ferro-concrete structure. 大堂（祖師堂）186 views
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大堂（祖師堂）178 views
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Ikegami Station on the Tokyu Ikegami Line which starts in Gotanda.173 views
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Incense burner156 views
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Soshido Hall altar 大堂（祖師堂）153 views
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Inside Soshido Hall, view of right side. 大堂（祖師堂）152 views
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Poster for the temple's spring festival which includes Hanamatsuri.152 views
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Setsubun bean throwing at Ikegami Honmonji temple, Tokyo.145 viewsThey threw a lot of beans for about 10 min. Interesting that they did not say, "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" We caught a good haul of lucky beans.
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Statue of Rikidozan who was famous for his "karate chop" during the 1950s and early '60s. This famous postwar "Japanese hero" was actually Korean.141 views
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Five-story Pagoda and cherry blossoms. 五重塔140 views
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Priests procession heading for Ikegami Honmonji's main worship hall on Setsubun day, Feb. 3.137 views
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Matsumoto Iyo to throw beans for setsubun at Ikegami Honmonji temple, Tokyo.135 views
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Setsubun at Ikegami Honmonji temple, Tokyo.134 views
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Side view of Soshido Hall. 大堂133 views
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Boy priest sweeping at Ikegami Honmonji, Tokyo.133 views
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Rikidozan's gravestone132 views
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White elephant for Hanamatsuri129 views
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People line up to pour sweet tea over the baby buddha. 大堂123 views
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Rikidozan's grave, the temple's most famous grave.123 views
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Hanamatsuri, Buddha's birthday. When the Buddha was born, he walked seven steps and said, "I am my own Lord through Heaven and Earth," and pointed one hand to Heaven and the other to Earth. 122 views
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Five-story Pagoda was another structure which escaped war damage. 五重塔118 views
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Rikidozan's grave118 views
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Back of Soshido Main Hall116 views
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Roof of Soshido Main Hall 大堂113 views
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Sign pointing the way to wrestler Rikidozan's grave.113 views
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Five-story Pagoda built in 1607, Tokyo's oldest pagoda. 五重塔105 views
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Behind the pagoda are many graves.104 views
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Altar in Kyozo 経蔵103 views
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Doors of Soshido Main Hall 大堂102 views
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Tea ceremony101 views
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Hoto tower built on the site where Nichiren was cremated. 宝塔100 views
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Graves near Hoto tower99 views
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宝塔99 views
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Marker for the temple.99 views
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Hanamatsuri parade96 views
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五重塔94 views
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94 views
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Honden Hall 本殿94 views
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Car for Hanamatsuri94 views
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93 views
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Nitchodo Hall 日朝堂93 views
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91 views
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Hanamatsuri Parade on April 8, Buddha's birthday.91 views
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Spring festival site with food and entertainment.90 views
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Hanamatsuri Parade on April 8, Buddha's birthday.90 views
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Hanamatsuri Parade on April 8, Buddha's birthday.90 views
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Ikegami Honmonji, Tokyo90 views
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Gate to Honden89 views
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Built in 1828 and made of wood. It is the only tower of its kind in Japan placed outdoors. 宝塔89 views
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Kyozo houses Buddhist scriptures. 経蔵87 views
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Bell tower 鐘楼堂87 views
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White elephant is usually present during Hanamatsuri. On the day before the Buddha's mother Queen Maya gave birth, she dreamed that a white elephant entered her womb.87 views
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Hoto tower 宝塔86 views
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Honden and temple office on right. 本殿、客殿寺務所85 views
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Hoto tower 宝塔84 views
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Treasure House 霊宝殿83 views
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Hanamatsuri Parade on April 8, Buddha's birthday.83 views
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Ikegami Station on the Tokyu Ikegami Line47 views
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45 views
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In front of Ikegami Station on the Tokyu Ikegami Line, follow this road for a short walk to Ikegami Honmonji temple.43 views
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42 views
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On Feb. 3, Ikegami Honmonji holds the annual Setsubun ceremony and bean throwing.42 views
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Crowd starts to gather for the bean throwing.42 views
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Taiko drum performance in early April in front of the temple.41 views
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41 views
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At 3 pm, the bean throwers appeared and took their positions after attending a ceremony inside the temple.41 views
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Former yokozuna Akebono was also supposed to throw beans, but he had to be hospitalized for a swollen right leg. Too bad. 41 views
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My lucky beans. The beans are in little plastic bags with a paper bottom.41 views
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Ogre (oni) appear in a procession.40 views
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Incense burner40 views
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Bringing out large baskets of beans.40 views
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Press cameramen behind us on their own platform to record the event.40 views
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The bean throwers included minor celebrities, former pro wrestlers, and men and women born in the Year of the Monkey.40 views
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39 views
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Matsumoto Iyo's place.39 views
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In front of the station.39 views
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Somon Gate, the first gate you pass through to enter the temple and one of the few structures which were not destroyed during World War II. 総門38 views
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Stone steps to the temple amid cherry blossoms. 此経難持坂38 views
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38 views
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Statue of Nichiren 日蓮聖人像38 views
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38 views
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Setsubun ceremonies on Feb. 3 start at 1 pm. Bean throwing (mamemaki) at 3 pm.38 views
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Pretty cold day, but it was sunny with little wind.38 views
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Before the bean throwing, a few taiko drummer friends performed at 1 pm for 20 min. on the bean-throwing platform in front of the temple's Hondo main hall.37 views
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37 views
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They entered the temple and held a service at 2 pm. 37 views
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Beating a drum-like instrument.37 views
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They will throw beans on both the left and right sides of the platform.36 views
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The bean throwing was going to start at 3 pm. We stood in front of the platform at 2:15 pm. They sectioned off this area for kids (and elderly).36 views
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Crowd goes home after setsubun.36 views
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Prayers inside the pagoda.35 views
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Taiko drummer35 views
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Prayers in the main worship hall.35 views
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34 views
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34 views
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In front were two minor "idol" singers and a red oni. It was nice that they posted the names of the celebrities, but I didn't know any of them except one...34 views
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That's the temple's official mascot (Kozo-kun). 34 views
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Because of the temple's Rikidozan connection, there were a number of pro wrestlers as well. (No sumo wrestlers.)34 views
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They threw a lot of beans. I think just about everyone was able to catch beans.34 views
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Ikegami Station on the Tokyu Ikegami Line34 views
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34 views
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34 views
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34 views
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A spring ceremony is held in early April.33 views
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Since most of Japan's big festivals are Shinto, it's nice to see a large-scale Buddhist festival.33 views
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Following the firemen's standards are musicians. The drummers are the most prominent. They beat handheld, fan-shaped taiko drums (called uchiwa daiko). Amazing how loud these little flat drums can be.33 views
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Ikegami Honmonji taiko drummers.33 views
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33 views
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Everyone paraded to the temple and entered the temple for prayers, then dispersed. The lantern parade lasted from 6 pm till about 11 pm or so.33 views
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Maybe about 300,000 spectators lined the streets from the train station to the temple.33 views
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Interacting with the crowd. They love foreigners and babies in the crowd. They let them beat their drum.33 views
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33 views
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33 views
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The beans included a square piece of caramel candy. The paper says "Lucky beans," "Setsubun," the name of the temple, and an ad for a local business.32 views
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On Oct. 12, the annual Oeshiki Festival (お会式) was held at Ikegami Honmonji temple. It commemorates the anniversary of Nichiren's death. He died here in 1282.32 views
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At the end of each group is a flowery (cherry blossoms) lantern float (called mando). It's a lantern pagoda with flowery streamers.32 views
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Each group is led by firemen's standards (matoi) which are poles with streamers. These were originally used by firemen's units in the Edo Period as their banner. Now used at festivals and for ceremonial purposes only.32 views
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About 20 min. later, the place got full.31 views
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Marching priests.31 views
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The festival's main event is an evening lantern parade (called Mando) of thousands of Nichiren believers from all over Japan. They come in groups according to their respective temple or district.29 views
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Path to the temple.29 views
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