Saturday, December 03, 2011

Gates



The Kuromon, or Black Gate, now part of the Tokyo National Museum was once the gate to the Tokyo home of the noble Ikeda family, Daimyo lords of Inaba province. Its original construction was sometime in the Edo period (1603-1868), and it was moved to the musuem in 1954.

The second gate is the Red Gate of Tokyo University, not far from the campus guest house where we are staying. Next, a couple of random gates on the street, not far from the Red Gate.




And the gate next to the Isnsho-tei restaurant where we ate, in Ueno Park:


The gate to a little shrine beside an ancient well, now sandwiched between high-rises and other apartment buildings:


The gate to the Fox Shrine on a little island in a pond in Ueno Park:

AND one earlier thought:

 

Not far from the Red Gate of the University of Tokyo, in an un-noticeable alleyway, is an old wooden Buddhist Temple. A temple monk named Malcolm pointed it out to me after he also showed me how to buy and eat noodles in a little noodle shop. We went back at night and took a photo of the temple guardian.

1 comment:

Jeanie said...

Oh, yes! The gates! They're wonderful!