When I am out walking in Japan, when I see a temple or shrine, I like to stop and look around. Which is what I did that day I was wandering around Aoyama. This is not the temple I was going to. It's St. Grace Cathedral and is now on my list of places to see when I visit Japan again. Gothic architecture is not common in Japan, but it can be found.
This is where I was headed. Zenkōji Temple in Kita-Aoyama.
Which has an impressive mon or gate. What is unique here is that there are four Nio, or guardians. Two face outwards, two face inwards.
Being protected by screens made it difficult to get a decent photo of the Nio.
The Nio were originally in Hakone.
The mon has a lovely floral decoration along with what may be symbolic clouds. The flowers may be sakura but with the green and red colors, I wonder if they are actually plum or umi blossoms.
The view of the mon from the temple grounds, along with a little bit of the roofing tiles.
Inside was a decent sized bell tower or shōrō.
I missed taking a photo of the figureheads on the corners. I think they were komainu.
The temizuya looked like it was newer. This temple was moved from Yanaka to Kita-Aoyama in 1703. There was a fire here in 1862 but the completed restoration of the temple finally happened in 1921. This font looks more recent.
Although it does have a great dragon water spout.
There is a rather full gallery of various gods and stones on the ground.
Some are rather worn and may be older than this temple, which was originally establish in 1601.
This statue of Kannon in white stands out among the stone Jizo and other markers.
This may be Mārīcī, which I wrote about in a post about Gotoku-ji. Instead of three boars below her, it looks like there are three monkeys. Specifically the "speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil" monkeys.
While the sakura were not blooming yet, there were still ume, plum, trees putting on a flowery show.
This temple is affiliated with the more famous temple of the same name in Nagano. The sect of Buddhism here is Jodo-Shu.
One last look of the grounds on a vivid blue sky day in March.
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