Revisiting Gojoten and Hanazono Shrines

It was another rainy day when I first visited these shrines in Ueno Park.

And it was a rainy day when I was here in July.

I may have taken photos of some of the same things.

But komainu are always interesting because of the variations that can be found. And some can even be thought of as cute.

I wasn't going to be here long, but I just wanted to walk through the shrines on my way back to Ueno Station.

I did stop at Gojoten Shrine. It is dedicated to the scholar Sugawara no Michizaneto. People come here to pray for help in learning.

A Honden on the grounds.

Looking back at Gojoten Shrine.

Hanazono Shrine, dedicated to the Shinto kami Inari. I had stopped here last time, and did so this time.

I want to say something. While I was waiting, a family that appeared to be tourists, played around with the bell rope and posed taking selfies. It's really not appropriate since these are places where people worship. Taking photos as part of wanting to understand Shinto and the shrines is one thing. It's another if someone is misusing the shrine solely to get a photo of themselves. I saw this behavior in other places. Maybe because it was summer there were more tourists so I saw more of this on this trip than I had seen before.

Hanazono Shrine's kitsune.

Seeing one with a kit is always nice.

Last time I came down through these torii. This time I went up.

Looking back.

More komainu, a little worn.

Out through the vermilion torii and back to the station. There was one more place I wanted to go to on this day.

My previous post about these shrines is here http://blukats.blogspot.com/2018/05/gojoten-and-hanazono-shrines-in-ueno.html

Gojoten and Hanazono Shrines in Ueno Park

Since I made the effort to be out in the rainy, icy, snowy weather, I decided I wanted to visit a shrine or two. One was on my list but before I made it there, these red torii caught my attention. 

I'd always wanted to walk through a row of torii like this.  

To have this many meant the shrine here was special to people. 

Red torii also means it's an Inari Okami Shinto shrine.

 And of course, there are foxes.

 This shrine area is interesting because there are a number of pathways and different little shrines hidden away. However the main Inari shrine Haiden is easy to find.

And the fox messengers here are cute. 

 One had a cub, a symbol of fertility while the other had what looked like a large jewel under it's paw. This is a common symbol with Inari, a jewel that grants wishes.

While Hanazono Inari Shrine has been here for some time, the Gojoten Shrine has only been around for about 1900 years or so. It was moved into this location in 1928. This building is the Honden where the Kami are enshrined.  

 The purification Chozuya resembles a lotus flower.

 The Gojoten Haiden, with large stone lanterns and komainu.

A look at one of the komainu. 

A look back with a sakura tree about to burst into bloom. If the weather had not been so bad, I would have spent more time looking around and taking photos. But this was not the end of my visit to Ueno Park.