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

Shinjuku Shrines

One day I headed to Shinjuku to do some shopping. I went a different way and came across a very large torii.

In between the large modern buildings of Shinjuku is Hanazono Jinzo, a Shinto Inari shrine.

Impressive komainu or karajishi, as a near by sign calls them, were cast in bronze in 1821.

They were donated to the shrine and in 1984 designated material cultural property by the city.

While the outer torii is concrete colored, there are also Inari red torii along with many lanterns along the walk to the shrine.

The space for the shrine is actually rather extensive for Shinjuku. Vermilion trimmed buildings along with lovely light pink sakura. The name of the shrine, Hanazono, means flower garden.

This shrine has been moved a few times over the years, as many shrines have been. The current site was granted in 1648. Of course the buildings have been rebuilt since then.

The kami enshrined here are Uga no Mitama no Kami, Yamato Takeru no Mikoto, and Ukemochi no Kami.

While the offices for the shrine look rather sedate, the Shaden captures everyone's attention.

Besides kami and sakura, it seems there are crows that one has to watch out for.

Of course there are smaller shrines in the complex. Itoku Inari Shrine, known for a couple of things including this row of torii.

Since it was raining I didn't get a good look around.

That is some security on the chouzubachi. Maybe because of the crows?

The Inari foxes, kitsune, were really adorable with their little kits.

I was trying to keep my camera from getting rained on. Which means I did not take many photos. So here is the shrine with more kitsune. While I noted what was above, I will pass on sharing that here in my blog.

Another large torii on a different walk way.

Along with two more guardian komainu.

I have to say I was a little surprised at how large this was given that it appears hidden among the department stores and office buildings in Shinjuku. In Tokyo, sometimes it's worth turning a corner. You never know what you might find.

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.