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

Shinobazu Ike in July

Walking across the bridge to Bentendo, one sees a vast surface of large green leaves.

If I had never been here before, I would not realize that there was a large water filled pond below those leaves.

It's an impressive view in all directions. Included seeing people walk across the bridge that is in the Ueno Zoo. They almost look like they are walking on the leaves.

A closer look reveals something pink amongst those leaves.

Large tight petals buds of pink.

Some have opened to reveal that they are lotus blossoms.

Stunning to see like this. Something I had not seen before, a floating sea of flowering lotus.

Underneath were plenty of koi and turtles.

I spent time admiring the view and taking photos. Including a couple with mini acrylic Mana.

Part of Shinobazu Ike (pond) is free of lotus plants and open to people who want to rent boats.

It also allows space for birds like this egret.

Shaking off the rain. Since it started raining a bit more, I decided it was time to head to the next place I wanted to see.

Back to Benzaiten

That place in the distance was the Bentendo Temple at the Shinobazu Pond in Ueno Park. It is a Buddhist shrine dedicated to the Goddess Benzaiten. As at other Benzaiten shrines, the water spout for the chozubachi (water purification basin) is a dragon. It's Gozoryu, the dragon that Benzaiten subjugated. If you were wondering about Gozoryu, I wrote about him in my posts about Enoshima.

Another thing that relates back to Enoshima, the three triagles on the chozubachi. That is the emblem for the Hojo clan, which also appears on many shrines on Enoshima. They were the shoguns during the Kamakura period.

I have been here before in 2018. Similar weather, but more people this time.

This statue of Ugajin, the god of water, agriculture and good fortune, is new. It is reminiscent of the Ugajin statue at Inokoshira Benzaiten shrine. Again there is the three triangles of the Hojo clan.

After visiting with Benzaiten and making my offering, I walked to the back of the shrine.

Here is the honden, the building where Benzaiten is enshrined. It is octagonal like the Hoanden at Hetsunomiya Shrine on Enoshima.

I spent a bit of time walking around the shrine. There is a small shrine behind this locked gate. Unfortunately I do not know what it is. It may be Shinto.

One of several monuments around Bentendo Shrine. Someone mentioned this is a monument in memory of fugu fish. If I am ever here again, I will try to confirm this. Since usually there are monuments to fishermen at a number of Benzaiten shrines, and I wonder if this may be what this is dedicated to.

Jizo, dedicated to children who have passed away.

The front of Bentendo and the sun is shining!

The finial on top of Benzaiten's shrine, shining gold in the sunlight. 

Along the bridge going to Bentendo were a number of food booths selling a variety of items. The shaved ice was very popular.

Chocolate covered bananas reminded me of fairs in America.

Of course there was yakinuki of all kinds.

I wanted to try something, but was a little hesitant because of the hot weather. I don't know if the different meats were being kept cold. So I went with the "crab" sticks, since they would have been pre-cooked.

It wasn't bad. The view here made it a nice place to eat. In fact, that view was why I came to Bentando in the middle of Shinobazu Pond. Because there was something I had not seen before. And that will be my next post.