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

Visiting Hiratsuka-jinja Again

After Kyu Furukawa, I headed back to the train station. But I did take a few photos along the way. 

And I decided my path to the station would include seeing Hiratsuka-jinja again. Here is my previous blog post about this shrine. 

I paused at the old Inari Shrine. I still do not know how old these kitsune are, but since the main shrine was established in the Heian period and parts escaped damage in WWII, they have been around for a while. Of course they could have also suffered damage in an earthquake or two. It happens. 

Since I had more knowledge about the place since my last visit, I thought I would see if there was more I could view. I attempted to take a photo of the area behind the Haiden, since this is the area where the armor of the three Genji Brothers was buried back in the day. The mound that isn't really a mound. It is pretty much impossible to view anything back there.

Although you can view the great carvings on the outer Haiden. 

Komainu guarding the god Hachiman, god of archery and war. 

I think this pair is still my favorite of all the komainu I have seen. 

This is actually a lot of bell or suzu pulls for a shrine of this size. The place does get it's share of worshipers. 

A covered hallway or wall connects the Haiden to the Kagura-den building. 

And behind it all is the Honden. I do not know if this is for Hachiman or if it the shrine for the Genji Brothers armor. It is all still a little mysterious.