Asakusa Pilgrimage: Cutpurses, Radishes, and a Garden Oasis

Honryuin is the actual name of the temple listed as Matsuchiyama-shouten on our pilgrimage map. I mention this in case you visit Tokyo some day and want to visit the temple's peaceful garden on a little hillside just west of the Sumida River.

Weather-san and Shinagawa-san at Matsuchiyama-shouten

Two (other) middle-aged ladies wandering around the garden when we were there pulled Shinagawa-san and Tomoko-san aside while Weather and I feasted our eyes on pink cherry blossoms floating against a background of red maples and restful green stuff. There was a little waterfall off in a corner trickling into a pond at the center of the garden. I am beginning to understand why my gardening friends are so enamored with "water features".

Those two (other) middle-aged ladies were quite a Godsend as they told us about a garden behind the five-story pagoda at Sensoji that is open to the public only a few days a year and one of those few days is today. Our circuit will end back at Sensoji so this is fortuitous news. But we are worried that such a diversion will cause Shinagawa-san to miss an appointment with her computer repairman. One peek at her face tells me that, computer repairman or not, we will not be returning to Yokosuka until we have seen that special garden.

Weeping cherry, red maple, and waterfall

We visit the temple after exiting the garden.  We watch a lady pick up an enormous Daikon (Japanese radish that resembles a fat white carrot) at a booth halfway up the path.  She pays the cashier 200 yen and then marches up the steps and into the temple.

Daikon and kinchaku (money bags) are the temple's special prayer items.  The lanterns on the walk circling the temple are decorated with forked radishes and money bags.  Apparently the forked radish represents a health family unit and a money bag is a symbol for business success. 

We slip off our shoes, congratulate ourselves on remembering to wear shoes that don't tie, and enter the temple.  A benefit of exploring with our Japanese friends is that they encourage us to walk through doors we would be hesitant to open on our own.

Inside the temple there are a few people kneeling or sitting on the floor reading or praying.  About a dozen radishes and half a dozen bouquets of flowers are lined up on the step leading up to the altar area.  I am dying to take a picture for you but manage to control myself.

Money bag on lantern

Daikon radishes on lantern

On one of the two dozen websites I perused while preparing this post, I read that the radish represents hate and ambivalence. You hold the radish and pray to purify your mind, strengthen your body, and bless your family with happiness.  These strike me as worthy objects of prayer no matter what I might be holding.

What strikes me even more is the number of people praying in that temple on a Wednesday morning.  Is it because of the earthquake/tsunami/radiation or are they there every day?