GOTOKUJI TEMPLE - ’BECKONING CAT TEMPLE’
We set off quite early in the morning to GotoKuji Temple, where we hoped to find the temple dedicated to Manekineko, the beckoning cat. Based on all the photos I had seen of the cute little cat statues, I thought this would be the perfect temple to keep the girls interested. We caught the train out past Shibuyu to Shimo-Kitazawa Station, where we changed to a local train and headed to Gotokuji Station. We had to stroll through some suburban streets to find the temple, which is actually one of myself and Braino’s favourite thing to do when traveling - see what everyday houses look like, it’s such a fascinating way to catch a glimpse of local life.
GotoKuji is a beautifully serene temple and the little statues of Manekineko did not disappoint. Legend has it that ‘one day, a lord on his way back from falconry was beckoned by a cat at the temple gate and decided to stop by. While spending time at the temple, thunder suddenly rang out and rain began to fall. Having gotten well out of a thundershower with an enjoyable conversation with the temple master, the lord was impressed by this luck that the cat brought. The lord was Naotaka Ii, the lord of Hikone domain. Financially backed up by Naotaka, Gotokuji temple was rebuilt in 1633. Later, Gotokuji temple built the Shofuku-den to enshrine the cat that brought good fortune, naming it as "Manekineko". Ever since, many people visit Shofuku-den continuously to pray for well-being for the family, prosperous business, luck and happiness.’ (This comes directly from the website. https://gotokuji.jp/en/manekineko/ )
We realised that we could purchase a cat statue from the administration office and leave it there with the rest of the collection as an offering, to bring us good fortune . The girls loved this idea and were thrilled to leave one of our own. As I write this blogpost almost a week later, everything we’ve done in Japan so far has been amazing but I think this is one of my highlights.
Afterwards we headed back via Shibuya, the second busiest train station in the world, whihc is also home to the iconic scramble crossing. We decided to check it out for ourselves, but this stage it was very hot and extremely crowded. We were all a bit frazzled, and the amazement of the scramble crossing was a bit lost on us to be honest. We ducked into Uniqlo to buy some socks and then headed back to the apartment were we rested and watched a movie on the laptop until around 4pm. (Braino and Rooney has a little nap).
MEIJI JINGU SHRINE
The rest period was quite strategic as we had plans to head out again in the later afternoon to experience Shinkuju at night. First we headed to Meiji Jingu Shrine, and I’m so glad we did, it was truly breath-taking. Meiji Jingu is a stunning Shinto Shrine that is set amoungst 70 hectares of dense forest. It was so peaceful and enchanting to walk through the winding paths that lead through the forests to the main part of the shrine, it was easy to forget we were right in the middle of Tokyo. While Senso-Ji is a buddhist temple, Meiji Jingu is a Shinto Shrine. Shinto is Japan’s ancient original religion or belief system as there isn’t a founder or religious book.
We walked from the southern entrance at Harajuku, all the way to the northern entrance in Yoyogi. It was a decent distance but the girls enjoyed it. It was late in the afternoon, the temperature was perfect and the low afternoon sun light was glimmering through the trees.
SHINJUKU AT NIGHT
We were planning to go to the Toyko Metropolitan Government Building again as there is a free nightly light projection show that started at 7:30pm and because we had the time, we decided to walk all the way up through Shinjuku. Shinjuku and Shibuya are two destinations where you can see all the iconic neon lights that are synonymous with Toyko and I was keen to see (and photography) it for myself. The streets between Shinjuku Station and the Toyko Metropolitan Government Building felt like a great kid friendly option. We found an acrade full of claw machine that the girls loved have a turn of (although we didn’t win anything) There were lots of restaurants and crowds are still very intense but it didn’t seem too overwhelming for the girls.
The light projection show at the government building was fantastic, it was sort of similar to TeamLabs in a way but the best bit was Godzilla! It went for 15 minutes in total and it started with a short section of Godzilla ‘smashing’ the TMGB. The girls have come mildly obsessed with Godzilla after we watched some videos on youtube of the older Japanese Godzilla movies, the really funny retro Godzilla. While the projection show runs for 15mins, it’s play on a loop until 9:30pm and it’s totally free!
Afterwards, Braino took the girls back to the accommodation via the trains while I headed into a seperate section of Shinjuku, to take more photos. It was Saturday night so it was extremely busy, but I felt quite safe on my own. It’s so mind blowing to see so many people, all on their way somewhere. It’s a very surreal feeling to just be apart of it.
