Rob and I have been making lists of more unusual things to do, and one was to visit the tomb of the 47 Ronin, at Sengakuji temple. The story of the 47 Ronin is classic in Japan, and the annual festival in their honor at Sengakuji is supposedly very popular. But I think it's a bit unusual for tourists; at least, when we told someone at the wedding about going there, we got a surprised look. Anyway, getting there involved a complicated subway expedition -- our first outing, and so a bit intimidating. But I must say I got us there pretty well (as the fellow with the Tokyo atlas, I've been our navigator). But I made up for this performance by entirely missing the temple when we came out of the station. We ended up on a long (but scenic and interesting) walking tour of the neighborhood, ending up back at Sengakuji, a mere block from the station. Fortunately, Japan is so interestingly different from the US, even on its prosaic back streets, that nobody much minded. The temple itself was very pretty, and the tombs were impressive. Unfortunately, we got there a little too late to see everything (it looked like there was much more park or cemetary on a hill), but I told everyone the story of the 47 Ronin (very badly) and of course we took pictures.
Pictures are the statue of Oishi, the leader of the 47 Ronin, and one of the rows of headstones.
Categories: japan - photo - travel
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