Near the heart of the city, under the shadow of Tokyo Tower, is Zōjō-ji Temple.
The shrine is the most important location in a 1,000-year-old sect of Buddhism as well as the burial grounds of the last shoguns. But what’s most striking about the complex is how it contrasts the old and the new — the sangedatsumon (“gate”) to Zōjō-ji, pictured above, is the oldest surviving wooden structure in Tokyo, leading to an island of tranquility amid skyscrapers, subway lines, neon signs and thousands of shops.
The gate leading to Zōjō-ji Temple was built in 1622, making it the oldest wooden building in Tokyo proper.Tokyo Tower looms over Zōjō-ji Temple itself, the main structure on the shrine grounds.The open door on the right side beneath the portico leads to the sanctuary, called the daiden (“great hall”) in Japanese.A view from the portico shows an adjacent temple structure as well as skyscrapers in the background.Zōjō-ji Temple itself, left, flanks a smaller shrine structure with Tokyo Tower in the background.A pagoda with the portico of Zōjō-ji Temple in the foreground.A close-up of the detail and symmetry of the pagoda.The entrance to the Shōgun mausoleum and graveyard. Six members of the Takegawa Shōgunate, the last feudal rulers in the country’s history, are buried here.Statues of Jizō Bosatsu, a Buddhist figure designated as the guardian of children, line a quiet path behind the temple.Gilded ornaments surround a central statue in the daiden. Visitors can light incense and sit in quiet contemplation in the great hall.A crow sits on a stone wall separating the Shōgun burial ground from the path lined with Jizō Bosatsu statues.
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