A damp day in Asakusa

Today it rained and rained and rained, but tourism is tourism so out we must go :¬)



The kanji letters written in the lantern says "Kaminari-mon".
"Kaminari" means thunder, and "mon" means gate in Japanese. This is the main approach to the Senso-ji Temple.


This is Hozomon Gate. It stood for hundreds of years until it burned down in the air raids of 1945. In 1964, it was rebuilt, the upper story of the gate houses the temple's Buddhist sutras. This is why the gate is called Hozomon Gate (the gate for storing treasures).



The huge incense burner created clouds of smoke, and was constantly surrounded by people directing smoke at areas of their bodies they wished improved (the most common seeming to be a head pat, for what I'm guessing is increased intelligence). :¬)