Back with more to write as this will be the 3rd entry out of 5 for day 6 in Tokyo. After a long walk out from Meiji Shrine, we head back to the JR Yamanote to take a ride to our next destination. Getting to Ueno will take about 40 minutes travelling from Harajuku. It is located on the other side of town.
Ueno (上野) is a district in Tokyo's Taitō Ward, home to Tokyo's finest cultural sites which holds the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Western Art, National Science Museum and a major concert hall used by famed Japanese artists for the concert tour. It also holds the Ueno Zoo, a large numbers of Shinto Shrines and also a black market which I will be revealing more on the next blog post. Ueno is in the historical Shitamachi, literally "down-town" district of Japan, a working class area rather than where the aristocrats and rich merchants lived. Entirely lacking in high-rise condos or whiz-bang shopping malls, by Tokyo standards it's distinctly downmarket, but that means that eating, shopping and drinking are all affordably priced.
Ueno Park (上野公園) was our first destination as we stepped out from the train station. Just across the street from the station, surely you can't miss the park as hordes of people are heading that way. Covering approximately 534 000 square meters, this place hosts the zoo, the shrines and also the museums that was mentioned earlier. Ueno Park is famous during this time of the year as hordes of school children are on their school trip and visitng the park is something not to be missed... that's what I was being told by my dad.
The bronze statue of Prince Komatsu Akihito are being displayed here in Ueno Park. He's the seventh son of Prince Fushimi Kuniye, a member of the Fushimi-no-miya one of the shinnōke branches of the Imperial Family of Japan. He passed away at the age of 58 on the 18th January, 1903.
Ueno Park is not all about the school children, families will also be here to witness the Cherry Blossom during the full bloom week which took place 2 weeks before my arrival into Tokyo. When I got to Ueno Park, the stuff that I saw just tree branches.
As soon as me and my mom got to see one of the many Cherry trees that is still blossoming, we automatically went nuts about it and started to take many pictures of that ONE tree, imagine the behaviour are almost similar like a caveman who never saw what a tree looks like.
First up was the Toshogu Shrine that was located in the heart of the Ueno Park. The name "Toshogu" is a royal title. Literally translated, Toshogu means "Light of the East" or "Sun god of the east". There are about 200 Toshogu shrines in Japan, each built to enshrine Ieyasu as a deity. The original shrine is said to have been built in 1627 by the warrior Todo Takatora, daimyo of Iga and Ise. The shrine survived the World War 2 bomb raids, massive earthquakes and even the major battles of the 1868 civil war.
4 of the 50 large copper lanterns offered by daimyo (one of the feudal lords) during the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Most of the copper lanterns are still located at the Toshogu Shrine in Nikko.
I was largely disappointed that I didn't manage to see the real shrine as it was under construction at that time. No pictures of the shrine was taken as the shrine was covered with a picture poster of the shrine itself, making it useless for me to take the picture in the first place. I took pictures of the shrine's surroundings instead.
The Kan'ei-ji Pagoda, or known as the Five Storied Pagoda, was built for the Tokugawa shoguns and currently stands inside the Ueno Park Zoo. The entire area was originally the grounds for the Kan'ei-ji temple which was erected to protect the Edo castle. But during the Boshin War from 1868 to 1869 the temple was destroyed while the pagoda survived.
Ueno Park are indeed famous with it's many temples and shrines in the area. There's the Great Buddhist Pagoda which was built in 1967, replacing a buddha statue formerly stood on the site.
The Gojo Shrine is located in the Ueno Park too. As you made your way into the temple, you'll be fascinated with it's long row of red Torii's at the entrance.
The shrine is one of the a Shinto shrine dedicated to Inari, the God of Rice. Because rice is such an important staple of Japanese cuisine, Irani shrine are very prevalent throughout the country.
We made it to the west side of the park where the Bentendo (弁天堂) temple is located. Now the Bentendo is a tempe dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten. The temple is located on an island in Shinobazu Pond (しのばずのいけ) . The Shinobazu Pond was not really a great sight during this time of the year as the lotus are in brownish coloured. I ended the Ueno Park tour with a prayers at the Bentendo temple and headed out to the Ueno town... which will be revealed more on my next blog post.
Ueno (上野) is a district in Tokyo's Taitō Ward, home to Tokyo's finest cultural sites which holds the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Western Art, National Science Museum and a major concert hall used by famed Japanese artists for the concert tour. It also holds the Ueno Zoo, a large numbers of Shinto Shrines and also a black market which I will be revealing more on the next blog post. Ueno is in the historical Shitamachi, literally "down-town" district of Japan, a working class area rather than where the aristocrats and rich merchants lived. Entirely lacking in high-rise condos or whiz-bang shopping malls, by Tokyo standards it's distinctly downmarket, but that means that eating, shopping and drinking are all affordably priced. Ueno Park (上野公園) was our first destination as we stepped out from the train station. Just across the street from the station, surely you can't miss the park as hordes of people are heading that way. Covering approximately 534 000 square meters, this place hosts the zoo, the shrines and also the museums that was mentioned earlier. Ueno Park is famous during this time of the year as hordes of school children are on their school trip and visitng the park is something not to be missed... that's what I was being told by my dad. The bronze statue of Prince Komatsu Akihito are being displayed here in Ueno Park. He's the seventh son of Prince Fushimi Kuniye, a member of the Fushimi-no-miya one of the shinnōke branches of the Imperial Family of Japan. He passed away at the age of 58 on the 18th January, 1903. Ueno Park is not all about the school children, families will also be here to witness the Cherry Blossom during the full bloom week which took place 2 weeks before my arrival into Tokyo. When I got to Ueno Park, the stuff that I saw just tree branches. As soon as me and my mom got to see one of the many Cherry trees that is still blossoming, we automatically went nuts about it and started to take many pictures of that ONE tree, imagine the behaviour are almost similar like a caveman who never saw what a tree looks like.First up was the Toshogu Shrine that was located in the heart of the Ueno Park. The name "Toshogu" is a royal title. Literally translated, Toshogu means "Light of the East" or "Sun god of the east". There are about 200 Toshogu shrines in Japan, each built to enshrine Ieyasu as a deity. The original shrine is said to have been built in 1627 by the warrior Todo Takatora, daimyo of Iga and Ise. The shrine survived the World War 2 bomb raids, massive earthquakes and even the major battles of the 1868 civil war. 4 of the 50 large copper lanterns offered by daimyo (one of the feudal lords) during the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Most of the copper lanterns are still located at the Toshogu Shrine in Nikko. I was largely disappointed that I didn't manage to see the real shrine as it was under construction at that time. No pictures of the shrine was taken as the shrine was covered with a picture poster of the shrine itself, making it useless for me to take the picture in the first place. I took pictures of the shrine's surroundings instead.The Kan'ei-ji Pagoda, or known as the Five Storied Pagoda, was built for the Tokugawa shoguns and currently stands inside the Ueno Park Zoo. The entire area was originally the grounds for the Kan'ei-ji temple which was erected to protect the Edo castle. But during the Boshin War from 1868 to 1869 the temple was destroyed while the pagoda survived.Ueno Park are indeed famous with it's many temples and shrines in the area. There's the Great Buddhist Pagoda which was built in 1967, replacing a buddha statue formerly stood on the site.The Gojo Shrine is located in the Ueno Park too. As you made your way into the temple, you'll be fascinated with it's long row of red Torii's at the entrance. The shrine is one of the a Shinto shrine dedicated to Inari, the God of Rice. Because rice is such an important staple of Japanese cuisine, Irani shrine are very prevalent throughout the country. We made it to the west side of the park where the Bentendo (弁天堂) temple is located. Now the Bentendo is a tempe dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten. The temple is located on an island in Shinobazu Pond (しのばずのいけ) . The Shinobazu Pond was not really a great sight during this time of the year as the lotus are in brownish coloured. I ended the Ueno Park tour with a prayers at the Bentendo temple and headed out to the Ueno town... which will be revealed more on my next blog post.
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