[Dec.2012] When we were having a walk around Tsukiji in Tokyo, we came across Tsukiji Honganji temple.
I had known the name, but this was the first time actually to visit there.
I was very surprised to see the building which is like an Indian and had to look at the plate twice.
I had a thought this might be some kind of cult, but in fact, this is the temple of Jodo Shinshu – Honganji sect, which is one of the largest sects in Japan.
According to the leaflet, originally it was founded in 1617 in Asakusa area in Tokyo, but when it was burned down in 1657, the Shogunate told them to rebuild it on the sea off Hacchobori.
And because they reclaimed land to build it, the name Tsukiji (meaning building a land) started apparently.
When there was a great earthquake in Tokyo in 1923, again it was burned down and after that, the current building was completed in 1934.
It must be a flexible sect.
