At Zojoji temple

I first wanted to keep those photos for my photo blog, but I could not resist sharing them with you here.


During golden week I picked a couple of temples downtown Tokyo for a little photo trip.
H. had suggested the Tokyo tower (in another post soon), which is located right beside one of the main temples of the city, the Zojoji temple.
Sadly, they were renovating the facade of the temple, which was completely hidden. But my disapointement was short lived. The alleys around Zojoji harbor the most amazing Jizo (guardian of souls) statues I have seen.
Unlike other Jizos, they were cute and cheeky, with tiny rounded mouths that make them look like angels. I later learned that they were erected for the protection and safety of children.



What made this place very special was that each statue (hundreds) was flanked by a multicolored pinwheel (virevent). There was a soft wind on that day, which would make the wheels turn from time to time. Sometimes all at the same time, sometimes only a few of them.
The sun was piercing through the trees, it was nearly magical.
The association of pinwheels and sacred place was somewhat surprising at first. I did not find any website which would explain the full story behind those Jizo statues.
This temple and surroundings are definitely in my "bookmarks".