Day 18 - Saturday November 11, 2017 - Sengaku-ji and Shinjuku Gyoen

Sengaku-ji and Shinjuku Gyoen

Posted on Saturday November 11, 2017

This mornng, we’ll probably go to Sengaku-ji and later on go for a walk in the Shinjuku Gyoen gardens.

Alhough we were up early, by the time we had futzed around, had breakfast, were washed, dressed and out the door, it was after 9.30. We walked over to Shinjuku station and took the JR Yamanote line round to Gotanda, before changing to the Asakusa subway line for a couple of stops to Sengakuji. From the subway station, it’s a short walk to the Sengaku-ji temple.

The story of the 47 rōnin (masterless samurai) who avenged their master, Lord Asano – put to death after being tricked into pulling a sword on a rival – is legend in Japan. They were condemned to commit seppuku (ritual disembowelment) and their remains were buried at this temple. It’s a sombre place, with fresh incense rising from the tombs, placed there by visitors moved by the samurais’ loyalty.

It’s a pleasant complex of buildings, now totally surrounded on all sides by modern Tokyo. There were quite a few visitors to the grave sites, some indeed placing incense on the tombs. There’s also a small museum and a separate exhibition that has models of each of the 47 ronin. Entrance to the temple grounds and gravesites is free though the museum and exhibition costs ¥500. The museum had a film on the history of the temple and the story of Lord Asano, Kira and the 47 ronin, including an animated segment that appeared to be depicting the story of the ronin taking their revenge on Kira – two years after their master’s death – but as it was all in Japanese, it didn’t enlighten us on the finer points. The story of the “Ako Incident” is discussed on the temple’s website – Sengaku-ji and also in more detail here – 47 Ronin

The museum had various artifacts related to the events, including the ‘receipt for the return of Kira’s head’ which was apparently returned to his family at their request. Unfortunately, no photos allowed in the museum or exhibition.

We re-traced our steps to Shinjuku station and stopped for coffee before venturing in to the Takashimaya department store across the street. Down to the basement food hall for a look around (where we bought breakfast supplies – an almond croissant and a snail from the Eric Kayser outlet) and then up to the 13th floor to check out the restaurants. We had lunch in one of them (tonkatsu) before returning to the apartment. I’m not sure what we’ll do for dinner but, after our walk in the gardens, we may return to the Takashimaya food hall and get some supplies for dinner – they had some rather nice looking salads (not to mention a myriad of other things).

Although we’ve been to the Shinjuku Gyoen gardens several times before, as it’s now on our doorstep, it would be remiss of us not to visit again. We headed over there about 3 pm, to find that half of Tokyo had the same idea. Not quite that bad but certainly far more people than on our previous visits – we’ve probably been on a Tuesday afternoon in February before so perhaps not surprising that there’s rather more people on a Saturday afternoon in November.

We wandered for a while though didn’t make it to the far reaches of the Gardens this time. The Gardens close at 4.30; at 4 pm there was some sort of announcement over the public address system – no idea what it was but I suspect it was “you’ve got 30 minutes before you all need to leave” or words to that effect so we started to make our way back the way we had come.

We walked back over to the Takashimaya food hall and got some salad and other bits for dinner and then headed back to the apartment.