Saturday 1st March 2014: GMT + 9hrs ­ Japan ­ Tokyo: The Sensoji Temple

The penultimate visit on this excursion was to the Sensoji Temple in the Asakusa district of Tokyo.  Legend has it that in 628, two brothers fished a statue of Kannon out of the Sumida River and then made the temple to enshrine the statue. Founded in the 7^th Century; this is the oldest extant temple in Tokyo. 

The pagoda tower (Second photo) has five levels representing: earth, water, wind, fire and the stars.

Alongside this Buddhist Temple is the Sanje Shinto shrine. Shinto is another form of Japanese religion dating from the early 8^th Century, incorporating the worship of ancestors and nature spirits and a belief in sacred power of Kami (A divine being) in both animate and inanimate objects.

The stylised gate guarding the entrance to this Shinto shrine incorporates Fengshui principles to keep evil spirits out.  As our guide explained the Japanese are very superstitious and will worship anything that will give them help.