One Hundred Famous Views of Edo No.99Kinryuzan (temple) at Asakusa

In 628, two fishermen brothers went fishing in the Miyato River, which flowed east of Asakusa and was a part of the Sumida River. To their surprise, a small golden Buddhist statue known as Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy and only 5.5 cm in height, was caught in the nets they had cast into the river. They took the statue to their master’s house. The master, realizing it was sacrilegious to throw it away, enshrined it in an altar in his house. A Buddhist priest, while making a pilgrimage through various districts 17 years later, visited the house. Having heard the story of the statue, he built a special temple to enshrine it.
The temple became known as Kinryuzan Sensoji. When people refer to the temple, they call it either Kinryuzan or Sensoji. In olden times, most temples were established on mountains, and it was a custom to place the name of the mountain before the name of the temple. But in case of Sensoji, Kinryuzan, meaning “a golden dragon mountain”, became the nom de plume. The name Kinryu was said to have derived from a legend that tells of a mysterious golden dragon which once upon a time descended from heaven to this temple. The first part of the second name, senso, is actually the Chinese pronunciation of the characters used, the Japanese pronunciation being Asakusa. Accordingly, the town which developed around the temple was called Asakusa. It was the most thriving pleasure centre in Edo because it was home to the licensed quarters of New Yoshiwara and kabuki theatres north of the temple.
This print shows a snowy scene viewed from Raijin-mon (the gate of the God of Thunder) into the temple grounds. One can see the Niwo-mon’ (the “Deva gate”), another entrance whose roof is thickly covered with snow, and the five-storied pagoda on its right. Even in cold weather people came to worship at the temple. The visitors are plodding their way to the main building through the thick snow. From Raijin-mon in the foreground hangs a huge red lantern. On the bottom half, a Chinese character meaning “hashi” (bridge) is inscribed. The lantern was most probably donated to the temple by someone who lived at Shinbashi, meaning “new bridge”, close to Edo castle.