Close by to the Tsukiji fish market (in the same district) is the Kanto main temple of the Jodo Shinshu denomination of Buddhism. The first temple was built in the 15th century and was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1657. Permission to rebuild on the original site was denied by the shogunate, and the followers were instead given a parcel of land off the shoreline of Hatchobori, which any Tokyo resident can now tell you is a good half a kilometer from Tokyo Bay. Low and behold, devotees reclaimed the land from the sea and called it “Tsukiji,” which means constructed land. Alas, the new temple was destroyed 250 years later in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Another temple was built on the site in 1934, but this time the architects looked to India for inspiration.

Lo and behold one of Tokyo’s most unique temples (click the pictures for enlarged versions).

• BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
• « This Week in Germany II
• » Fisking Award of the Month