Asakusa is a magnet for those who love old-time Tokyo. Like a theater full of excitement and festivity in praise of old Edo, Asakusa Kannon Temple and the surrounding business district are vibrant year-round, attracting on average 35 million people a year. This two-part article will take an in-depth look at Asakusa's glorious past and provide a guide to its current attractions.
A typical monzen machi, meaning a town in front of the gate of a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine, Asakusa has expanded around Asakusa Kannon, known as Senso-ji, into a far larger area. Given the physical devastation the area repeatedly suffered during its thousand-year history, Asakusa's ongoing vivacity is remarkable. And despite its continued prosperity, Senso-ji has remained a people's temple true to its legendary founding by local fishermen.
The oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Senso-ji originated with a castaway statue netted by two fisherman brothers while fishing in what is now called the Sumida River. The date of this event is said to be 628 A.D., only 90 years after the official introduction of Buddhism to Nara in 538. The head of the fishermen's village recognized the rare find as an image of Kannon, the Buddhist deity of compassion for human suffering, and enshrined it in his home.