Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

Religion

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Praying for Prada?

There’s often doubt cast on the authenticity of monks sometimes seen praying on Tokyo’s streets, with suspicions that more than a few of them are elaborately dressed fraudsters merely after some money; the validity of either the doubters, or indeed those possibly doing the praying, I personally have no way of proving.

So, with this in mind, and considering that he was photographed in Tokyo’s glitzy and brand-driven Ginza district, this particular man may well have been preoccupied with nothing more spiritual than a Prada emblazoned bag, but, for reasons I can’t really explain, I think he could be for real.

Buddhist monk in Ginza

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Totally unhappy temple cat

Sunning itself by a temple, I assumed that this relaxing cat may have absorbed a bit of Zen-like behaviour, but, unless it was merely a bit peeved that I messed up its meditation, it appears it might not have.

Japanese temple cat

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Omikuji matters?

During the early days of January in particular, when it seems the whole nation moves en masse to a shrine or temple, picking an omikuji (randomly chosen fortune) is a very popular practice indeed, with even the purchasing of one being quite pleasant.

New Year omikuji

The only trouble is, having read them from a very early age, an especially bad one can wind up being a bit of a worry for some.

New Year omikuji

Fortunately, however, these can be conveniently tied onto something appropriate, and happily forgotten.

New Year omikuji

Hopefully.

New Year omikuji

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Private prayers

There are temples and shrines all over the place in Tokyo, and yet as a whole, the Japanese really aren’t all that religious. Superstitious, on the other hand, may well be a different story, but pious? Probably not.

Come New Year’s Day, however, an absolutely massive number of people head to one of these many places of worship and rather refreshingly eat, drink, have a really good time, and even pray for something they could do with in the coming year: money maybe, or a decent score in a dreaded exam.

But for some, less of a scene and much more silence is what’s called for, and fortunately for this fella, he found such a place.

Tokyo shrine prayers