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The temple is approached via Nakamise-dôri (仲見世通), a long street today lined with market stalls selling pseudo-traditional tourist goods such as folding fans, yukata, and costume geisha wigs, along with traditional sweets such as [[manju]], and other non-traditional merchandise. The market extends on both sides to other streets running parallel to Nakamise-dôri. At the entrance to Nakamise-dôri (at the opposite end from the temple's main worship hall) is the famous Kaminarimon (雷門, "Thunder Gate"). The red gate with its large paper lantern is an extremely common sight in guidebooks, tourist pamphlets and the like; the lantern is red, and inscribed with "Kaminari mon" on the front, and "Fûraijinmon" (lit. "Wind and Thunder Gods Gate") on the reverse. The gate is said to date to [[942]], when it was first built by [[Taira no Kinmasa]], and was originally located elsewhere, but was relocated to its current location in [[1635]] and rebuilt and expanded in [[1649]] by the [[Tokugawa shogunate]]. It has been destroyed time and again, as have most of the city's sights, and the current reconstructed version of the gate dates to 1960. Installed inside the gate are statues of Raijin and Fûjin (Gods of Thunder and Wind) on the front, and Tenryû and Kinryû on the reverse.

The temple is approached via Nakamise-dôri (仲見世通), a long street today lined with market stalls selling pseudo-traditional tourist goods such as folding fans, yukata, and costume geisha wigs, along with traditional sweets such as [[manju]], and other non-traditional merchandise. The market extends on both sides to other streets running parallel to Nakamise-dôri. At the entrance to Nakamise-dôri (at the opposite end from the temple's main worship hall) is the famous Kaminarimon (雷門, "Thunder Gate"). The red gate with its large paper lantern is an extremely common sight in guidebooks, tourist pamphlets and the like; the lantern is red, and inscribed with "Kaminari mon" on the front, and "Fûraijinmon" (lit. "Wind and Thunder Gods Gate") on the reverse. The gate is said to date to [[942]], when it was first built by [[Taira no Kinmasa]], and was originally located elsewhere, but was relocated to its current location in [[1635]] and rebuilt and expanded in [[1649]] by the [[Tokugawa shogunate]]. It has been destroyed time and again, as have most of the city's sights, and the current reconstructed version of the gate dates to 1960. Installed inside the gate are statues of Raijin and Fûjin (Gods of Thunder and Wind) on the front, and Tenryû and Kinryû on the reverse.

After walking down Nakamise-dôri, one comes to the Treasure Storehouse Gate, or ''Hôzômon'' (宝蔵門), and beyond that, a plaza with a large incense burner in the center, flanked by small buildings where ''[[miko]]'' (shrine maidens) sell ''[[omikuji]]'' (fortunes), ''[[omamori]]'' (protection charms), and the like. Beyond this plaza is the main worship hall, where, supposedly, the Kannon statue retrieved so many centuries ago is still enshrined.

After walking down Nakamise-dôri, one comes to the Treasure Storehouse Gate, or ''Hôzômon'' (宝蔵門), and beyond that, a plaza with a large incense burner in the center, flanked by small buildings where ''[[miko]]'' (shrine maidens) sell ''[[omikuji]]'' (fortunes), ''[[omamori]]'' (protection charms), and the like. Beyond this plaza is the main worship hall (''hondô''), where, supposedly, the Kannon statue retrieved so many centuries ago is still enshrined.

A five-story pagoda stands to the left of the main worship hall; beyond the main hall, the complex includes numerous smaller structures and sculptures, not all of them religious works.

A five-story pagoda stands to the left of the main worship hall; the pagoda, along with the main hall, were named [[National Treasures]] in [[1907]], but were destroyed in 1945 and are no longer designated as such in their postwar reconstructed forms.<ref>Gallery label, "Oni-gawara of the Main Ridge Tile of Sensoji Kannon Temple," Edo-Tokyo Museum.</ref>

 

Beyond the main hall, the complex includes numerous smaller structures and sculptures, not all of them religious works.

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*Plaques on-site.

*Plaques on-site.

*"Sensô-ji." ''Sekai daihyakka jiten'' 世界大百科事典. Hitachi Solutions, 2012.

*"Sensô-ji." ''Sekai daihyakka jiten'' 世界大百科事典. Hitachi Solutions, 2012.

==External Links==

==External Links==