Half day -Shibamata Tour

Shibamata is located in Katushika ward, the east side of Tokyo. It takes about 30 minutes from the central Tokyo. Shibamata is famous for Shibamata Taisyakuten (temple), and Yagirino Watashi (wooden ferry) where remains old atmosphere of the early 20th century. It is also well known for a movie shooting location of a Japanese famous movie 'Otokowa turaiyo (It's tough being a man)' which spanning 48 installments broadcasted from 1967 to 1995.

We'll visit three main attractions of this place- Shibamata Taishyaku Ten Temple, Sculpture Gallery & Japanese Garden, and Yamamototei (Traditional Japanese house). You can enjoy a cup of powdered green tea at Yamamoto-tei.

If the weather is good, we might have a chance to ride on a small wooded ferry called Yagirino Watashi and we will across the Edogawa river.

The main street toward the temple startd from Shibamata station. Many restaurants featuring broiled eel, soba noodle, tempura and Japanese snacks-(such as mugwart dumplings and rice crackers) located on this street. You can enjoy eating these snacks while walking to the temple. This district wasn't seriously damaged during the war, so many historical buildings are still well remained. Many restaurants and shops have more than 100 years old history and keep the nostalgic atmosphere.

When you reach the end of the street, the great wooden carving gate called 'Niten mon' welcomes you. You may be surprised by the detailed carving techniques and skills on this gate and the mail hall.

Shibamata Taisyakuten is famous as a sculpture temple. The　present mail hall was built in 1929. It is decorated with excellent detailed sculptures which it is worth seeing. In front of the mail hall, there are several other attractions of this temple such as a magnificent pine tree which is said to be about 500 years old, a statue of Bodhisattva which is believed to cure your illness when visitors rub the statue, and the sacred water which is drinkable and you can get the god's blessing.

One of the highlights of our tour is the Sculpture Gallery. It is designated as a tangible cultural asset in 1991. There are 10 large panels of wooden sculpture expressing the story of Hokekyo Buddhism sutra. Each panel was carved by 10 different sculptors. Especially, the great wave carving is excellent which was carved by 4th and 5th Namino Ihachi. Namino Ihachi was the famous and expert sculptor who was very good at carving waves.

If you already finished sightseeing the central city of Tokyo and still have time, this tour will be a very good opportunity to learn more about other aspect of Tokyo!

I am very looking forward to meeting you in my tour.

Thank you! Arigatou!!