 |
| Remembering the Dead |
 |
| Memorial Tombs, Black Cat Sitting on Top |
In the northern part of Tokyo, near Ueno (say "Way No") is a small Buddhist temple called Jokan Ji. It is hard to find, tucked on a side street. The temple's building is surrounded by scaffolding and is undergoing renovation. We took a peek into the temple office and saw a robed monk painting calligraphy with a paintbrush, surrounded by piles of papers and books in a musty cluttered room. The main attraction at the temple is the cemetery and its history. Around the time of the 1650s, Tokyo was known as Edo. The area surrounding the temple was overcrowded with brothels made of straw and paper. Buried in the cemetery are people who died in the frequent fires, one wave of which killed a reported 100,000 people. The temple cemetery also memorializes the courtesans who were tossed over the temple wall, rolled in straw mats after outliving their usefulness, whether they were dead or alive. (The "or alive" part of the story was published in Lonely Planet Guide for Tokyo, but I didn't see that part of the story mentioned in anything else I read). A black cat posed on top of one of the memorials just as I snapped a picture.