Kaminarimon, Asakusa, c. 1910.



1910sHistoric DistrictTransportation
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Kaminarimon, Asakusa, Tokyo, c. 1910.

Kaminarimon, Asakusa, Tokyo, c. 1910. The avenue running perpendicular to the Nakamise arcade is known as Kaminarimon-dori. The outer gate leading into the Nakamise approach to the Asakusa Kannon had burned down in an 1865 fire and was not replaced until 1960.

See also:
Panoramic view of Asakusa, c. 1910
Entrance of Asakusa Temple (Nakamise), c. 1910
Tokyo Streetcars (Tokyo Toden), c. 1910-1920

“In ‘Playing Streetcar,’ children lined up one behind another, a circle of thin string encircling them as they ran in step. ‘Ting-ting! A streetcar is going.’ That was all there was to this game, but we all ran from one alley to another and forgot the passage of time until dark. Children could buy scissors and red third-class play train tickets at a candy store, and the child who had them was entitled to be the conductor.”

My Asakusa: Coming of Age in Pre-War Tokyo, Sadako Sawamura, 2000

From the wiki: “The Kaminari-mon [thunder gate] was first built in 941 by Taira no Kinmasa a military commander. It was originally located near Komagata, but it was reconstructed in its current location in 1635. The gate has been destroyed many times throughout the ages. Four years after its relocation, the Kaminarimon burned down. In 1649 Tokugawa Iemitsu rebuilt the gate along with several other of the major structures in the Asakusa temple complex. The gate burnt to the ground in 1757 and again in 1865. The Kaminarimon’s current structure dates from 1960.”

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