（日本語は後半にあります）
【English】
Last Sunday, I visited Monzennakacho. Monzennakacho is the name of a subway station and a place in Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
After dropping my elder son off at juku (cram school), my second son and I took a look around the station area, and it turned out to be an unexpectedly wonderful excursion!
Monzennakacho is also famous for Tomioka Hachiman Shrine!
Take the Toei Oedo Line or the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line, get off at Monzennakacho Station, and it takes about 5 minutes on foot to get there. Tomioka Hachiman-gu Shrine is a historic shrine founded in the Edo period (1603-1867), and is loved by many people as the sole guardian of Fukagawa... However, in recent years, there have been incidents of murder and injury caused by family troubles among the family members of the shrine's priest, and many people may have mixed feelings about the shrine, despite its glamorous atmosphere.
In this post, I would like to introduce the precincts of Tomioka Hachiman Shrine and the antique market that was being held at the right time😉
Otorii Gate
The first thing that surprised me was this Otorii gate. As you can see from the photo, it is a rather large torii (gate), and when I looked it up after returning home, I found that it is 10 meters long!
The tall, large, bright red torii gate is powerful.
Many lanterns displayed in front of the torii gate.
Statue of Tadataka Ino
A little further on, you will see the famous statue of Tadataka Ino.
Ino Tadataka is famous as the man who surveyed the entire country and created a precise map of Japan in the late Edo period. Thinking about it again, he must have had tremendous perseverance and good legs to walk and create a map of Japan. I will try to follow his example and walk as much as I can🤣
And it is said that Tomioka Hachiman-gu Shrine was the place that Tadataka Ino always visited when he went on his surveying trips. Therefore, Tomioka Hachiman-gu Shrine is also said to be blessed with travel safety.
Main Shrine
Continue straight ahead and you will come to the main shrine.
It was a cold day with low temperatures and a chilly wind, but the green and red shrine pavilions looked good against the blue sky!
Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine has katashiro (paper for purification). Katashiro is a piece of paper on which one writes one's name and age, strokes one's body or blows on it to transfer impurities, and returns it to the shrine to purify it.
My six-year-old son's eyes lit up when he saw the katashiro, and he took a pencil and began to write his name and age on it. He then stroked his whole body three times with the object, blew on it three more times, and put it in the box.
By this time I was already tooooo cold, so after visiting the main shrine I headed to a nearby shopping mall. There we warmed up with donuts and coffee, and after killing some time, we went back to the shrine again. I wanted to check out the antique market👀
Antique Market
The antique market in the precincts of Tomioka Hachiman Shrine is held on the first, second, fourth, and fifth Sundays of each month. This day was just the fourth Sunday in December, and since the market is not held on the 29th at the end of the year, it was the last one held during the year.
To be honest, I am not so interested in antiques. The ones for sale are dusty and many of them look like junk... I even have the impression that antique figurines and accessories are somehow cursed and scary.
Since we had a lot of time on that day, we enjoyed looking around.
However, most of the accessories I liked were expensive (50,000-60,000 yen), and I had to run away from the store when the elegant shopkeeper recommended white flower earrings to me.
The metronome my second son wanted was also 20,000 yen, which we couldn't afford😅
Although the antique market was informed that it would be open until 5:00 p.m., it appeared that many stores had begun to close down after 3:00 p.m. If you go there for shopping, it would be better to visit earlier in the day.
Conclusion
In the end, I bought an unused HARIO tea press (but with flaking plating) and a boxwood comb, and my second son bought a rooster and hen ceramic bell. I think we were able to make a fairly safe purchase for about 1,500 yen combined😮💨
It was somewhat interesting and there may be some bargains to be had, so I would like to go back after doing a little more research on antiques!
.
【Japanese】
日曜日は長男の塾の集中講座があり、門前仲町方面へ出かけました。
講座は模試と授業、合わせて6時間ほどかかるため、その間次男を連れて塾周辺で時間をつぶさなければなりませんでした。
門前仲町といえば、やはり有名なのは富岡八幡宮！都営大江戸線か東京メトロ東西線の門前仲町駅で下車し、徒歩約5分で到着します。富岡八幡宮は江戸時代に創建された歴史ある神社で、深川の総鎮守として多くの人々に親しまれています・・・が、近年では宮司一家の親族間トラブルによる殺傷事件も起きており、神社の華やかな雰囲気とは裏腹に、少し考えてしまう部分もあるかな・・・😅
今回は富岡八幡宮境内の様子と、タイミングよく開催されていた骨董市について紹介したいと思います。
大鳥居
まず、びっくりしたのがこちらの大鳥居でした。写真からかなり大きな鳥居であることが分かると思いますが、帰ってから調べてみるとなんと10メートルもあるそうです！
高く、大きく、真っ赤な鳥居は迫力があります。
鳥居の前に飾られていたたくさんの提灯。
伊能忠敬像
少し進むと、有名な伊能忠敬像が目に入ります。
伊能忠敬は、江戸時代後期に日本全国を測量し精密な日本地図を作成した人物として有名です。改めて考えると、歩いて日本地図作成って🤣すさまじい根気と、健脚ですよね。彼を見習い、私もウォーキングを頑張ろう！（違
で、その伊能忠敬が測量旅行に出かける際に必ず参拝したのが富岡八幡宮だったとのこと。だから富岡八幡宮には、旅行安全のご利益もあるとされています。
本殿
そのまままっすぐ進むと本殿があります。
この日は気温が低く、風も冷たく感じる寒い日でしたが、緑と赤い社殿が青空の下よく映えていました！
富岡八幡宮には形代（かたしろ）が置かれています。形代とは、自分の名前や年齢を書いて体を撫でたり息を吹きかけたりして穢れを移し、それを神社に納めることで清めを行う紙のこと。
6歳の次男は形代を見るなり目を輝かせ、鉛筆をとって自分の名前と年齢を書き始めました。そして、形代で全身を3回撫でた後、さらに息を3回吹きかけ、箱に収めました。
寒くて仕方がなかったので、お参りのあと一旦近くのショッピングモールへ向かいました。そこでドーナツとコーヒーで暖まり、少し時間をつぶした後再び神社へ戻りました。骨董市を見てみたかったからです。
骨董市
富岡八幡宮境内での骨董市は、毎月第1、第2、第4、第5日曜日に開催されています。この日はちょうど12月の第4日曜日で、年末の29日はお休みということで、年内最後の開催でした。
私は骨董品に特に興味があるわけではありません。売られているものは埃っぽいし、正直ガラクタ同然のものも結構多そう・・・アンティークの置物やアクセサリーには、なんとなく呪われそうで怖いという印象すら抱いています。
この日は時間を持て余していたこともあって、興味深く見て回ることができました。
ただアクセサリーは「いいな」と思うものはたいてい高く（5万とか、6万とか）、上品な女性の店主に白い花のイヤリングを勧められて、逃げるようにして店から離れたり。
次男が欲しがったメトロノームも2万円と、とても買えませんでした😅
骨董市は一応17時までとなってはいたものの、15時を過ぎると撤収を始めているお店が多いように見えました。買い物目的で行く場合は、早めの時間帯に訪れたほうが良さそうです。
おわりに
最終的に、私は未使用のHARIOのティープレス（ただしメッキの剥がれあり）と柘植櫛を、次男は雄鶏と牝鶏の陶器製の鈴を購入。合わせて1,500円くらいと、まあまあ安全な買い物ができたと思います。
何だかんだ面白かったし、掘り出し物もあるかもしれないので、骨董品についてもう少し調べてからもう一度行ってみたいです🥰（寒くない日に・・・）
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I also think some of the items in antique shops are cursed! Oh my, we might have been watching too many horror films haha
Before traveling next time, I’ll make sure to stop by and pray at this shrine hehe
Oh yes!I once saw a movie about a family that suffered a tragedy because they bought something old at an antique market!
Antiques are a little scary because you don't know the previous owner or the background😂
Wao
😉
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Hiya, @lauramica here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2420.
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Hi, @lauramica and @worldmppin team!
Thank you for visitimg my post🧡
Very very happy and motivated!
You are very welcome @go-kyo! it was well deserved. ☀️
Keep up the great work 💪
Beautiful place.