Tokyo, Japan: The Sensoji Temple - A Guide to Getting Your Fortune Told

In case you haven't realised, I very much enjoy visiting shrines and temples (and museums and zoos!) around Japan. Practically every temple I went offered fortune-telling services and I had my first fortune, or omikuji, told at Sensoji, in Asakusa. It is one of the few temples that provide English-translated fortunes. Other temples may offer fortunes in languages like Korean or Chinese, if you are lucky. The Japanese omikuji  practice is very similar to the 求签 practice in Chinese temples.

Here's a guide to buying your omikuji fortune at Sensoji (As a follow up to The Meiji Shrine – A Guide to Visiting Shinto Shrines).

Here is the 'box' filled with numbered lots (or sticks) that you shake out politely after dropping a token 100 yen. And the 99 drawers in the background.

Omikuji is numbered and printed on a thin strip of paper,  and placed into neat drawers in Sensoji  (in other temples, you pick a rolled strip from a box or it is dispensed from a machine). The English translation is printed on the other side.

A very, very quick way to judge your fortune is to look out for the 'grade' of your omikuji - 大 吉 (Very Lucky), 吉 (Lucky), 凶 (Unlucky), and 大 凶 (Very Unlucky).

My Fortune - Lot 99 (大 吉)

... the omikuji tells your fortune in various grades ranging from great blessing to ill luck, and comes with detailed explanations concerning your prospects in health, love, money matters and so on. Some omikuji, rather than telling your fortune, contain a poem that comes with an explanation of a moral.

With more international visitors also going to shrines or temples now, many omikuji are available in English. At Kushida Shrine in Fukuoka, or at Kyoto’s Kinkaku-ji Temple, omikuji written in Korean or Chinese are also for sale. Will you try your luck and see what your fortune will be?

From what I observed, you can keep your omikuji if the fortune is good, otherwise, tie in neatly on the wire rack.

Lastly, I love how Sensoji provides a disclaimer about omikuji - Whether in good or bad fortune, you shuld tenaciously do your best. You can carve out your own fortune. Good luck!

Asakusa

Cost: free

Access: Asakusa Station

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• Check out and deposit luggage at Tokyo Station
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Tokyo, Japan: Asakusa

Asakusa's main attraction has to be Sensoji, probably Japan's most famous and popular Temple. To get to the temple from Asakusa station, one must first wander pass the Kaminari and Hozo Gates, along the more traditional Nakamise or the covered Shin ('new') Nakamise Shopping Streets, and jostle with the boisterous crowd. It's truly an experience not to be missed!

Kaminari Gate with the huge red lantern

Along Nakamise Street - The Sights

Along Nakamise Street - The Buys

If you know your Anpan (bread)

Along Nakamise Street - The Food

I just had to try some 'Human-Shaped Cakes'.

Hozo Gate

Temple Grounds

More Food

A Glimpse of Shin Namikase Street

Asakusa

Cost: free

Access: Asakusa Station

Related Posts:

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Japan Day 5 – Tokyo, Day 5: 

• Check out and deposit luggage at Tokyo Station
• Asakusa
• Sensoji Temple
• Ueno Park
• Ueno Zoo
• Tokyo National Museum

Tokyo, Japan: Tokyo Station

If you think Tokyo Station, which turns a century old come 2014, is huge above ground, it is even bigger underground. Tokyo Station connects the Shinkansen (high speed bullet train), railway, metro and intercity bus, making it one of the busiest terminal stations in Japan. No surprises, it is easy to get lost, or more aptly, distracted, in the labyrinth of underground passageways.

On top of all these, now it even integrates a hotel!

The classic exterior facade

Maple trees line the streets outside the station, and boy, are the leaves huge!

Inside

I could watch this change for a day (maybe just half).

There were many, many shops...

(Singapore's Mr Bean beyond our sunny shores, in bitter-cold Tokyo.)

...but I was more enamored with departmental store basements (the food section!).

The exterior, after dark

As with EVERY train station in Tokyo, there's bound to be lockers, much less in Tokyo Station (since it connects cities). And when even hundreds of lockers are taken, there's always the trusty baggage storage (be warned: the queue can get very long!).

Tokyo Station

Cost: free

Access: Tokyo Station

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• Tsukiji Fish Market
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• Oedo Onsen Monogatari (Onsen, a godsend in winter)
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• Akihabara