Ryōgoku

Finally, we moved to Chūō-ku from Chiyoda-ku. And at the first weekend in Chūō-ku , we went to Ryōgoku, where is most famous for sumo stadium: Kokugikan. Our purpose was not sumo, but Edo Tokyo Museum, which is adjacent to the Kokugikan.


It's a museum of the history of Tokyo during the Edo period. The museum building is quite unique, which is modelled after an old storehouse in the Kurazukuri style.

In the museum, a big Kumade welcomed us. Kumade (the bamboo rake) is a good luck symbol, which is decorated with replicas of gold coins, seven gods etc. 


Unfortunately, the permanent exhibitions are closed due to repair works. But we enjoyed the special exhibit 'Explore! Experience! Edo-Tokyo'. After we walked around several areas in Tokyo, it was nice to know about old Tokyo in the Edo period. 

We had a tea at a cafe in the museum. The big mouse had a swiss roll and coffee, and I had warabimochi and hojicha.



There are some spots to visit in Ryogoku. We got a map and visited Nominosukune shrine. It's a shrine which is dedicated to Nomi-no-Sukune, a Japanese legendary sumo wrestler. Different from the image of big wrestler, this shrine is small and lovely.



Also, there is a birthplace of Katsushika Hokusai(1760-1849), a famous Japanese ukiyo-e artist. Nothing really remains, but this information board.


We bought Arare near there; a type of bite-sized Japanese cracker made from glutinous rice. Yummy...



We enjoyed strolling around the Ryogoku area. It was the day of 'Tokyo Marathon 2015'. We witnessed runners.


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