I never get tired of visiting the avenues of Zojo-ji’s lovely, colorful Jizo figures with their spinning pinwheels. Zojo-ji Temple is also the site of seven shoguns’ graves and a fine place to see grand public holiday celebrations and torchlight Noh drama in the summertime.
These little guys make me a little melancholy, because they’re for the spirits of lost children, but they are so lovingly clothed and cared for by the families that put them there, they’re cheery as well.
-
The little shrine for burning incense
-
Burial place of seven shoguns. It’s only open on special holidays, but around the corner, you can peek over the fence. 
The temple itself is magnificent, and sells many interesting charms and amulets at the temple shop.
-
Temple workers waiting to be blessed on Setsubun.
-
Inside: grandeur
•
While you’re in Japan, read a novel set in Tokyo!
“A genuinely gripping crime thriller which wrong-foots and perplexes the reader throughout, drawing us in emotionally . . . Highly recommended.”
Tokyo beyond the guidebooks 