Rakuchu is the area inside the long earthen walls that Toyotomi Hideyoshi built around it, which is known as Kyoto, and is currently the center of Kyoto City. Senbon Shakado is located very close to Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kamikyo-ku Kyoto.

The main hall, also a national treasure, was built in 1227 during the Kamakura period and is the oldest wooden structure to have survived even through the Onin War (1467-1477), the largest war of the Muromachi period, when most of the temples in Kyoto were burned down; spear marks can still be seen on the pillars of the main hall.

Many priceless cultural assets have been preserved here.

The wooden statues of the Six Kannnon Bodhisattvas were designated as national treasures last year. They are Kannon statues that bring salvation to humans in the six worlds known as the Six Paths after death. All six statues have been preserved, including their pedestals and halos.

In addition, there are statues of the ten great disciples of Buddha, created by the great Kamakura period sculptor Kaikei.

The ten figures, each with unique faces and poses, complete with fine details such as veins and ripples in the skin, are a strong reminder of the magnificent talent and artistic vision of Japanese sculptor, Kaikei. Having never seen a person of Indian descent before, it is both astonishing and an inexplainable mystery as to how he was able to perfectly produce these clearly Indian disciple statues.

After that, we visited Kitano Tenmagu Shrine. This shrine dates back to the Heian period, about 1000years ago. The cypress bark roof is beautiful.

We stopped by Kamishichiken, an ocha-machi district that stretches along the east approach to Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, and we were drawn in by an oden sign and went into an izakaya called “Jirokichi”, where we were very pleased with the delicate oden broth and cold beer.