The presence of temples in Japan for deities that look and sound like Lord Ganesha point to a time when Buddhism and Hinduism were intertwined
Current Affairs : Asakusa is the focal point of Tokyo’s shitamachi (truly “low city”), where an environment fragrant with the city’s past endures. Asakusa’s principle fascination is Sensō-ji, an extremely well known Buddhist sanctuary, worked in the seventh century. The section to the sanctuary is through the Nakamise, a shopping road notable for its wood-square prints, neighborhood snacks, customary kimonos and hanging paper lights.
It was 1995. I was on one of my initial visits to Japan. While searching for the standard touristy knickknacks at the swarmed Nakamise keepsake shops, I got into a discussion with a youthful Japanese woman who talked great English and was interested about the Ganesha tee I was wearing. As we got talking she guided me toward a sanctuary on a slight hillock close by saying I could meet Lord Ganesha in that spot in Tokyo as well! I was astonished and charmed.
Matsuchiyama Shoden (additionally called the Honryūin Temple), balanced on a low peak manages the Sumidagawa waterway and was deified in one of Utagawa Hiroshige’s acclaimed Ukiyo-e (woodblock works of art). This sanctuary of the Tendai Sect of Buddhism, the traveler data board stated, was doubtlessly settled in 601 AD (even maybe in 595 AD according to different records). Truly, that is more established than the principle Sensō-ji sanctuary of Asakusa (which was most presumably settled in 645 AD). Matsuchiyama Shoden is a Ganesha sanctuary, devoted to Kangiten.
The Japanese god Kangiten acquires numerous names and qualities from the Hindu god Ganesha. He is known as Bināyaka-ten fundamentally the same as our Hindu Vinayaka; the Japanese names for the God – Ganabachi and Ganwha sound very much like Ganesha. Like Ganesha, Bināyaka is likewise the remover of impediments, and when appealed to, he should offer favorable circumstances on fans, shower flourishing, give achievement and great wellbeing to all. Likewise, Bināyaka-ten in Japan is supposed to be the destroyer of Evil; a reference point of profound quality. Exploration gives me that there is one more moniker for Ganesha … Shō-ten or Āryadeva, the harbinger of good karma and fortune. So much for similitudes.
Aditi Mehta 