Delicious Dorayaki and Fujizuka Mound in Higashi-Jujo
1. Today's Walking Course
I came to Higashi-Jujo. Today, I will get very delicious Dorayaki and climb up Fujizuka Mound.
2. Today's Photographies
Now, I am in front of Sougetsu sweet shop. Dorayaki of this shop is regarded as one of the three major Dorayaki in Tokyo.
This is Dorayaki. It is a pancake filled with Azuki bean jam. Since it looks Chinese gong called “Dora” in Japanese, the name of this sweet is “Dorayaki”. This Dorayaki is very tasty!!
After getting Dorayaki, I will stroll around Higashi-Jujo.
Look! There is a Jizo Stone Statue. Jizo is a traveler's guardian deity and set on roads. People used to pray to Jizo for travel safety.
There are a lot of slopes around here.
There is a shopping street.
This building is a Shinohara Engei Theater. We can watch traditional performance such as singing and dancing at reasonable price here. Here is one of the few Engei Theaters in Tokyo.
Now I arrived at Fujizuka Mound.
This way is the formal entrance.
There are some stones engraved letters. It looks so spiritual.
The view from the top is just like this.
There is a small shrine on the top.
3. History
Fujizuka Mounds are miniature of Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan. The picture below is Mt. Fuji. During the 17 century to the 19th century in Edo Era, many Fujizuka Mounds were made in order to worship at Mt. Fuji.
At that time, it was believed that people could get the good luck by climbing up Fujizuka even though they didn’t climb up Mt. Fuji. That is why many people often climbed up Fujizuka Mounds as the following picture depicted in Edo Era (the following picture is for Fujizuka in Meguro, not Higashi-Jujo's).
Although many mounds were destroyed during the high economic growth from 1960s to 1980s, there are still about 50 Fuji Mounds in Tokyo and HIgashi-Jujo’s is one of them.
4. Information
・Closest station to Sougetsu sweet shop is Higashi-Juo Station, JR Keihin Tohoku Line. The shop is open from 9am to 7pm everyday. Dorayaki is 120yen.
