Tour Day One - Asakusa

We arrived for lunch in Asakusa's market district.

We had a little time to buy some presents before heading along the street to Senso-Ji.

The Buddhist Temple is beautiful and we took some time to pay our respects. We offered some loose change as a donation, bowed in respect and then began the purification ritual.

We stood at the sacred fountain and cleansed each hand in turn by pouring a small pan of water over each. We then purchased a small pack of incense (for 100¥), lit them and brought them to the offering shrine. As we had seen others doing, we then wafted the smoke over ourselves as an act of purification.

Taking part wasn't a set part of the tour and I believe we may have been the only two in our group to do so, but it was a very special experience.