23 Seven Gods Walk – Tsudanuma

This 10km walk is not one of the best in the book…even the book pictures don’t look great. In all of the 30 I would say it is in the bottom third. You would really only do this walk if…

a. You live near-by
b. You are really bored
c. You have an insane idea to complete all the walks in the book!

So here is the map:

There are no real “outstanding” stops along this walk, though there is an interesting distraction. So on with the walk. I completed this walk at the end of July and it was HOT. It really was not worth doing this walk in hard walking weather, but I fall into category three… Anyway, the walk takes place around Tsudanuma, all Wikipedia has on the area is “Tsudanuma is a residential area, largely by virtue of being a commuter suburb of Tokyo. It is mentioned in Haruki Murakami‘s novels 1Q84 and Sputnik Sweetheart.” And that is the entire entry, though I am sure the people from the area love it and its shrines.

The first stop is the home of Bishamonten, a recent home..he only moved in in 1966. Even though there are no special stops…each one has a shrine that has a glass door. So for once, you can see all the actual effigies.

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There was a statue in the shrine, but my picture didn’t come out due to reflection 😦 In this shrine, there were little statues of all the gods. All the statues seem to be made of wood.

The next stop is dedicated to Ebisu and is quite close to the first one. It was established in 1532.

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The next stop is also quite close…after that, the distance between the stops increases to about 2km which is tiring in the heat. The third stop is dedicated to Fukurokuju and was established around 1704. This stop was my favourite of sorts for the walk. It has a beautiful green roof.

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The fourth stop is dedicated to Daikoku. There were a few large stone slabs at this site and a beautiful wooden house behind it.

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The fifth stop, dedicated to Hotei, doesn’t look like the picture in the book as it has undergone recent refurbishment…. and was my least favourite….due to a great big dog that ran straight at me and frightened the life out of me. All bark and teeth..then I heard the lovely sound of a chain becoming taut….. I waited for it to really hold. Then, breathing out slowly and making the yama kanji sign with my fingers.

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The book says the site was established in around 1716, but obviously, this isn’t the original shrine. Here is the home of Hotei though.

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On the walk to the next shrine I passed a weird display outside a house. Weird, but rather neat and I thought I would add it to the map and blog. Everything seemed to be made out of PET bottles and cans.

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Cool eh?

The sixth stop for Benzaiten is a cute little shrine with an appropriate pondly home for her. It was established around 1673. To see the actual statue you have to cross a tiny stone bridge.

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An interloper! Hello Hotei…are you telling jokes to Benzaiten?

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Seems not.

And finally stop number seven which looks like a brand new shrine, there is no date in the book. Lucky Jurojin…a little unlucky for me as the clouds finally unleashed their heavy load.

IMG_1011 Luckily I was prepared with a waterproof bag and an umbrella!

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And that is it. The end of the walk is right next to a station which was awesome!

As for me…5 walks to go!