Symbol of strength

While walking from Nezu Jinja (Nezu Shrine) to Ueno Park, just a 15 minute walk, my family happened upon Yanesen Gyokurin Temple (also known as Gyokurinji).  Temples are so common in Japan, we don't always stop and wander around.  Depending on our agenda, we tend to walk right past.  On our walk, we were stopping in a lot of really neat shops selling traditional Japanese crafts, rice crackers, and even a bath stop selling wooden baths and bath supplies.  After a while, my husband got tired of my shopping spirit.  He wanted to get to our destination. 

Despite being ready to get a move on, we halted when we saw the entrance to Yanesen Gyokurin Temple.  Something told us we should go inside. 

There were cherry trees lining the walkway.  As the breeze gently blew, we experienced what we like to call "sakura snow" or cherry blossoms falling from the trees in graceful, snow-like patterns.  It is really beautiful (but really hard to capture in a photo).

Once we made it inside, we were greeted by something that we wouldn't normally expect to see in a temple - a life-sized statue of one of the great sumo champions. 

Chiyonofuji rose to the rank of yokozuna (the highest rank in sumo) in 1981.  He was the 58th person to earn this ranking.  He was a very slim sumo wrestler, standing 6 feet tall and only weighing 270 pounds.  But his "small size" did not inhibit him.  He was a winner.  Chiyonofuji is remembered for having 1045 total wins in his career, including 53 consecutive wins between May and November in 1988. 

People thought so highly of Chiyonofuji, they awarded him the Japanese National Honor Award.  The statue was erected in 2011 in honor of the award.

Chiyonofuji passed away in 2016 after battling pancreatic cancer.  He was 61 years old.

My son was super excited to see the statue of Chiyonofuji.  Since moving to Japan, he has become a sumo fan.  We had no idea the statue was located there, so it was fun to discover something unexpected. 

At the end of the day, we had seen a lot and had a great day.  When I asked my son what his favorite thing of the day was, he sincerely said "seeing the sumo statue."