Reunion @ Chinatown (2) / Yokohama

(Continued from previous posting)
Let me show you other photos I took at Yokohama Chinatown.

Kantei byou(in mandarin: Guan Di Miao) is located in the center of the Chinatown. This temple enshrines the historical hero Kan-u(Guan Yu). As my friend Kazu mentioned in his comment on the previous posting, you can see Kantei byou temple in most of the Chinatown all around the world.

Kan-u was a real warload of ancient China who was active in the end of 2 centuries ~ the beginning of 3rd centuries. And also, he is a very popular character in the historical novel Sangoku-shi (Sanguozhi Yanyi / Three Kingdom Saga).

Here is a question; why is the famous warrior Kan-u enshrined by Chinatown people although most of them are not military personnels but restaurant owners or merchants? Why do they pray to a warrior?
They say there are several reasons.
At1st, Kan-u has been a very attractive and popular hero. Chinese people(and other people who have read Sangoku-shi; including me) love Kan-u. That is why they have enshrined him.
2ndary, Kan-u has been credited with a person of honor who had a loyal heart. I heard that ancient Chinese people thought it was the most important part in their business, then, Kan-u became a god of business.
Does it make sense?

Can you see his face? I heard that his red face means loyal.

He had a long and beautiful whisker and was called Bizen-kou (Mei ran gong / Sir Handsome Whisker(?). Sorry for my awful translation. I would appreciate it, if anybody could tell me an appropriate English name. )

Kantei byou official site(Japanese)

Reunion @ Chinatown / Yokohama

Last Sunday, our family had a reunion at the Chinatown in Yokohama. My relatives on my father's side who live in Kanto area joined the party. The total 10 participants gathered, my parents, my causins & their son, my sister & her daughter, and I. Unfortunately, my daughter caught a cold, so she and my wife had to give up to join.

When I lived with my parents, we used to go to the Chinatown for treating the guest to lunch. Now I'm living in Tokyo and visit there less often than the past. I found there were some new findings in the town after quite an absense.

Maso byou
I'm not sure how I should introduce the name of this temple. "Maso byou" is Japanese name, but this is Chinese temple. In Chinese(Mandarin), this is "Mazu miao". However, in this Chinatown, people who speak Mandarin seem to be the one part of the population. Maybe there are people who speak Guangtonese, Sichuanese, Fujianese, Shanghainese, Taiwanese, etc. So, please allow me to write it in Japanese. Sorry for my too lengthy preamble. Anyway, this temple was SO beautiful.

They said the Maso byou was brand-new, just built up last year. I heard that this place had been bought by a land developer at 1st . When the developer layed out a construction plan of new condominium(!), all of the Chinatown people opposed it, and, finally, they bought up the land from the developer and built the new temple. Wow. It's a nice story, isn't it?

Shoufuku-mon
This is the dim sum restaurant where we enjoyed the lunch. I'd never seen that kind of restaurant in the Chinatown before, it was a "all-you-can-possibly-eat" type. No time restriction. Great! We ate a lot as much as we could. Of course, I didn't forget buying some takeaway dim sums for my wife and daughter.

....borrowed from Shoufuku-mon HP.

That was a good reunion. Thank you for joining, everybody. See you again!

Yokohama Chinatown official site(Japanese)

Shoufuku-mon homepage(Japanese)

Maso-byou homepage(Japanese)

Azalea festival @ Nezu shrine

Lee and I went to the Nezu shrine a week before last Sunday.

From early April to the last day of the golden week, the azalea festival has been held there.

There are 50 species & 3000 pieces of azaleas. How beautiful!

Hi! It's Lee! I haven't been this blog a while. How you been?

There are many species of azaleas and the timings of full bloom are depends on the species. So you can enjoy various kind of azaleas during the festival. It was around 8:00 AM, but many visiters were enjoying the flowers.

I love this shrine. It show me various scenes at each season.

Please have a look the scene of another season, too.