The Ikegami Honmomji temple in Tokyo’s Ota Ward is one of the biggest in Tokyo. It was founded in 1282 but the buildings have been rebuilt several times since that, especially after the big bombing raid in March 1945 where most of the temple burnt down. It is the home of the Nichiren sect of Japanese Buddhism and has several large festival in Nichiren’s honor every year. I took these photos after the spring festival last month, which centered on the 17th century pagoda on the temple grounds. An interesting detail of the temple is the memorial stone to the sloop of war, the USS Oneida, which sank outside Yokosuka to the south of Tokyo in 1870. 115 sailors including the captain Commander Edward P. Williams. 61 sailors were rescued by local fishermen. Four of the officers were buried at the foreigner’s cemetery in Yokohama. A local wrecking company bought the wreck from the US government in 1872 and recovered many of the other dead. The bodies were given to the Honmonji temple monks for burial and in 1889 they received a proper ceremony and a memorial, paid for by the wrecking company owners. I have heard that the descendants of the wreckage company owners are still the legal owners of the wreck and the cargo it carried which was never recovered. The wreck is rumored to hold quite a treasure of gold and silver bars that the US government had received in payment for selling arms and gunpowder to the Japanese government.
