The Cat is the Life of the Party: A Camera Walk Tracing Setagaya's Local Railway (Part 1)

It was a weekend with weather like early summer, skipping right over spring. With a camera slung over my shoulder, I wandered along the Tokyu Setagaya Line.

The Setagaya Line is a two-car railway that runs through the middle of Setagaya Ward. Along the tracks, there are temples, shrines, and shopping streets, allowing you to enjoy a landscape where history and daily life are woven together.

Today, I'll be sharing photos of Yamashita Station and Gotokuji Temple.

Yamashita Station

This is also a transfer station for the Odakyu Line's Gotokuji Station. I arrived at the station just before 10:00 AM. On the Gotokuji shopping street that stretches south from the station, I could see a scattering of overseas tourists (about half Western, half Asian).

Everyone's destination is 'Gotokuji Temple.' In recent years, it has gathered visitors from all over the world as an 'Instagrammable spot.' The number of shops in the shopping street that handle miscellaneous goods and sweets with English support for tourists has increased, too.

Gotokuji Temple

I arrived at Gotokuji Temple about a 15-minute walk from the station. This is a Soto Zen temple. It is also one of Setagaya's leading tourist spots.

As for what the highlight of the sightseeing is, it's the beckoning cats.
The origin story is roughly like this:
When Ii Naotaka, the lord of the Hikone Domain, was on his way back from falconry, he encountered a thunderstorm near here. A cat at the gate beckoned him in, and he was able to take shelter from the rain while talking with the head priest. From there, a connection with the lord was born, it became the family temple of the Ii clan, and they received support when restoring the dilapidated temple buildings.

The temple was able to thrive again thanks to the cat, thank you! And so, they began to enshrine them as 'beckoning cats' that invite good fortune.

Shonan Gold seems to be a cross between a Golden Orange and a Satsuma mandarin. And apparently, a Golden Orange is a cross between a yuzu and a Satsuma mandarin. So, does that make Shonan Gold the grandchild of a yuzu? I haven't eaten one, so I can't say for sure, but...

Please try focusing on the cat's front paws.
Don't you feel like something is missing?

The answer is a 'koban' (gold coin). The beckoning cats of Gotokuji do not beckon for good fortune itself. It is said that they beckon for connections with people. The idea is that it is up to you whether or not you use those connections to create good fortune.
The part about it being up to you really hits home.

Beckoning cats of all sizes fill the field of vision. With the red and white color scheme, it looks like an installation piece by Yayoi Kusama.

The camera for this trip is a Sony Alpha 7c, and the lens is a Carl Zeiss Jena 35mm F2.4. Since it's an old lens with weak coating, it's prone to ghosting like in the bottom left of the photo, and it tends to look a bit soft.
The analog feel, like a photo taken with an old camera, matches the laid-back atmosphere of the walk.

Continuing to Shoin-jinja-mae Station

That concludes the report on the area between Yamashita Station and Gotokuji.

Although Gotokuji is a tourist spot, it was still relatively calm to walk around compared to facilities in the city center. It's truly amazing how much influence social media has, considering it has become a place that attracts so many people in just a few short years!

Next time, we will head to Shoin Shrine, which enshrines Yoshida Shoin.

This is a magazine featuring articles about travel and walks.