Hello, welcome to an easy multi cache, which shall walk you through Ikegami Honmonji. The goal is to show you this beautiful sight, not to make you thinking hard or confused, so the tasks are fairly easy. If you focus only on the tasks, you can get the cache roughly in 10 minutes, but I recommend to spend here more time. It is worth it ;-) ... You can pray at the temple, buy a charm, visit local restaurant or goof off in the nearby park.

Ikegami Honmonji

Ikegami Honmonji is a buddhist temple located in Ota-ku these days. You can reach it either Ikegami Station (Tōkyū Ikegami Line) or Nishi-Magome Station (Toei Asakusa Line).

It is the head temple of Nichiren sect and it is said to be founded in 1282. Known as the resting place of saint Nichiren, who had travelled the entirety of Japan while alive, it also appeared in center stage of Japanese history. For example it was selected by Katsu Kaishu and Saigo Takamori as the venue for the surrender of Edo castle at the start of Meiji period. [1]

On April 15 1945, the temple was subjected to heavy bombing, resulting in the destruction of all the structures except the main gate, the pagoda, the Kyōzō (repository of Buddhist scriptures) and the Tahōtō (a stupa). The Temple was completely reconstructed through contributions of followers throughout the country. [2]

Going up the front steps and walking through the Niō-mon (a gate with two guardian deities), the visitor comes to the Soshi-dō (founder’s hall) where a statue of Nichiren Shōnin is enshrined. This statue was commissioned by his disciples on the seventh anniversary of his death.
Behind the Soshi-dō, we find the Honden (main hall) where Śākyamuni Buddha and the four Bodhisattvas are enshrined. [2]

Cache

Stage 1: Statue of Nichiren (N 35° 34.644' E 139° 42.319')

Please, have a look at the statue. There is a Japanese text in the lower part. Count how many time there is the character 本.

A = Count of 本.

Stage 2: Bells (N 35° 34.699' E 139° 42.286')

You can find B big bells at the posted coordinates.

B = Count of the big bells.

Stage 3: Pagoda (N 35° 34.688' E 139° 42.383')

You can find the famous pagoda at the posted coordinates.

The C-story pagoda was built in 1608. It stands just inside the Niō-mon to your right. It is 29.4 meters high (96.45’) with a diameter of 41 centimeter (16.1”) octagon beam running from the top to the second story in order to balance the structure. It is constructed to withstand a magnitude seven earthquake and is the oldest C-story pagoda in Tokyo.

C = How many stories does the pagoda have?

Stage 4: Tahōtō (N 35° 34.795' E 139° 42.259')

The Tahōtō is a pagoda, which was built on the site where Nichiren Shōnin was cremated. It was rebuilt in 1830 and is the only structure of its kind in Japan.

What color does Tahōtō have?

D =8 if RED

D = 4 if GREEN

D = 0 if BLUE

Final stage: N 35° 34.7(A+4)(B+6)' E 139° 42.2(C+2)(D)'

The cache's size is somewhere between larger micro and small. Though, it does not contain any pencil - please, bring your own to be able to sign.

When you return the cache, please, do not push it too much behind, so that other cachers may reach it too.

Sources

[1] Ota City TRAVEL GUIDE, Published by Ota City Tourism and Internazionalization Department, Tourism Division. March 2017.

[2] Honmonji Temple, link: [http://honmonji.jp/foreign/en.html]