it is the portal to the first great heathen temple that I have
seen, and it made me think of another temple whose courts were
equally crowded with buyers and sellers, and of a "whip of small
cords" in the hand of One who claimed both the temple and its
courts as His "Father's House." Not with less righteous wrath
would the gentle founder of Buddhism purify the unsanctified courts
of Asakusa. Hundreds of men, women, and children passed to and fro
through the gateway in incessant streams, and so they are passing
through every daylight hour of every day in the year, thousands
becoming tens of thousands on the great matsuri days, when the
mikoshi, or sacred car, containing certain symbols of the god, is
exhibited, and after sacred mimes and dances have been performed,
is carried in a magnificent, antique procession to the shore and
back again. Under the gateway on either side are the Ni-o, or two
kings, gigantic figures in flowing robes, one red and with an open
mouth, representing the Yo, or male principle of Chinese
philosophy, the other green and with the mouth firmly closed,
representing the In, or female principle. They are hideous
creatures, with protruding eyes, and faces and figures distorted
and corrupted into a high degree of exaggerated and convulsive
action. These figures guard the gates of most of the larger
temples, and small prints of them are pasted over the doors of
houses to protect them against burglars. Attached to the grating
in front were a number of straw sandals, hung up by people who pray
that their limbs may be as muscular as those of the Ni-o.

Passing through this gate we were in the temple court proper, and
in front of the temple itself, a building of imposing height and
size, of a dull red colour, with a grand roof of heavy iron grey
tiles, with a sweeping curve which gives grace as well as grandeur.