Behind the Senso-ji complex in Asakusa, there is a small temple, Zeniduka-Jizo, with a very interesting story, one of those stories that makes you wonder what would you have done in the same situation.
On the place of today’s temple, at the beginning of the 18th century, there used to be the courtyard of a family named Yamaguchi. One day, while working in the garden, the woman discovered a pot filled with Kanei-Tsuhou coins (money used in Japan from the beginning of the Edo period until the beginning of the Meiji era).
Image via WikipediaThe woman was afraid that from then on, the family will rely solely on those money, will stop working and will decline, so she… re-buried the money.
Soon, the Yamaguchi family become prosperous. On the place where the coins are buried they enshrined Jizo, and later the temple build there was named Zeniduka, “Coin Mound”.
The temple we see today was rebuilt in 1964.