Tō-ji Temple 'Flea' market, for fingerlickin' Japanese souvenirs

Sometimes, often in Japan, my brain feels like it's short circuited by all the items of beauty I see everywhere. Wether these are new and modern items, or ancient and brimming over with tradition. They appeal to me in equal amount, huge amounts. The market at Tō-ji temple, the 21st of every month, is a place where my brain has quite some trouble to process all (choices between) the exquisite products for sale. It is, therefore, a huge market. It covers the complete temple grounds. I tried to find the exact acreage, but that stays a secret as yet.

The market is not fairly called a 'flea' market, offering amazing antiques, art, beautiful ceramics, bamboo baskets, vintage kimono's and accessories, all sorts of dried and freshly prepared kinds of food, varied kinds of hand made and creative items which the makers sell themselves, but also tools, toys, plants and even bikes for instance. It's just too much to sum up! And it's all very good quality from what I've been able to cover. But I'm afraid I haven't seen half of it. You can easily spend a day there.

Who cares that Tō-ji Temple is an Unesco World Heritage Site? Who cares that is was founded in the late 700's, and that it's grounds contain the the tallest pagoda in Japan? Get your behinds to the Tō-ji temple, whenever you can, for a great day out and fingerlickin' Japanese souvenirs or snacks. And get there early, because it's gonna be maaaayor busy!

At the moment Tō-ji Temple has a beautiful website, but unfortunately it's all in Japanese. Let's hope that will change in the near future.