Sensoji Temple Omamori Fortune And Prosperity Mallet

Early in the morning on March 18, 628, when the capital of Japan was in Asuka, in what is now a part of Nara Prefecture, Hinokuma Hamanari and his brother Takenari were fishing in the Sumida River. Bringing in their net, they were surprised to see that it held one statue . When Haji no Nakatomo, village headman of what is now Asakusa, realized what they had was a statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (Sho Kanzeon Bosatsu),Kannon called usually.he devoted himself to Buddhism. He remade his house into a temple soon and devoted the rest of his life to worship and holding memorial services for this Kannon.

In 645, a Buddhist priest named Shokai came to this region and built a hall for the Kannon. Following a revelation he received in a dream, Shokai decided to hide the statue from view. Since that time, it has remained never unveiled.

Asakusa at the time was a small fishing village located in an estuary of Tokyo Bay in the vast wilderness of the area known as Musashino. It grew and flourished as people arrived in increasing numbers to worship. When Ennin (794-864), head priest of Enryaku-ji (the main temple of the Tendai School of Buddhism) visited Senso-ji in the mid-ninth century, he created a statue identical to the main image (absolutely Hibutsu) so that it could be shown rarely to the public.