Tokidoki Tokyo

Kanji - same character, different readings

The Asakusa district in Tokyo houses a well-known temple called Senso-ji and a Shinto shrine called Asakusa-jinja side by side. Two characters are used in the name of the district, the temple, and the shrine, but are read differently in the name of the temple from the name of the district and the shrine.

浅草　あさくさ　Asakusa - district in Tokyo

浅草寺　せんそうじ　Senso-ji - Buddhist temple in Asakusa (also known as Asakusa Kannon Temple), pictured in the photo

浅草神社　あさくさじんじゃ　Asakusa-jinja - Shinto shrine in Asakusa (also known as Sanja-sama)

This is a great example of the different readings that kanji can have in Japanese. Asakusa (浅草) and Senso-ji (浅草寺) both have the same two kanji, but they are read very differently. This is due to differences in the Chinese-derived reading vs. the native Japanese reading assigned to each character.

Let's look at the two characters in question in more detail:

浅

意味　いみ　meaning

shallow, superficial

音読み　おんよみ　Chinese-derived reading

セン　sen

訓読み　くんよみ　native Japanese reading

あさ　asa

草

意味　いみ　meaning

grass

音読み　おんよみ　Chinese-derived reading

ソウ　sou

訓読み　くんよみ　native Japanese reading

くさ　kusa

You will note that the place name of the district in Tokyo (Asakusa) uses the native Japanese readings of both kanji, while the Buddhist temple uses the Chinese-derived readings. The local Japanese place name of Asakusa was in place long before the Buddhist temple existed. It is possible that the place name was then adapted using the Chinese-derived readings when the temple was built. Although I don't know the particular reason for the names using the same kanji, I do know that Buddhism was adapted to the existing Shinto practices in Japan when it began to spread, and so utilizing existing place names would help to integrate it into daily life.