The capital of Japan, Tokyo, has many temples dedicated to Lord Ganesh, dating back thousands of years. Among them is a temple where an idol of Lord Ganesha is hidden inside a wooden box.
Going back in history, the temple was built during the 8th century. Named Matsuchiyama Shoten, the idol kept is the Japanese version of Ganesha. Buddhists who follow Tantra-mantra worship this idol.
Researchers believe that during the eighth century, people started believing Lord Ganesh in Japan. There is a branch in Buddhism whose followers believe in Buddhism and worship Tantric powers. This branch of Buddhism passed through Odisha in India to China and then to Japan.
In Japan, Ganesha (Kangiten) was seen as a powerful god and he was also worshiped in a special way with the help of tantra-mantra. In such a situation, the number of followers of Ganesha kept increasing. This is mentioned during the classical Golden Age (794–1185 CE). At present there are a total of 250 temples of Ganesha in Japan, but they are called by different names such as Kangiten.
Explained in Tantric Buddhism, Ganesha is shown wrapped with a female elephant and it is called Shakti. This idol is a symbol of energy born of the combination of man and woman. However, the idols or pictures of Ganesha do not appear in the temples due to erotic looks. They are kept in wooden decorated boxes, which are worshiped daily. Only on a particular occasion the idol is taken out and its worship is done in front of everyone.
The largest temple of Ganesha in Japan is Mount Hikoma named Hōzan-ji. There are many stories about this temple built in the 17th century. People have a lot of faith in this temple and on fulfillment of desire; a lot of donations are also done here.