course M - tokyo walking map : April 6 2025

April 2025 · 6 min read · Taito

finally, a walk which does not involve any sakura. i actually saw a tokyo walking map site with recommended courses in each ward of tokyo. in that site, you get to specify which ward you are interested in, what things you would like to see, and how many steps you are willing to have. i chose one just nearby, for cultural and historical purposes with at least 10 thousand steps.

you can check the site in here for your daily walking needs.

of course i had to reach the area first, and because i chose a course relatively close, i also walked going there. yet again, another beautiful cherry blossom passed by. by now i was so done with sakura, those tiny but very beautiful flowers are everywhere. i was so surprised when @wittyzell mentioned yesterday that she hasn't been to any hanami (flower watching) this season yet, and here i am with no intentions get to encounter these pretty little things on a daily basis.

back to the route, this one started in taito-ku, in an area unfamiliar to me. let us start with:

Shitaya Shrine (下谷神社)

this shrine was founded in the nara period around the year 730 and is the oldest inari shrine in tokyo. and then i got curious what an inari shrine is. these are shrines dedicated to a deity inari, associated with foxes, rice, prosperity, household wellbeing among many things. these shrines usually have those red (vermillion) torii gates lined.

the shrine moved to this location at 1928 for the rezoning. the main shrine was closed that time and people just prayed in front of this donation box outside. don't ask for the vermillion gate picture, it had a very large one beside the main road but i didn't take a picture of it.

Satake Shotengai (佐竹商店街)

this shopping street came to view after walking a bit from the shrine. apparently this too had quite a history, built in 1884 and got completely burned down from the great kanto earthquake and the second world war. but the people rebuilt the area after each destruction, the current version was built in 1977.

Taito Kuritsu Seika Park (台東区立精華公園)

there was really nothing special in this park it was in here were i read why tokyo had many mini parks within the city. it was after the great kanto earthquake in 1923 where they found out how greeneries in parks and open spaces helped extinguish the fires by acting as firebreaks. it was then after that tokyo developed 52 small parks in those areas ravaged by the fires. in taito, one large park and 15 small parks were established including this very park i was on.

Torikoe Shrine (鳥越神社)

it was at this point when i realized that i have been in this shrine back in december. i was finding churches at that time so this shrine was never featured in my blog. back then i vowed to return for the new year shrine and temple pilgrimage, but i did that in a different area instead.

now about the shrine, it was founded in the year 651 when the ancestors of most of modern japanese were still driving out the old ainu populace. now don't ask me whether that is wrong or right, history should be taken as it is. with that out of the way, just look at how pretty the sky looked against the yellowish lights of the shrine.

this shrine hosts a festival on january 8th where new year's decors, charms and trinkets of the previous year are gathered and burned inside the shrine grounds. those flames are also used to bake some mochi rice cakes in the shrine; the only remaining shrine in all of tokyo that maintains this tradition. now i intentionally took a picture of this bird decoration in the shrine's "washing area" because the "tori" in this shrine's name means bird.

Ryuhoku Park (柳北公園)

there was supposed to be a large gingko tree around the area but that was closed off from the public and had no lights. so here i took a picture of the next door park instead. let us just imagine how big that next door tree might have been. and by the way, this park was also one of the original 15 small parks built in taito after the great earthquake.

Kanda River (神田川)

i continued my walk until the river area which led to a bridge. at the foot of the bridge was this majestic sakura tree. crossed the saemon bridge (左衛門橋) and behold at what i saw, boats floating on the kanda river. that was quite a sight! i was now entering chuo-ku after crossing the bridge.

not for long though, as i crossed another bridge over the same river after a block worth of walk in the chuo side of the city. Asakusa Bridge (浅草橋) was the name of the bridge and that view was splendid.

Ichogaoka Hachiman Shrine (銀杏岡八幡神社)

the next shrine was not that big. it is but a simple shrine where everything was paved except for the soil directly planted with trees.

one thing that caught my interest was this ginkgo leaf shaped ema or prayer tablets. their must be some connection with with ginkgo and this shrine.

Suga Shrine (須賀神社)

this time i really had no clue what to see in this shrine. but my walking course specifically mentioned the shrine so there must be something about it.

Dairokuten Sakaki Shrine (第六天榊神社)

now this shrine was a bit normal sized, but there were 3 other mini shrines within the complex. there was history plaque inside which stated the asakusa public library was once built in this place. while open, it had around 110 thousand books. but that library was discontinued and the books were redistributed to two national libraries in tokyo with some markings still indicating that they were from the old asakusa library.