In this second part of my coverage of Atago Shrine in Minato, Tokyo, we look at what is located once you climb those steps of the SHUSSE no ISHIDAN, all the way up.
Atago Jinja (a Shinto Shrine) was established in the year KEICHO 8 (1603) by Tokugawa Ieyasu (the 1st shogun of the EDO period) on his order to build a shrine at the location to protect the local community from fire accidents.
ATAGO-YAMA is 26m above the sea and is the highest land in Tokyo’s 23 wards. It was once famous for its view of Tokyo before high rises covered up any great viewing from the area.
Located at the shrine are the following Shinto Gods:
HOMUSUBI no MIKOTO (the god of fire) is enshrined as the main god. And the others enshrined are MIZUHANOME no MIKOTO (the god of water), OOYAMAZUMI no MIKOTO (the god of mountains) and YAMATO TAKERU no MIKOTO (the god of military arts).
SHOUGUN JIZOU was specially worshipped by Tokugawa Ieyasu and he prayed to be a top leader and succeeded. This god is also enshrined at the location but it is never open to the public.
The shrine celebrates their festival on the 22nd-24th of September (the main festival – which goes up and down, every other year) and on the 23-24th of June, the SEN NICHI MAIRI (it’s roots of HOUZUKI fest).
The location has many other annual functions, so make sure to check with the Atago Jinja Staff.
After you’re done, you can go back down the steps…
Grab a beverage…
Or better yet… right next to Atago Shrine, you can visit the NHK Museum of Broadcasting. And it’s definitely an awesome (and FREE) museum worth visiting! And I’ll post more about the museum in an upcoming blog post!
