One of the Shinto shrines I had on my bucket list but kept bypassing to pursue farther shrines was Nezu Shrine.
It took a while but now I’m happy to say that I traveled to Tokyo’s Bunko ward to check out Nezu Shrine, one of Tokyo’s older shrines, established back in 1705.
This shrine is different than other shrines in a way that while right near neighborhoods and shops, the place is enclosed almost like a park.
Meiji Shrine for instance is a place with a park and almost like a forest with trees but yet the property was designated to be a place full of greenery, Nezu Shrine looks like a shrine in a forest but nothing like Meiji Shrine, but yet has its own charm that separates itself from other shrines around Tokyo.
For part 1, I will focus on the large red Myojin tori and what one can find around the entrance.
But as for the shrine, according to legend, the Nezu Shrine was founded in Sendagi in the 1st century by Yamato Takeru, son of Emperor Keiko. And the chief deity of the shrine is Susanoo-no-Mikoto, the kami of sea and storms.
The shrine was relocated in 1705 to Nezu by Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the fifth Shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, for the occasion of choosing his successor, who was Tokugawa Ienobu.
I love how when you see the Myojin Torii, you see the trees all over the background.
You will come across a stone of the deity and in bronze, wording which I’m unable to read.
But that’s just the entrance area, which is full of foliage, carved se and flowers that as you walk, you start to realize there is more that meets the eye to this area.
I will discuss more about Nezu shrine in part 2!
