Nezu Shrine

You are standing at one of the rarest things in Tokyo — a building that is actually old. The current structures here date from seventeen oh six, and they survived both the nineteen twenty-three Great Kanto Earthquake and the Second World War firebombing. That makes Nezu Shrine one of the only genuine Edo-period buildings left in the entire city. Almost everything else that claims to be historic in Tokyo is a reconstruction. This is the real thing.

According to legend, the shrine was originally founded by the mythical hero Yamato Takeru in the first century AD, which would make it nearly two thousand years old. The current buildings were commissioned by the fifth Tokugawa shogun, Tsunayoshi, in seventeen oh six. And here is a detail that might make you do a double take — somewhere in these grounds, a shogun's placenta is buried. Tokugawa Ienobu, the sixth shogun, was born nearby, and his placenta was interred here according to the customs of the time. It connects the Tokugawa bloodline literally to the soil of this shrine.

Every spring, over three thousand azalea plants burst into colour across the hillside behind the main hall. There are over a hundred varieties, and they exist because Tokugawa Tsunashige brought them from Tatebayashi to beautify his residence garden before the shrine was even moved to this location. The azalea festival draws crowds, but outside that brief window, the shrine is remarkably peaceful for central Tokyo.

Walk through the tunnel of small vermillion torii gates on the hillside — it is reminiscent of Kyoto's famous Fushimi Inari, but without the crushing crowds. Most tourists do not know this place exists, which is exactly what makes it special.