Kanda Shrine

This article is based on a visit on Monday, 31 March 2014.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I visited the famous Meiji Shrine.  After a couple of stops in Harajuku and Akihabara, I walked over to the nearby Kanda Shrine (神田明神, Kanda-myōjin), another major Shinto shrine in Tokyo. It stands only minutes on foot from Akihabara, but despite its proximity, provides a serene escape from the wondrous sensory overload of its neighbourhood.

Kanda Shrine was founded all the way back around AD 720. It was moved to its current location in 1616, was destroyed in the 1923 Kanto Earthquake, and rebuilt with concrete in 1934; it thusly survived the wartime bombings a decade later. The buildings are freshly-painted in vermilion and gold, with greenish copper roofs.

Kanda Shrine sits atop a short hill. Walking uphill to the southern entrance will bring you to this gate.

The main hall. Three major spirits or gods (神, kami) are enshrined here.  The first two are Daikokuten (大黒天) and Ebisu (恵比寿), two of the Seven Gods of Fortune (七福神, Shichi fukujin). The other is Taira no Masakado (平 将門), a samurai who led a rebellion against the government in Kyoto, in the AD 930s. His deification was controversial; his spirit was removed from the shrine during the Meiji period, but reinstated after World War II.

A side building selling omikuji. Because of being so close to Akihabara, some of the omikuji sold here are geared toward technology, for example, talismans designed to bless electronic devices against harm.

A wide view of the shrine grounds. It was cherry blossom (桜, sakura) season during my trip.

Further into the grounds. The statue on the left is, I believe, the god Daikokuten, mentioned earlier.

A rock-and-waterfall arrangement, with a statue of a lion (石獅, shishi) above.

I mentioned the kind of charms sold here, and Akihabara's love of technology is also represented by this fortune-telling machine. This mechanical lion does a little dance before vending your fortune readout.

Of course, Akihabara is also famous for its businesses relating to anime and manga, so plenty of the ema hung there feature drawings by manga artists, in addition to their wishes and prayers.

That's not the only connection Kanda Shrine has to the anime world. In the show Love Live! School Idol Project, about a club of high-school girls who form their own pop-idol band, one of the main characters, miss Nozomi Tojo (東條 希, Tōjō Nozomi), also works part-time as a shrine maiden at Kanda Shrine. The show's popularity has even become such that the real Kanda Shrine adopted Nozomi-chan as its official mascot!  They announced this adoption on Twitter:

TOKYO MXテレビで、アニメ「ラブライブ！」が、1月4日23時から放送されます。

神田明神公式アイドルの「東條 希」が出演していて、神田明神もアニメ中に出てきます。

僕、ししまいも応援していますよm(_ _)mhttp://t.co/f3sxOOeGnV

— 神田明神 (@kanda_myoujin) January 2, 2015

A rough translation of the above Tweet:

"The TOKYO MX TV network will broadcast the anime "Love Live!" starting on 4 January [2015], at 11:00PM [JST]. The idol of Kanda Shrine, Nozomi Tojo, will appear; Kanda Myojin will also appear in the anime. We also support the lion dance. [bow]"

Kanda Shrine is also notable as the focal point of the Kanda Matsuri, a festival featuring a parade leading from and back to Kanda Shrine. It is held on the weekend of 15 May every other (odd-numbered) year, i.e. the next one would be 13-14 May 2017.

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Hours: Always open.  No regular closing days.

Costs: Free.

Address: 2-16-2 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tōkyō-to 〒101-0021

Access: Kanda Shrine is 5 minutes away on foot from Ochanomizu Station (JR Chuo (JC), Chuo-Sobu (JB), and Tokyo Metro Marunouchi (M) lines), or 10 minutes from Suehirocho (Tokyo Metro Ginza (G) line) and Akihabara (JR Yamanote (JY), Keihin-Tohoku (JK), and Tokyo Metro Hibiya (H) lines) stations.

From Tokyo Station, take the Chuo (Rapid) line (JC03, 4 minutes, ¥140, JR Pass OK) or Marunouchi subway line to Ochanomizu (M20, 5 minutes, ¥170).  From Shinjuku Station, take the Chuo (Rapid) line to Ochanomizu (JC03, 10 minutes, ¥170, JR Pass OK).

Directions: From JR's Ochanomizu Station, turn around out of the Hijiri-bashi exit, cross the bridge, and continue to the next traffic light.  Turn right, then left through the torii gate.  The shrine is at the top of the hill ahead.

From Tokyo Metro's Ochanomizu Station, turn left out of Exit 2, continue until you reach the bridge, and go up the stairs on the left side.  Once atop the bridge, turn left and continue along the directions listed above.

From Suehirocho Station, turn left out of Exit 3.  After 5 minutes, there will be a set of stairs with a torii gate at the top on your left.  Climb these stairs, and you will enter the shrine grounds from behind.

From Akihabara Station, turn right out of the Electric Town Exit ticket gates, then left.  Cross Chuo-dori and turn right.  At the next traffic light, cross the road, turn left, and keep straight, bearing right at the second traffic light.  Afterwards, take the next right and head uphill to reach the shrine.

Website: (English) (Japanese)