The in Minato,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

is a

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

established in 1603 (the eighth year of the Keichō era) on the order of ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

. The current shrine buildings on the site date from 1958. The shrine is located on Atagoyama, a hill rising 26 meters above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. In old times, the shrine had a splendid view of Tokyo, now obscured by high rises. The very steep stairs leading to the shrine are also famous, as they represent success in life. According to legend, a young

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

dared to ride his horse up the stairs to deliver plum blossoms to the ''

''. It took his horse only one minute to get up, but 45 minutes to get down, and the horse was utterly exhausted afterwards. This scene is depicted in a painting in the main shrine hall. The shrine was erected to protect residents from fire, since its formerly excellent views were well suited to watch for fires, and therefore the main Shinto god worshipped in this shrine is the fire god '' Homusubi no Mikoto''. Other gods worshipped are '' Mizuhanome no Mikoto'' (a god of water), '' Ōyamazumi no Mikoto'' (a god of mountains), and '' Yamato Takeru no Mikoto'' (a god of the military).

External links

Official website
(in Japanese)
Essay about Atago Jinja
(in English) Buildings and structures in Minato, Tokyo Shinto shrines in Tokyo Atago shrines Religious buildings and structures completed in 1603 17th-century Shinto shrines {{Mizuhanome Faith

See also

External links