Tokyo / Asakusa / Shrine

Asakusa Shrine and Sanja Matsuri

浅草神社と三社祭 あさくさじんじゃとさんじゃまつり

The 1649 shrine beside the temple — the one building on the site that survived the war — and Tokyo's wildest festival.

For a second visitHistory · Free · Quiet · Seasonal

The shrine honours the two fishermen and the village headman who found the Kannon statue, and its 1649 buildings, given by the third shogun, are the only originals left in the Sensoji grounds — look at the paintwork and carving to see what the whole complex once looked like. On the third weekend of May the Sanja Matsuri brings a hundred portable shrines and a million and a half people into the streets; the three great shrines are carried out at dawn on the Sunday by men who have been drinking since the Friday. The rest of the year it is the quiet corner of a loud site.

Don't miss

Map of central Tokyo Tokyo Ueno Akihabara Shinjuku Shibuya Shinagawa Ikebukuro Shimbashi Kabukiza Theatre Chuo-dori and the Sunday promenade Ginza Six Ginza Itoya Hama-rikyu Gardens The Ginza gallery walk Tsukiji Hongwanji The Ginza bar streets Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building Imperial Palace East Gardens Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum Marunouchi Naka-dori KITTE and the rooftop garden Idemitsu Museum of Arts Nihonbashi Bridge Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store The old shops of Nihonbashi Artizon Museum Fukutoku Shrine and the Coredo lanes Nihonbashi river cruise Sensoji Temple Kappabashi kitchen street Sumida river water bus The craft and coffee streets west of the temple A kimono day in Asakusa Tokyo Skytree Asakusa Shrine and Sanja Matsuri Tokyo National Museum National Museum of Western Art Ueno Park and Shinobazu Pond Yanaka Ginza and the Yanesen lanes Nezu Shrine Ameyoko market street Asakura Museum of Sculpture Akihabara Electric Town Jimbocho book town Kanda Myojin Shrine Holy Resurrection Cathedral (Nikolai-do) Kanda's old noodle houses Yushima Seido and the Confucian hall Mori Art Museum and Tokyo City View The National Art Center, Tokyo Tokyo Midtown and the Suntory Museum of Art Azabu-Juban shopping street Tokyo Tower and Zojoji Temple Roppongi after dark Nezu Museum The Omotesando architecture walk Aoyama Cemetery Meiji Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue The Aoyama and Minami-Aoyama back streets Meiji Jingu Yoyogi Park Takeshita Street and Cat Street Ota Memorial Museum of Art Togo Shrine Shibuya scramble crossing and Hachiko Shibuya Sky Nonbei Yokocho and the Shibuya alleys Udagawacho record shops and Shibuya vintage Tomigaya and Kamiyamacho Live music in Shibuya Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observatories Golden Gai Omoide Yokocho The Isetan food hall Hanazono Shrine Tsukiji Outer Market Toyosu Market and the tuna auction teamLab Planets The Tsukiji-to-Ginza walk The Meguro River cherry trees Daikanyama T-Site Daikanyama's low-rise streets Ebisu Garden Place and the Ebisu restaurant streets Nakameguro's back streets Kagurazaka's stone lanes Akagi Shrine Dining in Kagurazaka Zenkokuji Bishamonten Ryogoku Kokugikan and sumo Edo-Tokyo Museum Kiyosumi Garden Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) The Kiyosumi-Shirakawa roasters Asakusa Shrine and Sanja Matsuri
A hand-drawn sketch for orientation — each place links to an exact map.
Tip
The shrine is where Asakusa's own people pray; the temple is where visitors go. Do both.
Best time
Morning; Sanja Matsuri weekend in May.
Allow
20 min
Station
Asakusa (Ginza / Asakusa lines), through the temple grounds
Official site — hours, prices, closures
www.asakusajinja.jp · Map

In this area: Asakusa

Temple Essential

Sensoji Temple浅草寺

Tokyo's oldest temple, founded in 628 — a gate, a lane, a five-storey pagoda and a hall that is never closed.

60 min · Asakusa (Ginza / Asakusa lines, Tobu), exit 1
Street Essential

Kappabashi kitchen streetかっぱ橋道具街

Eight hundred metres of restaurant supply — knives, lacquer, ceramics, and the plastic food in every window in Japan.

90 min · Tawaramachi (Ginza line), 5 minutes; or walk 10 minutes west from Sensoji
On the water Worth it

Sumida river water bus隅田川の水上バス

Down the river from Asakusa under twelve bridges to the shogun's garden or the bay.

45 min · Asakusa (Ginza / Asakusa lines), exit 4 to the pier

All places — Asakusa →