Tokyo / Akihabara & Kanda / Shrine

Kanda Myojin Shrine

神田明神 かんだみょうじん

Guardian of Edo's merchants since 730, now blessing laptops — vermilion halls above Akihabara and one of Tokyo's three great festivals.

Worth itHistory · Free · Seasonal · Photogenic

The shrine of the Kanda and Nihonbashi merchants stands on the ridge above Akihabara, and it has taken the district's new trade in its stride: it sells amulets for IT security and blesses new computers. The vermilion buildings, rebuilt in concrete in 1934 after the earthquake, hold one of the three great Edo festivals, the Kanda Matsuri, in mid-May of odd-numbered years, when two hundred portable shrines are carried through the business district. Behind the hall the Edo culture complex has a café serving the shrine's sweet amazake and a shop of surprisingly good things. The god enshrined here is Masakado, a tenth-century rebel, which tells you something about Edo.

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A hand-drawn sketch for orientation — each place links to an exact map.
Tip
Walk up from Akihabara in ten minutes and continue west along the ridge to Ochanomizu and the cathedral.
Best time
Morning; May of odd-numbered years for the festival.
Allow
40 min
Station
Ochanomizu (JR / Marunouchi line), 5 minutes; Akihabara, 10 minutes uphill
Official site — hours, prices, closures
www.kandamyoujin.or.jp · Map

Appears in

In this area: Akihabara & Kanda

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