Tokyo / Akihabara & Kanda / Gallery

Yushima Seido and the Confucian hall

湯島聖堂 ゆしませいどう

The black-lacquered Confucian temple of the shogun's academy, ten minutes from the arcades and silent as a library.

For a second visitHistory · Free · Quiet · Architecture

The shogunate's university stood here from 1690, and its Confucian hall — rebuilt in black-lacquered concrete in 1935 after the earthquake — is the strangest building in Kanda: a Chinese temple to Confucius, with the largest bronze statue of him in the world in the courtyard and roof beasts on the ridge. Students come before exams to buy pencils blessed for study. It is free, wooded and nearly always empty, and it sits directly between Akihabara and Kanda Myojin, so it costs nothing to add. The Kanda river runs below in a deep stone cutting.

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 Yushima Seido and the Confucian hall
A hand-drawn sketch for orientation — each place links to an exact map.
Tip
Combine with Kanda Myojin across the road and Nikolai-do five minutes on — three religions on one ridge.
Best time
Any afternoon; late November for the ginkgo.
Allow
25 min
Station
Ochanomizu (JR / Marunouchi line), Hijiribashi exit, 2 minutes
Official site — hours, prices, closures
www.seido.or.jp · Map

Appears in

In this area: Akihabara & Kanda

District Essential

Akihabara Electric Town秋葉原電気街

Radio parts, anime, seven-storey arcades, retro games and maid cafés — the capital of otaku culture, best after dark.

120 min · Akihabara (JR, Electric Town exit; Hibiya line; Tsukuba Express)
District Essential

Jimbocho book town神保町古書店街

A hundred and fifty second-hand bookshops on one street, the largest in the world — prints, maps, ukiyo-e, first editions, and curry.

120 min · Jimbocho (Hanzomon / Mita / Shinjuku lines), exit A7
Shrine Worth it

Kanda Myojin Shrine神田明神

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

40 min · Ochanomizu (JR / Marunouchi line), 5 minutes; Akihabara, 10 minutes uphill

All places — Akihabara & Kanda →