Atago Shrine Audio Guide

Atago Shrine: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Atago Shrine

   Welcome to Atago Shrine, known in Japanese as 愛宕神社, a Shinto shrine in the Minato ward of Tokyo. It stands on Atagoyama, a hill in the middle of one of the busiest business districts in the city. The detailed record of this particular place is fairly short, so this guide sticks to what is firmly established: when the shrine was founded, who ordered it, what you can see today, and the famous story attached to its staircase. The shrine's address is Atago, first district, in Minato. The nearest station is Kamiyacho, on the Hibiya subway line, so you can arrive by train and step almost straight from skyscraper streets into a hillside shrine. As you begin, keep one idea in mind: this is a place where very old Edo-period history sits right beside modern Tokyo. Over the next few minutes we will look at the founding, the steep stone steps that made the shrine famous, and the ward that surrounds it today.

2. 02

   Atago Shrine and the Order of a Shogun

   Atago Shrine was established in 1603, the eighth year of the Keicho era, and it was founded on the order of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. That date is worth pausing over. Ieyasu is the man who founded the Tokugawa shogunate and made Edo, today's Tokyo, the seat of power. A shrine ordered in 1603 belongs to the very first chapter of that story, when Edo was being shaped into the capital of a new political order. The shrine sits on Atagoyama, a hill rising above the surrounding streets. Hills like this gave the city a natural vantage point and a sense of separation from the bustle below, which is part of why a shrine feels so at home here. The main enshrined deity is Homusubi-no-mikoto, written with characters that include the character for fire. So as you stand in the grounds, you are visiting a shrine with a founding date, a famous patron, and a divine figure all clearly on record.

3. 03

   The Stone Steps to Success at Atago Shrine

   Atago Shrine is probably best known for its staircase. Rising from the main torii gate, the stone steps are very steep, and they are nicknamed the stone steps to success. Look up from the bottom and you will understand why people hesitate before the first step. The nickname comes from a famous tale. According to the story, the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu gave an order, and a samurai from Shikoku named Magaki Heikuro answered it in the boldest way imaginable. He rode his horse up this staircase to collect plum blossoms that were in full bloom in the shrine grounds. It is a story told as part of the shrine's character, and it is the reason the climb is linked with ambition and achievement. Whether you take the steps slowly or simply admire them from the bottom, picture a rider and horse on that narrow, steep stone. It is hard to imagine, and that is exactly why the story has lasted.

4. 04

   Atago Shrine in the Modern Minato Ward

   The shrine you see today is not the original wooden complex from 1603. The current shrine buildings on the site date from 1958, so what stands before you is a modern rebuilding on a very old foundation. Even so, it carries the original founding story of the Tokugawa era on the same hill. Around it lies Minato, a special ward of Tokyo formed in 1947 by merging the former wards of Akasaka, Azabu and Shiba. Today it is one of the city's largest business areas, home to the headquarters of major companies, and it is also one of the wealthiest residential districts in Japan, with many embassies and a sizeable international community. That contrast is the charm of this stop. Within a short walk of corporate towers, you can climb a steep stone staircase to a shrine whose origin goes back more than four centuries. Past and present sit on the same hillside.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   As you finish your visit to Atago Shrine, take one more look at the staircase and ask yourself what it would have taken to ride a horse up it. The tale of Magaki Heikuro and the plum blossoms is still the thing most visitors remember. If you have time, notice how the quiet of the hilltop differs from the streets below, and how quickly the city seems to fall away once you climb. The founding in 1603, the buildings of 1958 and the towers of modern Minato are all there to be seen from one spot. When you walk back toward Kamiyacho, you might find yourself looking at the rest of the neighborhood differently, wondering what other small hills and shrines are tucked among the skyscrapers of Tokyo.