A Moment of Reflection at Tokyo's Meiji Shrine

When I was planning my first ever trip to Japan, I reached out to one of my friends who grew up in Japan and lived for a few years in Tokyo. One recommendation she made was to visit Meiji Jingu, also known as the Meiji Shrine, a Shinto shrine located in the heart of the Shibuya neighborhood of Tokyo. While accessing the shrine requires a stroll through a pleasant and quiet forested park, it felt like a world away from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo's busy streets. For Ben and I, the visit was a great opportunity to learn more about Japanese culture and the beliefs of a religion I knew little about. It was also a beautiful spot to admire the tranquility of life while still being close to all the action of the city. Let me show you what our visit looked like.

Because Ben and I were staying in Shinjuku, we rode the subway to Harajuku, and then entered the park from the south end. It was amusing to see how calm the city streets were prior to us entering the park, compared to how busy it was once we returned to the Harajuku neighborhood for a bite to eat after our visit of the shrine.

While the streets felt somewhat calm, it seemed like everyone in the neighborhood was heading over to park where the shrine was located.

Tokyo is one of the world's most densely populated cities, so you will definitely be surrounded by lots of locals as well as tourists looking to explore and enjoy the peaceful environs.

Once we entered the park, we were greeted by the sake and wine barrel walls. For some background information on the sake barrels, the shrine's website shares useful knowledge:

Emperor Meiji (1852–1912) encouraged the technological development of many domestic industries, including the sake production industry, as part of the modernization of Japan. These straw-covered sake barrels are offered to Meiji Jingu annually by the members of the Meiji Jingu Nationwide Sake Brewers Association. The brewers make this donation to show their deep respect for the enshrined souls of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken (1849–1914). The barrels, which are decorative and empty, are offered to the kami deities along with the sake in bottles.

Sake plays an important role in Shinto. It is considered to be one way to connect people and the kami. While sake is normally called nihonshu in Japanese, the sake used at shrines is referred to as miki or omiki, written with the Chinese characters for ‘kami’ and ‘alcohol’. Omiki is offered daily to the kami, and distributed to followers after rituals and festivals held at the shrine. The juxtaposition of wine and sake at Meiji Jingu is symbolic of the culture of the Meiji period. Led by the efforts of Emperor Meiji, the combining of overseas influences with Japanese traditions was a key aspect of this period.

Across the way from the sake barrels are barrels of wine from the Burgundy region of France, and are also shared each year in a celebration of a continued friendship and peace.

After passing by the various barrels, we next passed under the Ootori, or Second or Great Tori Gate. Originally built in 1912, the first one was struck by lightning in the 1960s. The gate was eventually rebuilt using a 1500 year old Japanese cypress tree found in Taiwan and was erected in 1975. Though we originally entered under a Torii gate when walking into the park, this second one is much more imposing than the first one, and really stands out for its beauty and stature.

Continuing through the park, we neared the shrine and saw a man sweeping the grounds using an exceptionally long broom. You can watch the video below to see it in action.

Before entering the shrine, visitors are asked to cleanse their hands in the Temizusha. This hand washing process is to act as a form of purifying oneself before entering the shrine itself.

Next, we entered under another Torii gate and into the grounds of the shrine.

While the grounds were busy, there was still a calmness about the space and the people within it. Straight ahead (above) is the main shrine, which was off limits to picture taking (and you'll see a picture of an officer who is there to prevent this from taking place in a picture further below).

We next wandered over to the shrine. But before reaching it, we stumbled upon this rope that also included some shide (pronounced she-day).

To learn more about the shide (lightning bolt looking streamer) and the shimenawa (the rope), read here. The main point of these items is that these symbols tell onlookers that beyond this area is sacred. I have gone more into how the Shinto religion operates in my posting about the Tsukiji Market.

Below, you can see the main shrine area (though not the actual shrine inside the structure).

Below, looking back towards where we entered the shrine area.

And below, the main shrine once again.

Beside the main shrine is an area called Ema-kake, or the votive tablet area. Here, for ¥500 (roughly US$5 at the time) you could write on your own tablet your wish or prayer, and then each of these prayers would be offered up to the Shinto gods each day.

After admiring the Ema-kake (Votive tablet rack), we next headed down to the Amulet office, or Juyosho, as seen above. There, we bought a few souvenirs to take back with us, similar to what pilgrims would bring back to their friends and families who could not make the journey. These amulets are specific, and can be geared towards good luck, safe child birth, studying well, and even in the case of my mom (as seen below), safe driving/travel.

(Image from here).

While over at the Amulet office, we noticed a procession of people dressed formally in western-style as well as traditional-style clothing. Curious, we ventured over to see what was taking place, and saw what appeared to be a wedding ceremony getting ready to begin.

After admiring the beautiful scene, we wandered over to the collection of bansai trees. Each tree was immaculately taken care of, and some were impressively old, including this one below at 150 years, though some were even older than that!

After viewing the bonsai trees, it was time for us to leave. And even though we had already seen that there was a wedding taking place, we were still surprised to encounter an actual wedding procession as we exited the shrine's main square.

This was an unexpected delight, to see the bride and her procession dressed in traditional clothing as they entered the grounds.

After witnessing the beautiful surprise wedding procession, it was time to leave the shrine and head to our other destinations for the day.

We exited the way we came in, passing again the area where visitors need to clean their hands.

We also passed through the Ootorii gate once more...

...and again passed the sake barrels...

...leaving the tranquility and peacefulness of the park behind us, as we ventured out into the excitement of the city.

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Meiji Jingu Details

Located within the Yoyogi Park, Meiji Jingo is a beautiful Shinto Shrine in a peaceful natural surrounding. It's a great place to learn more about the Shinto religion, and see a facet of Japanese life that may not be seen many places outside of Japan. Entry is free, but be prepared to follow the protocols of this sacred space.

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Day of travel: June 16th, 2019