外国人に英語で東京の人気観光地を案内してみよう！～明治神宮編・前編〜

“Meiji Jingu” is a Shinto shrine that enshrines Emperor Meiji, the 122nd emperor, four generations before the Present Emperor, and Empress Shoken.

After the demise of Emperor Meiji in 1912, the people’s passionate desire to worship his spirit arose, and Meiji Jingu was established in 1920.

By the way, when the New Year comes, many Japanese people visit shrines to pray. It’s called “Hatsumode”. And Meiji Jingu is the shrine with the largest number of people visiting on the New Year. More than 3 million people visit this shrine each year during the first three days of the New Year.

The precincts of Meiji Jingu are about 700,000 square meters, and most of the area is covered with trees. Meiji Jingu is like an oasis in the city for people.

At Meiji Jingu, the opening time is adjusted to sunrise and sunset, so the opening and closing time varies depending on the month.

June has the longest days with the opening hours from 5am to 6:30pm, and December has the shortest days with the opening hours from 6:40am to 4pm.

There are three entrances to Meiji Jingu. This is the “entrance to Minami Sando or the southern approach” that is used by most people.

It takes about 10 minutes on foot from here to the main shrine.

This big gate is called “Torii”. In general,  It is located at the entrance of a shrine, it represents the boundary between the sacred area and the world in which we live.

And, this torii, “The First Torii of the southern approach” is a new torii that has just been rebuilt at the end of June 2022 after the previous torii finished its role for 100 years.

The rebuilding period was about half a year, but it took about eight years for the entire process, such as searching for suitable materials for the torii gate and drying the trees.

It is made from 250-year-old Yoshino cedar in Yoshino, Nara Prefecture.

The large shrine has several torii gates up to the main shrine. Meiji Jingu also goes through three torii gates to the main shrine, including this torii gate.

The golden marks at the top of the torii are called the “Imperial Chrysanthemum Crest” which is the family crest of the Emperor.

Many Japanese bow as a greeting to Kami (deity) before going through the torii gate.

It is said that the center of the approach is the path for Kami. Even Japanese people who don’t know about it are walking in the center, but let’s walk on the edge of the approach!

Believe it or not, before the Meiji Jingu was built, there were almost no trees around here, and the scenery was like a wasteland.

The forest of Meiji Jingu is a man-made forest! It was created by donating about 100,000 trees of 365 species from all over the country and working service by a total of 110,000 youth groups.

By the way, forests are indispensable components for shrines, and suitable trees for shrines are generally said to be coniferous trees such as cedar and cypress.

However, the leading experts in forestry, who were entrusted with the construction of the man-made forest, figured that conifers were not suitable for urban areas that were warm and smoke-damaged.

And, they decided to plant mainly broad-leaved trees such as oak, castanopsis, and camphor trees that are suitable for this area, while also planting fast-growing coniferous trees initially.

The scholars made the scientific assumption that these broad-leaved trees will later become the main trees and can form an “eternal forest” with no care or fertilization.

And then, the forest of Meiji Jingu has been excellently made into a natural forest without any artificial work other than returning the fallen leaves collected by sweeping the approach to the forest.

The building on the right is the “Meiji Jingu Museum”. It opened in 2019 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Meiji Jingu.

Items related to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken are stored and exhibited.

The building is designed by Kengo Kuma, a world-famous architect.

The admission fee is 1,000 yen for adults.

Now you can see big shelves on both sides!

The sake barrels are lined up on the right shelf. These are dedicated by sake brewing companies nationwide.

Sake is treated as a sacred drink for Kami.

The barrel is sized to hold 72 liters of sake. There are 216 barrels in all.

You can see the display of barrels at many shrines, but the number of barrels at Meiji Jingu is outstanding.

Lined up on the left shelf are wine barrels. It is very rare for a shrine to have wine barrels. Probably only Meiji Jingu.

Emperor Meiji was a symbol of “Bunmei Kaika or civilization and enlightenment” who actively adopted Western culture and led modernization by cutting hair, dressing up in Western-style, and eating Western food.

And Emperor Meiji also liked wine.

For those reasons, the dedication from the winemakers in the Burgundy region began in 2006 at the request of the Japanese, who are honorary citizens of Burgundy, France.

By the way, both the sake barrel and the wine barrel are empty. These are barrels for decoration, and the sake and wine inside are dedicated separately.

This is  “Ootorii”, the Great torii or second torii gate. It is the largest torii of its kind which is a wooden Myojin-style torii in Japan.

The pillars are 1.2 meters in diameter, 12 meters in height, and 13 tons in weight, and are made of Japanese cypress found in Taiwan, which is over 1500 years old.

The current Ootorii is the second generation reconstructed in 1975. The previous Otorii was also made of Japanese cypress, which was cut down in Taiwan and is over 1200 years old, but it was damaged by a lightning strike in 1966.

The previous Ootorii was restored the year after it was damaged and it is being used as a torii gate for another shrine.

The gate on the left is the entrance to the garden “Gyoen” at Meiji Jingu. The entrance fee is 500 yen as the maintenance fee for the garden.

Originally, the land of this garden was the garden of a daimyo’s residence in the Edo period. Then, in the Meiji era, it became an imperial estate, and Emperor Meiji maintained it as a walking garden for the empress who was physically weak.

This garden is the only place where trees were growing before Meiji Jingu was established.

According to the instructions of Emperor Meiji, about 80 kinds of irises that the Empress liked were planted in the garden.

Currently, the number has increased to 1500 stocks of about 150 species, and beautiful irises are in full bloom during the season from late May to mid-June.

In the garden, there is a wooden house called “Kaku-un-tei”, which is a sukiya-style house built by Emperor Meiji for Empress Shoken. However, the original was burned down in the war and the current building was rebuilt in 1958.

In addition, there is a well in the garden called “Kiyomasa no Ido”, which is said to have been dug by a famous military commander named Kiyomasa Kato. This well is one of the most famous springs in Tokyo. The temperature of well water is around 15 degrees throughout the year.

And this well is very famous as a spiritual place, and it is said that if you take a picture of the well and set it as your phone wallpaper, your luck will improve.