Togo Shrine

Togo Shrine (???? Togo-jinja), located on Meiji Dori in Harajuku, near the intersection of Takeshita Street and Meiji Avenue. It is accessible from Harajuku Station, near Meiji-Jingumae, Tokyo. It was built in 1940. Togo shrine is an oasis of peace and harmony, right next to the crowded Takeshita-dori street.

Togo Shrine is a memorial Shinto shrine dedicated to military commander Admiral Togo Heihachiro (1848-1934) shortly after his death. Togo Heihachiro campaigned commander in the defining 1905 victory against Russia at the Tsushima Straits. The Admiral defeated the Russian fleet in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

Togo supervised former Emperor Hirohito's education from 1914-1924. The shrine was established in 1940 but destroyed in the air bombings of 1945. Then the shrine was replaced by a contemporary building in 1969 and a memorial hall was added in the shrine. Togo Heihachiro is celebrated as a shinto kami in Togo Shrine. There is a small museum and a bookshop dedicated to Togo Heihachiro located within the grounds of the shrine. Togo Heihachiro physical remains are interred at Tama Cemetery in Tokyo.

There is a flea market in Togo Shrine, which has a nice and peaceful atmosphere. This is a lovely place to walk around. While wandering amongst the stalls you can enjoy the Shrine garden. This flea market is a Sunday morning open-air antique market with more than 120 booths, if it is raining so all the booths are suspended. This is the largest antique market of its kind in Tokyo. The flea market opens on the 1st, 4th, and 5th Sunday of every month from 4am to 2pm. After 2pm the sellers start to clean up their shop, so you must come earlier. This is the best place to buy used kimono, furniture, record player, a wooden trunk, or even some film posters from the show era. Almost all customers here are non-Japanese people. The sellers here seem like used to have foreigners customers so they use a little bit English to tell the prices. Don’t forget to bargain when you shop here.

Togo Shrine is 5 minutes from Harajuku Station. From the platform, go down the stairs and out Takeshita Exit. Cross the road and enter Takeshita-dori (full of shops on both sides). Walk straight and head left at a small four-street intersection (before Seven Eleven). There will be a fork in the road with steps to the right. Go up the steps, walk straight and you should see more steps that will lead you to the entrance to the shrine. And it takes 7 minutes to Togo Shrine if you are from Meiji-jingumae station. From Exit 3, head toward Harajuku Station, past Snoopy Town Shop, to Takeshita-dori. Enter Takeshita-dori and walk straight. Head left at a small four-street intersection (before Seven Eleven) and there will be a fork in the road with stairs to the right. Go up the steps, walk straight and you should see more steps that will take you to the entrance to the shrine.

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