Nezu Shrine

Nezu Shrine is best known for its Tsutsuji Matsuri (Azalea Festival), held every April, when around 100 varieties of azalea bloom across the shrine's garden. The festival draws large crowds to the Bunkyo ward grounds and is one of Tokyo's most popular spring events. The blooms surround the shrine's iconic tunnel of vermilion torii gates.

The shrine's origins are said to date to the early 8th century, but the current buildings were constructed in 1706 under the fifth Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. Several structures, including the romon gate and main hall, survive from that period. They are designated Important Cultural Properties of Japan.

Nezu Shrine features a tunnel of vermilion torii gates that visually echoes the famous path at Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, though on a much smaller scale. The shrine's torii path leads up to a small inner pavilion rather than climbing a mountainside. Many visitors come specifically to photograph it as a quieter, central-Tokyo alternative to Fushimi Inari.

The shrine is a roughly five-minute walk from Nezu Station on the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line, and about the same distance from Sendagi Station on the Namboku Line. It sits in the Bunkyo ward, near Tokyo University and the Yanaka neighborhood. Admission to the grounds is free, though the inner garden has a small fee during the Azalea Festival.