Page 34 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - Tokyo

32 ❯❯ Top 10 Tokyo Highlights

Yanaka

An oasis of calm, seemingly frozen in time, Yanaka is a far cry from
the idea of Tokyo as a metropolis of the future. The area, a short
stroll north of Ueno Park but easily accessed from Nippori Station
on the JR Yamanote line, is where some 60 temples and shrines
relocated after a fire devastated the capital’s downtown area
in 1657. They remain there today alongside
the elegiac Yanaka Cemetery, the last resting
place of many of the city’s luminaries, and
Yanaka Ginza, a traditional shopping street
straight out of Tokyo’s past.

Yanaka Ginza
Daien-ji
1 4
Temple
Global chains are
banished from this This temple has a
shopping street in favor Buddhist and a Shinto
of butchers, green­ hall. Its Chrysan themum
Tenno-ji Temple
grocers, cafés (above), Festival is held here 6
soba restaurants, and annually on October Founded in 1274,
crafts shops such as 14–15, when dolls this temple contains the
Yanaka Matsunoya, made from flowers are Great Buddha of Yanaka
which sells artisan­ displayed and puppet (above), a fine bronze
made household goods. per formances take place. statue cast in 1690.
Suwa Shrine
2
At New Year, the
grounds of this 1202
shrine on the edge of a
plateau are strung with
lanterns showing the
animal zodiac sign for
the coming year.
Zensho-an
3
Temple
Yanaka Cemetery
Every August, this Zen 5
meditation tem ple The graves of the last shogun (above),
displays its collection of Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837­1913), and the infamous
painted scrolls depicting murderess Takahashi Oden are among the many
super natural folk tales. famous figures buried in this cemetery.

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