Nezu Shrine

What the guides say about Nezu Shrine

Late afternoon and evening. The trick that makes this day work is that Nogizaka and Nezu are on the same Chiyoda line, about twenty minutes apart, with no transfer. Ride it north by mid-afternoon and step out into a different century. Nezu Shrine has a tunnel of red torii gates climbing a wooded slope. Arrive while it's still light, when it's calm enough to walk the full path alone. From there it's a fifteen-minute wander through Yanaka's wooden houses and temple walls to Yanaka Ginza, the shopping street that lights its lanterns as the croquette counters do their evening trade. Eat standing, then climb the Yuyake Dandan steps at the top of the street for the sunset they're named after. The Yanaka neighbourhood guide fills in the streets between. Dinner is whichever small place has a handwritten menu and an open seat.

38. Nezu Shrine's torii tunnel. Often called Tokyo's answer to Fushimi Inari. The tunnel is shorter and the crowds are lighter, and the hillside azalea garden in April is among the best seasonal spectacles in the city (the shrine is free, the azalea garden charges a small fee during the festival). It's on the edge of Yanaka, five minutes from Nezu station.

Mid-April to May is the part of spring that's better than cherry blossom week, and fewer people realise it. The wisteria at Kameido Tenjin Shrine in east Tokyo hangs in purple curtains over the water, usually peaking in late April, and the crowds are a fraction of cherry blossom season. Nezu Shrine, next to Yanaka, fills its hillside with azaleas from mid-April, a tunnel of pink and red that beats fighting for a viewing angle in Kyoto. The peony garden in Ueno Park opens from mid-April, and it's a pretty corner that most park visitors walk straight past.