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Trip ideas  /  5 days in Tokyo  /  Meiji Shrine
Meiji Shrine, Tokyo, Kanto
Historic site · Tokyo, Kanto

Meiji Shrine

A forest of 120,000 trees.A start in 1915.80 large murals.A shrine rebuilt by 1958.

Photo: Akonnchiroll, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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The shrine

The shrine honors Emperor Meiji but does not hold his grave

Meiji Shrine is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken. The Diet passed a resolution to commemorate his role in the Meiji Restoration, and an iris garden the couple had visited was chosen as the site.

The forest

A forest of 120,000 donated trees stands in central Tokyo

The shrine stands in a forest of 70 hectares. It holds 120,000 trees of 365 different species, donated by people from all parts of Japan when the shrine was established.

120,000trees of 365 species, all donated

The build

Building the shrine was a national project

Construction began in 1915 under Itō Chūta, in the traditional nagare-zukuri style, using primarily Japanese cypress and copper. The main timbers came from Kiso in Nagano, and Alishan in Taiwan.

Rebuilt

The shrine was dedicated in 1920 and rebuilt in 1958

It was formally dedicated on November 3, 1920, completed in 1921, and its grounds were officially finished by 1926. The original building was destroyed during the Tokyo air raids of World War II. The present shrine was completed in October 1958.

The precincts

The outer precinct holds a gallery of 80 large murals

The Naien is the inner precinct, centered on the shrine buildings and a treasure museum. The Gaien, the outer precinct, includes the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery, with a collection of 80 large murals, and the Meiji Memorial Hall.

80large murals in the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery

Day 3, morning

Next is Takeshita Street.

More stories from this trip idea

The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Meiji Shrine, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.

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