Kon’nichiwa!
Walking through the Hie Shrine torii tunnel is a short but fun little thing to do in Tokyo! It’s a chance to walk through a bunch of bright red shrine gates in Tokyo! It’s officially called the Inari Sando of Hie Shrine. It’s completely free.
While the most famous torii tunnel in Japan is located in Kyoto, there are also shorter ones that you can find in Tokyo. One of them is at Hie Shrine. Of the torii tunnels I’ve been to in Tokyo, this really did feel like a proper “tunnel”! Going up the stairs through the shrine gates also gave it a more dramatic effect.
Let’s learn Japanese! TORII = shrine gate!
The Hie Shrine (aka Hie Jinja Shrine) is in the neighborhood of Akasaka, which tends to be a low-key quieter area. This means that there’s a chance that you’ll be able to walk through torii tunnel with not many people around.
The Hie Shrine torii tunnel is located near Akasaka Station. From Akasaka Station, you can walk around 5 minutes to get to the torii tunnel. The torii tunnel goes up a set of stairs, and then you’ll be at the main area of the hilltop Hie Shrine! Then you can have a quick walk around (or stay a little longer), and then take an outdoor escalator to get back down to street level!
So walking through this torii tunnel in Akaska doesn’t take too much time, and a walking loop from the train station can be done in less than 30 minutes.
Akasaka is not to be confused with the more famous traditional Old Tokyo neighborhood of Asakusa! AKAsaka vs ASAkusa: Akasaka is calm, modern, and tucked-away, while Asakusa is bustling, historic, and a major tourist area.
Below I’ll show you the simple walking route around the Hie Shrine!
📌 Save this post for later! Save on Pinterest! 👈📌
There are partner websites included in this post. I may earn a commission.
JAPAN TRAVEL > TOKYO MAP | TOKYO TORII GATES | MEIJI JINGU TO SENSOJI TEMPLE
Side note!
Tokyo tour you must consider to get to know Japanese culture better!
Tokyo walking tour: Old Town Yanaka and Nezu culture experience
Visit the quieter neighborhoods of Yanaka and Nezu, and walk through a torii tunnel in Nezu!
Read the reviews.
How to get to Hie Shrine
I also made an interactive map for this route. If you want to go straight to the map, here you go: Hie Shrine torii tunnel map
Start: Akasaka Station
For simplicity, we can say to start at Akasaka Station to go to the Hie Shrine torii tunnel.
But there are actually several train stations within walking distance of Hie Shrine, including Akasaka Station, Akasaka-Mitsuke Station, and Tameike-Sanno Station. It really does not matter which one you start at, and the best train station will more or less depend on where you’re coming from.
To know which is the best for you, for your google maps destination for Hie Shrine, look for “Thousand Toriis.” This will get you started with the torii tunnel! Google maps public transport directions will help you navigate the local trains around Tokyo.
Near Akasaka Station, there is a Harry Potter shop.
Getting to the torii tunnel
From the train station, walk 5 minutes to get to the torii tunnel! It’s a walk up the stairs through bright red torii shrine gates!
👆 First from street level, there’s a bunch of stairs lined with red and white lanterns.
👆 And then the stairs continue through the torii tunnel!
👆 You’ll be at the top of the torii tunnel stairs in no time. It’s not that long of a tunnel, but it’s fun!
It is longer than the torii tunnel in Shinjuku, though!
👆 Once you exit the torii tunnel, there’s a few more stairs lined with lanterns, and you’ll walk through another shrine gate to reach the top.
👆 Big red torii shrine gate near the torii tunnel that you just came up.
👆 Officially, the torii tunnel is called the Inari Sando, which is a part of Hie Jinja Shrine.
Top of Hie Shrine
Once you have walked all the stairs through the torii shrine gates, you’ll be at the main area of Hie Shrine. The area is not very big, so it won’t take very long to walk around.
The Hie Jinja Shrine has historically been seen as a very important shrine as the guardian of Tokyo’s former Edo Castle. Today, it’s still an active shrine where locals come to pray. You can read more about the Hie Shrine history.
While Edo Castle no longer exists today, the site of the castle is now the Tokyo Imperial Palace, serving as the residence of Japan’s emperor. You can visit the Imperial Palace east gardens for free, and you can also do a walking tour of the Edo Castle ruins. It’s quite logical to go to the Imperial Palace next after Hie Shrine.
👆 You can walk around at the top of Hie Shrine.
👆 Walk through another gate!
Outdoor escalator to Sanno torii
Once you have finished your walk around the Hie Shrine grounds at the top, you can head back down. But instead of going back down the same way you came (through the torii tunnel!), you can take an outdoor escalator down to a big torii gate!
👆 Take the outdoor escalator back to street level where you’ll find another big shrine gate!
👆 Or take the torii tunnel back down!
Back to the train station!
Once you’re back at street level, head to the train station for your next stop! For example, you can walk 5 minutes to Tameike-Sanno Station to take a train to Asakusa Station, and continue you Cultural Tokyo day of going from Meiji Jingu Shrine to Hie Shrine to Sensoji Temple!
👇
Hie Shrine torii tunnel map
👇 Explore the interactive map below of getting to Hie Shrine! Zoom in to get started and click on the icons for details!
If you are having problems viewing or using the map, you can view it directly on google maps.
JAPAN TRAVEL > Tokyo map | Tokyo torii gates | Meiji Jingu Shrine to Sensoji Temple
More torii tunnels in Tokyo:
More culture in Tokyo:
When searching for hotels near Kyoto Station, look for the "view map" option!
Take a look at the Hotel Keihan Kyoto Grande (for a simple hotel near the train station) or Matsumoto Ryokan for a Japanese-style experience.
Visit the homepage on the blog for more Japan itinerary ideas!