Meiji Jingu shrine to Sensoji Temple route to see Cultural Tokyo! DIY Shibuya to Asakusa

Kon’nichiwa!

Meiji Jingu Shrine is the most famous shrine in Tokyo, and Sensoji Temple is the most famous temple in Tokyo! So you can make it a Cultural Tokyo day of exploring the biggest cultural attractions in Tokyo.

These places are located in different parts of the city, so train will be the easiest way to go from one to the other. You’ll be going from Shibuya to Asakusa! It’s around 45 minutes by train from Meiji Jingu Shrine to Sensoji Temple, and you might end up spending 1 to 2 hours walking around each.

To add to your Cultural Tokyo day, instead of going straight from Shibuya to Asakusa, you can stop by the neighborhood of Akasaka so you can walk through an iconic torii tunnel at Hie Shrine!

And so, below, I have an outline of making your day going from Meiji Jingu Shrine to Sensoji Temple, with a stop at the Hie Shrine torii tunnel along the way! I’ve also made an interactive map on google maps to make it easier to understand.

 

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Now, here’s a route for you to go from Meiji Jingu Shrine in Shibuya to Sensoji Temple in Asakusa!

 

 

You can even fit in some of the most famous modern attractions nearby, and make it a route from Shibuya Scramble to Tokyo Skytree!

Shibuya Scramble Crossing is not far from Meiji Jingu Shrine, and Tokyo Skytree is not far from Sensoji Temple! But… adding places here and there can really lead to a lot of walking, so choose carefully! 🤪

 

I also made an interactive map for this route. If you want to go straight to the map, here you go: Meiji Jingu to Sensoji map

 

Since we are starting off with Meiji Jingu Shrine, an ideal train station to start at is Harajuku Station, which is on the JR Yamanote Line. Depending on where you’re coming from, Meiji Jingu-mae Station may work out better in terms of train connection.

Either way you’ll be minutes away, from the big torii shrine gate of Meiji Jingu Shrine on the Harajuku/Yoyogi Park side. For google maps, look for “Meiji Jingu Ichino Torii” as your starting point.

On the Shinjuku side, you can also enter Meiji Jingu from the “Kitasando Torii” shrine gate, which is near Yoyogi Station and Kita-Sando Station.

 

Let’s learn Japanese! TORII = SHRINE GATE!

 

Option that includes more walking!
Takeshita Street of Harajuku is one of the famous streets of Tokyo. If you’re arriving at Hakajuku Station, Takeshita Street is pretty much right there. You can go for a quick walk down the street before you head to Meiji Jingu Shrine.

 

Harajuku Station or Meiji Jingu Mae Station > Meiji Jingu Shrine

 

 

Once you arrive at Harajuku Station, there will be signs that will lead you to the exit. Be on the lookout for signs specifically for “Meiji Jingu”! For Harajuku Station, it will be the west exit. And then basically, once you exit, you will walk straight towards the big torii shrine gate. And from there, you’re just following the big wide path through the forest to get to the main shrine area.

You might end up spending 1 to 2 hours walking around Meiji Jingu Shrine. If you only walk around the main shrine buildings and forested grounds, which is free, then you can do it faster, maybe like 30 minutes to an hour. If you also visit the inner gardens (fee required) and take your time with a peaceful walk, you can end up longer.

 

Get to know Meiji Jingu Shrine better: Guided Meiji Jingu Shrine and Shinto culture walking tour reviews

 

6 minute train ride

 

Next, you’ll go by train to get from Meiji Jingu to Hie Shrine!

The easiest way to figure out which train to take it google maps! For purposes of directions, use “Meiji Jingu Ichino Torii” for Meiji Jingu Shrine as the starting point to make sure you’ll be on the Harajuku side, and you using “Hie Shrine” will work just fine for the destination in order to get train directions. (map + directions)

 

Akasaka Station > torii tunnel stairs up > Top of Hie Shrine grounds > outdoor escalator down > Tameike-Sanno Station

 

 

From Akasaka Station, walk to the Hie Shrine torii tunnel! (Google maps: “Thousand Toriis.”) These are the iconic red shrine gates that are lined up. They go up a bunch of stairs. So you’ll be taking the stairs through the torii tunnel to get up to the main area of the Hie Shrine grounds. (Google maps: “Hie Shrine.”)

Once you’re at the top, then you can have a little walk around. It won’t take that long.

Then, instead of going back the same way you came, you’ll take an outdoor escalator to go down back to street level where there is a big stone torii shrine gate! (Google maps: “Hie Shrine Sanno Torii.”)

Then, once back at street level, walk 5 minutes over to Tameike-Sanno Station so you can go to Asakusa Station and Sensoji Temple.

This stop for Hie Shrine might take like 30 minutes.

 

👆 This is the general sequence from Akasaka Station to Hie Shrine to Tameike-Sanno Station. You’ll walk from Akasaka Station to the torii tunnel, walk around at the top, take the outdoor escalator down, and then walk to Tameike-Sanno Station. You can zoom in on the Meiji Jingu to Sensoji map.

 

25 minute train ride

 

Now for planning purposes, you can do “Hie Shrine Sanno Torii” as your starting location on google maps. For your destination, use “Kaminari mon.” This is one of the Sensoji temple gates, and it is at one end of the Nakamise shopping street. Kaminari-mon is also the name of a district, so you’ll want to make sure you are specifically doing directions to the actual temple gate that is on Nakamise Street to get the best route. (map + directions)

This will not drop you at the closest train station to Sensoji Temple itself, but starting at Kaminari-mon gate will give you the walking route of Nakamise Street to get to the temple!

There are many Asakusa Stations. (Yes, confusing, they are on different train lines, and the train station is called the same thing.) So ideally you don’t want to just blindly put in Asakusa Station into google maps. That said, it is all in the same general area, so it will not be that big of a deal no matter which one you end up at.

 

Let’s learn Japanese! MON = GATE! In this case, it’s used to mean an entrance gate to the temple.

 

Option that includes more walking!
Alternative route: Hie Shrine to Tokyo Imperial Palace to Sensoji Temple. Instead of going straight from Hie Shrine to Sensoji Temple, you can walk from Hie Shrine to the Tokyo Imperial Palace. It’s a 20-30 minute walk, and then you’ll be walking a lot more to see a bit of the outside of the palace. There’s also the east gardens that you can walk around. It’s all free. Then from the Imperial Palace, you can take a train to Asakusa Station.

Imperial Palace on another day! If you will be heading out of Tokyo by shinkansen, it’s also an option to go to the Imperial Palace before your train. Tokyo Station to the Imperial Palace is about a 15 minute walk.

Get to know the Imperial Palace better: Guided tour of Tokyo Imperial Palace and Shogun walking tour reviews

 

Asakusa Station > Kaminari-mon gate > Nakamise Street > Sensoji Temple

 

 

When you arrive at Asakusa Station (the one near Kaminari-mon!), again there will be signs leading you to the exit. You want to look for signs for “Kaminari-mon District Gate” and “Sensoji Temple”! Once you are outside the train station and on the street, it will be about 5 minutes or less of walking until you see an iconic red temple gate with a big red lantern. From here, it’s your official start of exploring Asakusa!

Continuing to walk past the temple gate, you are on Nakamise Street which is the famous shopping street of Asakusa that is lined with small shops selling food and souvenirs.

You might end up spending 1 to 2 hours in Asakusa walking along Nakamise Street and the Sensoji temple area. You’ll want to allow for at least 45 minutes, and you can end up spending a lot more time.

 

Get to know Asakusa better: Asakusa Sensoji Temple and Old Tokyo walking tour reviews

 

You can end your day at Sensoji Temple and Asakusa, and head back to your hotel!

Or, if you’re still up for more, the Tokyo Skytree is a 5 minute train ride away! You can also walk 20-30 minutes instead of taking the train if you’ve still got a lot of walking left in you! You can buy tickets to go up to the observation deck when you arrive, or buy Tokyo Skytree tickets before you go.

 

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Meiji Jingu Shrine to Sensoji Temple map

👇 Explore the interactive map below of Meiji Jingu Shrine to Sensoji Temple! 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.

 

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