Meiji Jingū

Meiji Jingu is the Shinto shrine dedicated to the souls of Emperor Meiji and his consort Empress Shoken, located in Tokyo's Shibuya ward just outside Harajuku Station. Consecrated in 1920, it is one of the Chokusaisha shrines that receive offerings each year through an imperial envoy. Remarkable is not only the main hall in the nagare-zukuri style but the surrounding forest: roughly 70 hectares planted with 100,000 trees donated by citizens from across Japan, designed as a self-regenerating mixed forest that today, a century on, feels like genuine primeval woodland. The original buildings burned in the Second World War and were faithfully rebuilt in 1958. Within a few minutes of leaving the noise of Harajuku, visitors enter an almost silent forest zone, walk under the monumental cypress torii gates, and often witness a traditional Shinto wedding at the main shrine.