The most beautiful temples to visit Tokyo

Located to the east of Tokyo Tower, Shiba Park was home, until the ^17th century, to over a hundred shrines built around the Zōzō-Ji temple. The temple was the Kantō headquarters of the Jōdō-shū (Pure Land Sect), whose masters were all Chinese. It was founded by Shūei (809-884), a disciple of Kūkai. Initially dependent on the Shingon-shū, it then passed to the Jōdō-shū by the monk Shōsō, at the end of the ^14th century. Ieyasu Tokugawa made it a family temple in 1590, and the temple accumulated wealth donated by daimyō and merchants, as it was on the edge of the Tōkaido road. At the height of its glory, the temple comprised over 120 buildings. The mausoleums of 6 of the 15 Tokugawa shoguns are located here.

After the Meiji Restoration and the decline of Buddhism, the estate was transformed into a park. Destroyed during the Second World War, it was rebuilt in 1974, but posed many problems for the development of the Shiba district. The two-storey main gate dates back to 1622. It is the oldest wooden building in the city and the only temple structure to have survived the bombardments of the Second World War. Many stone statuettes (jizō) of children can be seen here, serving as prayer supports for parents who have lost a child before or shortly after birth.

Throughout the year, numerous events and ceremonies bring this religious site to life. Sutra writing sessions are held every 14th of the month, except July and August.

This temple founded by Ieyasu Tokugawa in 1612 is best known for the tomb of the 47 rōnins, the faithful samurai who continue to populate the Japanese imagination. A museum is dedicated to them in the temple grounds. In March 1701, the lord (daimyō) Asano of Akō wounded the lord Kira Hozukenosuke in the enclosure of Edo Castle. Taking out a blade in the palace of shōgun was a serious and unforgivable offence, and the culprit was condemned to ritual suicide, seppuku. He lost his lands and possessions. The 300 samurai in his pay became rōnin or floating men, which means mercenaries. One of them, Kuranosuke Oishi, decided to avenge his master and gathered 46 other samurai. He asked them to be patient and prepare a plan of revenge for 2 years. They met on December 14, 1702, attacked the villa of daimyō Kira and beheaded him. After placing the victim's head on their master's grave, they were condemned to seppuku on their master's grave on February 4, 1703, in the Sengaku-Ji garden. Only one escaped, Kichiemon Terasaka, who was sent to the lands of daimyō to Akō, to inform the faithful of the success of their revenge. When he returned, the shōgun pardoned him. Finally, another samurai from Akō, regretting not having been part of the revenge, ritually committed suicide at Asano's grave. December 14 is still an important date and every year, pilgrims come to visit the tombs of the 47 rōnins present in the temple.

Temple founded in 824 by Kūkaï. Burned several times and bombed during the World War II, it was rebuilt in the fifties. In the park of the temple, one can see the oldest tree in Tōkyō, which would have grown from the cane of the monk Shinran in the 13th century. The temple has the sacred formula of Daishi Kōbō and Buddhist paintings. The American legation was housed here for more than ten years in the late 19th century. A medallion bearing the effigy of Towsend Harris is part of the temple treasure.