Turning Fortune

中尊寺 · Hiraizumi, Iwate

A World Heritage Tendai temple whose golden hall was raised in 1124 as a vow for the repose of the dead of both sides in a war — and it is a temple, so do not clap.

日枝神社 · Tokyo, Tokyo

A hilltop shrine in Nagatacho where the stairs, the escalator and the paired sacred monkeys are all part of the visit.

賀茂別雷神社（上賀茂神社） · Kyoto, Kyoto

Kyoto's upper Kamo shrine, where two sand cones mark the mountain's presence and a paid inner-court visit changes what you can actually see.

神田明神 · Chiyoda, Tokyo

The tutelary shrine of Edo's merchant districts, next door to Akihabara — and the most relaxed major shrine in Tokyo about how you approach it.

車折神社 · Ukyo, Kyoto, Kyoto

The Arashiyama shrine where promises are kept — and where four thousand vermilion plaques carry the names of Japanese performers, dedicated by the performers themselves.

明治神宮 · Shibuya, Tokyo

A forest of a hundred thousand donated trees, planted from scratch in 1920 and designed to outlive everyone who planted it — with a shrine in the middle.

根津神社 · Tokyo, Tokyo

A richly carved Edo-period shrine where a red-torii path, a separate Inari shrine and a working counter each ask you to slow down.

大山阿夫利神社 · Isehara, Kanagawa

A mountain shrine ninety minutes from Tokyo where the lower hall is a cable-car ride and the upper hall is a two-hour climb — and the difference matters.

浅草寺 · Taito, Tokyo

Tokyo's oldest temple, thirty million visitors a year — and almost all of them stop at the offering box without realising they are allowed to go inside.

水天宮 · Chuo, Tokyo

Tokyo's shrine for safe childbirth, rebuilt in 2016 as a base-isolated modern structure raised above a car park — nothing about it looks the way visitors expect.

高千穂神社 · Takachiho, Miyazaki

The head shrine of Takachiho's eighty-eight shrines, where four kagura dances are performed for visitors at eight o'clock on most nights.

東寺（教王護国寺） · Kyoto, Kyoto

Kyoto's last surviving trace of Heian-kyō, where a free visit to Kūkai's home and a paid three-dimensional mandala are two different experiences.

八坂神社 · Kyoto, Kyoto

Gion's open-all-night shrine, where the gate, the prayer office and the seal desk each keep a different clock.

太宰府天満宮 · Dazaifu, Fukuoka

The head shrine of every Tenmangu in Japan, built over the grave of an exiled scholar — and currently mid-way through the end of a 124-year restoration.

嚴島神社 · Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima

Whether you see a shrine floating on the sea or a shrine standing on a mudflat depends entirely on what time you arrive — and almost nobody checks first.

鹿島神宮 · Kashima, Ibaraki

A vast forest shrine to the sword-and-thunder kami, where a stone said to pin down the earthquake catfish sits at the end of a 700-metre cedar path.

増上寺 · Tokyo, Tokyo

A Jōdo temple where the route from the old gate to the Amida hall, the Tokugawa graves and the seal counter are three different visits.