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Zōjō-ji 増上寺
The Tokugawa family temple beneath Tokyo Tower, guarded by the oldest wooden building in the city.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Is Zōjō-ji worth visiting?
Yes — it was the Tokugawa clan's family temple, six shoguns are buried in its grounds, and its main gate from 1622 is the oldest wooden building in Tokyo. The grounds are free and open daily, Tokyo Tower rises directly behind the main hall for the city's best old-meets-new view, and an unhurried visit takes under an hour.
The story
Start at the gate, because the gate is the survivor. The Sangedatsumon was raised in 1622 and stands 21 metres tall, and it is the only original structure here that came through the firebombing of Tokyo in 1945. Everything behind it — at the temple's height, more than 120 buildings — burned. The great hall you see today was rebuilt in 1974.
The temple owes its scale to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who made it the clan's family temple and moved it to this spot in 1590, as Edo Castle expanded and the road south needed watching. Six shoguns lie in the grounds, along with wives, concubines and children — thirty-eight graves in all. Their mausoleums were once the most lavish buildings in Edo; after the war the remains were excavated and reinterred in the plain enclosure that stands there now.
Walk under the gate and Kunato tells you what its three doors are meant to free you from — and which of the six shoguns buried here took the throne at three and died at eight.
Hear it in the appVisiting
Paid areas close for ceremonies and maintenance — check the official site before you go.
Questions travellers ask
The grounds, the Sangedatsumon gate and the main hall are free. Only two areas charge: the Tokugawa shoguns' mausoleum at ¥500 and the Treasures Gallery beneath the main hall at ¥700, with a ¥1,000 ticket covering both. Neither opens on Tuesdays.
From the courtyard in front of the Daiden main hall, where the tower rises straight out of the temple roofline. Come before about nine in the morning and you will have the steps to yourself.
They are opposites. Sensō-ji is a crowded pilgrimage in a souvenir street; Zōjō-ji is quiet, and its subject is the Tokugawa dynasty that ran Japan for 260 years. Half an hour here is a different city.
Nearby historic sites in Tokyo
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