人形町裏通り

A shrine for safe childbirth and for conceiving. It began in 1818, when Arima Yorinori, ninth lord of the Kurume domain, had the deity divided and installed at his Edo residence in Mita. People threw offerings over the wall in such numbers that the lord opened the gate to the public on the fifth of each month. In the Meiji years it moved to Aoyama, then here to Kakigaracho.

Rebuilt in 2016; not just the hall but the whole precinct, approach and cloisters included, sits on base isolation. It fills on the days of the dog, when people come to pray for a safe birth.

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A street running about four hundred metres straight from the Meijiza to Ningyocho Station, lined with confectioners, tofu makers, soba houses and a shop for traditional footwear. The name comes from the Owariya, a sweet-sake shop that stood at the entrance in the early Meiji years. It closed around 1953, and only the name of the street stayed.

Ten minutes to walk end to end. Many shops close on Sundays.

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A theatre that opened in 1873 as the Kishoza. It became the Hisamatsuza, then the Chitoseza, and in 1893 Ichikawa Sadanji the first bought it and gave it the name Meijiza. It is held to be the oldest commercial theatre in Tokyo.

Check the programme and whether same-day tickets are available on the theatre's site. Amazake Yokocho begins at its front door.

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Known as a shrine of strong fortune and warding off misfortune. The reasons given are that the object of worship was carried out to safety in the Great Kanto Earthquake, that the shrine came through the 1945 air raids unburnt, and that the soldiers who attended the departure rite here are said to have all returned alive. In the grounds is the Tokyo Zeniarai Benten, where money is washed.

The grounds are very small. Numbers have risen in recent years and there is a queue even on weekdays. It spills onto the pavement, so stand where you are not blocking the way.

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A Chuo ward park facing the Sumida, with a sports ground and a gymnasium, and access out to the riverside terrace. It backs onto the Meijiza and serves as somewhere to pass the time before or after a performance.

Ten minutes' walk from the station. The clearest route is to walk Amazake Yokocho to the Meijiza and carry straight on to the river.

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One of the reconstruction schools built after the Great Kanto Earthquake — reinforced concrete, with an arch and a clock. The ward library and the social education hall occupy the same site.

It is a working primary school. Look at the building from the street and do not enter the grounds; the library has its own entrance.

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A poultry restaurant founded in 1760. The first proprietor served the shogunal house as a falconer. The oyakodon is held to have been devised around 1891 by the fifth-generation mistress of the house, from the way customers were pouring the sukiyaki broth over rice with an egg. Neither sugar nor sake goes into that broth.

It closed in June 2022 for rebuilding and reopened on 1 November 2025, so the building is new. Oyakodon at midday; the chicken sukiyaki and other dishes in the evening. One minute from exit A2 at Ningyocho.

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A ningyoyaki shop founded in 1917. Thin skin, a lot of bean paste. It stands directly opposite Suitengu, and much of the trade is people buying on the way back from the shrine.

You can watch them being baked from the street. When they sell out the shop closes early.

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A taiyaki shop founded in 1916, baking them one at a time in individual moulds. With Naniwaya Sohonten in Azabu-juban and Wakaba in Yotsuya it makes up what are called Tokyo's three great taiyaki.

There is usually a queue, and you wait for them to come off the iron, so allow time. If you are taking them away, leave the bag open or the skin goes soft.

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