#3. Kita

Cycling may be something that I love to do but I’m not really one who goes for a ride without some kind of aim whether it be to a restaurant, a sight or just my workplace. With that in mind, and desperate to get out on my new bike, I decided to cycle round ALL the Inari Shrines in Tokyo taking each of the 23 wards one at a time.

Inspired by recent interest in tiny shrines, this idea seemed like a good way of hunting them down in a slightly more orderly fashion. This really is not so much about the actual Inari Shrines but just getting out on my bike and having a means to an end. Please note that there are many more Inari Shrines (as well as other shrines) than what’s listed below but these were all the ones registered on Google Maps. The times in brackets next to the name of the shrines note the (approximate) time of day I was at each place.

Starting Point: Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre, Itabashi-ku (09:54)

1.  Inari Shrine @ 25-3 Iwabuchimachi (10:24)

2. Shōzoku Inari-jinja Shrine @ 2-30-14 Oji (10:44)

3. Oji Inari Shrine @ 1-12-26 Kishimachi (10:52)

4. Inari Shrine @ 2-11-1 Nishigahara (11:10)

5. Inari Shrine @ 4-18 Tabata (11:24)

Date: Tuesday 26th May 2020

Weather: Cloudy

Area: 20.61 km²

Distance: 24:17 km

Time: 1.39 hrs

Calories Burned: 712

Top: Leicester City 1998-2000 home shirt

Notes: The second and third ones here are the start and end of the annual Fox Pageant Festival in Oji on New Years Eve. The first one was exactly what I’m looking for on this journey but the final two on this fairly short ride were not so interesting as they were just parts of bigger complexes.

Fox Rating: 5/10

Nearby Sights: Asukayama Park, Kyu-Furukawa Gardens

Click on the following links for other posts from the ‘Foxed In The Head’ Series…

#1. Itabashi     #2. Toshima

Click here to read ‘TF Top 10……Tokyo Themed Cycling Rides’