#6. Kōtō

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 (09:53)

1. Inari Shrine @ 6-47 Kameido (10:51)

2. Inari Shrine @ 9-15 Kameido (10:59)

3. Inari Shrine @ 7-23-12 Ojima (11:09)

4. Inari-jinja Shrine @ 4-21-11 Ojima (11:19)

5. Mitsuho Michiwake Inari Shrine @ 3-9-7 Kiyosumi (11:35)

6. Fukagawa Inari Shrine @ 2-12-12 Kiyosumi (11:38)

7. Daikoku Inari Shrine @ 1-8 Kiyosumi (11:41)

8. Bashō Inari Shrine @ 1-3-12 Tokiwa (11:44)

9. Ōkubo Inari Shrine @ 2-31 Morishita (11:50)

Date: Sunday 31st May 2020

Weather: Cloudy

Area: 40.16 km²

Distance: 43.05 km

Time: 2.57 hrs

Calories Burned: 1274

Top: Leicester City 1979-83 home shirt

Notes: A long ride out to the far-east of Tokyo but a fairly straightforward one. The first shrine had a nice water feature and was reached via a tiny bridge, the third one’s guardian foxes had both lost their heads. All but the second place were small shrines and only the last stop didn’t have any fox statues on site.

Fox Rating: 7/10

Nearby Sights: Kiyosumi Garden, Ariake Coliseum, Kameido Tenjin Shrine, Yumenoshima Tropical Greenhouse Dome, Tokyo Gate Bridge

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

#1. Itabashi     #2. Toshima   #3. Kita   #4. Katsushika   #5. Shinagawa

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