#20. Minato

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 (10:26)

1. Toyokawa Inari Tokyo Betsuin @ 1-4-7 Motoakasaka (11:12)

2. Inari Shrine @ 1-1-10 Motoazabu (11:44)

3. Fushimi Sanpo Inari Shrine @ 3-1-15 Shiba (11:54)

4. Toyokawa Inari Shrine @ 4-3-10 Mita (12:03)

5. Inari Shrine @ 2-1 Shirokane (12:10)

6. Hiroo Inari-jinja Shrine @ 4-5-61 Minamiazabu (12:23)

7. Inari Shrine @ 4-6-1 Shirokanedai (X)

8. Takayama Inari-jinja Shrine @ 4-10-23 Takanawa (12:45)

Date: Wednesday 28th April 2021

Weather: Cloudy with sunny intervals

Area: 20.37 km²

Distance: 29.21 km

Time: 2.01 hrs

Calories Burned: 860

Top: Blue Fox Racing t-shirt

Notes: This one was done en-route to work in Shinagawa ward. The first one is actually a temple and one of the best in Tokyo, if not all of Japan, for seeing fox statues aplenty. The fourth shrine was very close to Ghost Street (Yurei Zaka), and the seventh one was in the grounds of a university so I sadly couldn’t get in to see it. The last one was somewhere I went by mistake on my Shinagawa ride until I realised it was actually in Minato ward. Either way, it’s really not a particularly interesting one.

Fox Rating: 6/10

Nearby Sights: Natto ramen restaurant, Sengakuji Temple, Canned food restaurant, Kyu-Shiba-rikyu Gardens. 

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   #6. Kōtō   #7. Shibuya     #8. Nerima     #9. Meguro     #10. Bunkyo     #11. Sumida     #12. Nakano     #13. Edogawa     #14. Taito     #15. Chiyoda     #16. Suginami     #17. Chūō     #18. Ota     19. Arakawa

Click here to read `TF Top 10……Smallest Inari Shrines In Tokyo (Part 1)

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