人形町
NINGYŌCHŌ
The name of this neighborhood means “doll town.” This was originally a nickname given to the area in the Edo period, when there were many shops making and repairing puppets for the nearby puppet theaters as well as producing items for the nearby kabuki theaters. The name became official in the early 20th century. At one time the Yoshiwara red light district was located in this part of Edo. That ended with the Meireki Fire in 1657, after which the Yoshiwara was relocated to north of Sensōji. Today this area is still rich with artisans and maintains its links to the puppet and kabuki theater, in addition to the geisha community that developed here. Given that Ningyōchō’s history goes back to the 17th century, many older businesses are here, just as they are in the neighboring Nihonbashi area. While Nihonbashi tends to upscale and fancy, Ningyōchō tends to have more of a neighborhood feel with its mix of residences and businesses. Ningyōchō is also well known for confectioneries, particularly along Amazake Yokochō. Even so, the area has many high-end restaurants, known as ryōtei, serving some of the best—and most expensive—food in Tokyo.
http://ningyocho.or.jp/english/feature/index.html
http://ningyocho.or.jp/english/
NINGYŌCHŌ
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Kizushi was established in 1924. The current building was built in 1952 and has an old-fashioned look to it, with a tile roof and plants out front. This restaurant serves traditional Edo-style sushi in a relaxed atmosphere. There is an English menu and some English-speaking staff. Seating is both Western and traditional.
NOTE: Dinner can be expensive, so perhaps not for strollers on a budget. Lunch is more affordable but still not cheap.
Founded some time before the beginning of the 17th century, Suehiro Jinja is an Inari shrine. Bishamon is also worshipped here, making this one of the shrines on the Shichifukujin tour for Ningyōchō. In 1675 the main hall of the shrine was being renovated and a suehiro, a type of folding fan, was found by the workers, which gave the shrine its present name.
Established in 1912 and sometimes referred to as Genyadana Hamadaya, this is a high-end restaurant for traditional multicourse meals. Expect prices to range from ¥15,000 to ¥50,000, with lunch being less expensive than dinner. Reservations are required—this is not a place you just drop into. All seating is traditional, all rooms are private, and most have a view of the garden. It is possible to request geisha entertainment for an extra fee.
The name has a dual origin. The Genyadana part is the neighborhood’s old name and is a reference to Okamoto Genya and his descendants, who practiced medicine here. The Hamadaya part comes from a famous okiya (residence for geisha) that once was in the area, and the restaurant took that name on its founding.
http://www.hamadaya.info/english/
A small streetcorner Inari shrine. It is a simple structure consisting of a tiny copper-roofed wooden shrine, a torii on the approach, two guardian fox statues, and two red lanterns, all surrounded by a concrete wall. This is a good example of a surviving small shrine in the modern city.
Originally founded in Osaka in 1783, the business relocated to Edo in the mid-19th century. The word ubuke in their name is a term that refers to the softness of a baby’s hair, and ya means store. It was once said that their blades were so sharp that they had no trouble cutting a baby’s hair, so they took it as part of the store name. Ubukeya sells some 300 different cutting tools such as straight razors, knives, and scissors. In the Meiji period, Western-style scissors entered Japan and the company added them to their existing list of products. They purchase unsharpened blades from craftsmen and then handle the final finishing and polishing of the edges in the store. They also sharpen and repair knives brought to them by customers. The business sign has an interesting history: the top students of the famous calligrapher Kusakabe Meikaku each wrote one of the characters on the sign. Oh yes, they do sell one item that is not sharp—very high-quality tweezers.
http://www.norenkai.net/en/portfolio-item/ubukeya/
NINGYCHŌ DETAIL 1
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This shrine has a long history. Founded in 1466, its present buildings date from the 1920s, having survived the war. Koami Jinja is an Inari shrine where Benzaiten and Fukurokuju are also worshiped. There is a pair of dragon statues, one ascending and the other descending, under the porch roof. There is also a statue of Benzaiten that was originally at Manpukuji. It was transferred to this location after that temple was destroyed. Every November 28 is the Doburoku Matsuri. Sato kagura dances are performed and doburoku, a simple unfiltered sake that can only be made with special government permission, is served. The doburoku is served in a cup and must be consumed on site. The festival is modest, mainly consisting of people praying, buying charms, and having a cup of doburoku. If November 28 falls on a weekend, the date will be shifted to the nearest Friday or Monday. Every March 28 there is the annual festival, and every five years on that date a grand procession takes place.
https://www.koamijinja.or.jp
NOTE: Depending on the time of day there may be more than one line approaching the shrine during the Doburoku Matsuri. One is for people buying charms, such as owls made of pampas grass, and another for praying. I have even seen a third. Check out which line is which so you get in the right one.
NINGYCHŌ DETAIL 2
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Operating since 1912, Koharuken is a restaurant serving yōshoku, Western-influenced Japanese dishes, such as curry rice, hamburger steak, and katsudon. The prices are reasonable and an English menu is available. Seating is all Western style at either tables or the counter.
The founder of this restaurant established in 1790 was a falconer who supplied the shōgun’s household with meat. Tamahide is known for its oyakodon, a popular dish of chicken and egg on rice that originated here. It is also one of a handful of restaurants that serve chicken sukiyaki, the original version of that dish before beef replaced chicken meat. Their sukiyaki is seasoned with dark soy sauce and mirin, and made with a level of skill hard to duplicate at home. It is served in the evening. Long lines are common. The seating is all Japanese style with horigotatsu, a recessed table. Full-course meals are served in the evening.
Kaneman specializes in seafood, especially wild torafugu, usually translated as “tiger blowfish.” Established in 1880, they were the first Tokyo restaurant to obtain a license to serve fugu. The fugu is seasonal, so dishes are pretty much limited to September to April; during the off season they serve kaiseki ryōri dishes. All seating is traditional on tatami. Reservations are required.
A simple traditional neighborhood coffee shop with a relaxing atmosphere, located here since 1919. The decor looks like it has not changed in decades, giving the place a cozy retro vibe. In 2010 the popular detective TV series Shinzanmono (“Newcomer”) had scenes set in this shop, making it a destination for fans of that show. The novel “Newcomer” by Higashino Keigo, the basis for the series, is available in English. The kanji used for Kissako (喫茶去) is discussed in Chapter Seven of the novel.
Ningyōchō Karakuri Yagura 人形町からくり櫓
These two clock towers on Ningyōchō Dōri were built in 2009 as reminders of the neighborhood’s history. The tops of towers are done in the style of a yagura, a type of tower one would see at theaters in the Edo period. Every day on the hour from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., mechanical dolls come out of the towers for a short performance. The Edo Rakugo Karakuri Yagura, on the east side of the street, presents a rakugo story set in Ningyōchō, and the dolls come out of both sides of the tower. The Machibikeshi Karakuri Yagura is on the west side further north past Amazake Yokochō Dōri. The performance here is about Edo period firemen, and a fireman doll comes out near the top.
This shop was founded in 1907 and is also called Ningyōyaki Honpo Itakuraya. It specializes in, and originated, ningyōyaki in the form of the seven lucky gods. There are actually six lucky god designs made by the shop, the seventh being the smiling face of the customer. Itakuraya also makes a few other items such as their senjōyaki, which lacks the sweet bean paste filling. Senjōyaki originated during the food shortages after the Russo-Japanese War, when sugar was hard to get. Their senjōyaki are made with molds from that period and have military-themed shapes including a bugle, cannon, backpack, and tank. Many years ago my friend Ono-san gave some of us a tour of the neighborhood. The fellow behind the counter was delighted when he spotted my T-shirt from Moe’s Books in Berkeley, as that was a bookshop he knew well from a visit to the United States.
Founded in 1576 in Kyoto, Gyokueidō moved to Tokyo after World War II. There are over thirty different pastries sold in the shop, the designs of which vary by season. The two most popular items are the torayaki, a kind of sandwich of two small pancakes filled with sweet bean paste (an), and gyokuman, a large manjū of many layers around a filling with a chestnut in the center. The torayaki (虎家喜) is a variant on dorayaki (どら焼き) with the shop’s own spin on the design.
NINGYCHŌ DETAIL 3 EAST
A tea shop established in 1914. While they sell a large variety of Japanese teas, their specialty is hōjicha, a lightly roasted green tea. They roast the tea on site, so the aroma will help you find the store. Also available are packaged pastries with tea incorporated into the recipes. The store has a small cafe on the second floor where you can rest, drink tea, eat various sweets, and also enjoy hōjicha ice cream.
▲ On a small, pedestrian back street of Ningyōchō a restaurant extends beyond its walls.
▲ Art can be seen on the Edo Rakugo Karakuri Yagura on Ningyōchō Dōri.
▲ The ryōtei of Kogiku Dōri, aka Geisha Alley, are pictured here.
Originally founded in another part of Tokyo in 1907, the Ningyōchō location of this business opened after World War II. The shop specializes in a large variety of tōfu and tōfu products such as ganmo, deep-fried tōfu cakes mixed with several ingredients, and aburaage, deep-fried tōfu slices. There are even doughnuts made from soybean lees and amazake flavored ice cream. Amazake, made fresh daily, has also been sold here since the local shop that specialized in it closed several years ago. They have a bench and chairs on the sidewalk if you wish to sit and enjoy your purchase then and there.
A neighborhood soba restaurant with a relaxed atmosphere. The building has a traditional front with barred windows and potted plants on either side of the entrance. The old-style kanji in the circle on their noren indicates that this restaurant makes its own soba. Seating is Western style and they have an English menu.
This street of shops, with many selling traditional Japanese confections and crafts, is worthy of repeated strolls to see all that is there. In March a cherry blossom festival is held when the trees blossom. A large portion of the entries in this chapter are on this street.
Considered one of the big three shops for taiyaki, Yanagiya has been operating since 1916. Taiyaki is a type of ningyōyaki in the shape of a tai, a variety of fish sometimes served during special celebrations. As the store is very popular, you can expect to find a line here, but you can pass the time watching them make taiyaki as you wait. Taiyaki is all they make, however given that people line up for it, they don’t need to make anything else.
This is the last shop in Tokyo that still makes tsuzura. There are only three or four such shops left in Japan. Tsuzura are a type of box that is woven from bamboo, coated in washi paper, then lacquered. They are traditionally used for storing items such as kimono. These days people use tsuzura to store a variety of items and the shop produces them in several sizes. Iwai Tsuzuraya also takes orders for boxes with custom crests. Expect filling such an order to take six months, as lacquer work is a slow process. While they have been around since the late Edo period, there is a chance the business may end when the current owner retires, so be aware of that if you are thinking of making a purchase. The shop also refers to itself as Iwai Tsuzuraten (岩井つづら店).
Toritada was established in 1911. In the early days it was a wholesaler of eggs, a luxury product at the time. When boxes of eggs arrived, they were inspected to see if any had cracked in shipping. The cracked eggs were still good, so the owner would cook them up as an omelet and take them to the dressing rooms of the nearby Meijiza theater. In time the family quit the wholesale business and went into retail. They sell eggs and fresh chicken, and among their cooked items the grilled omelets are well known. They also sell grilled half chickens and several types of yakitori.
Ningyōchō Shinodazushi 人形町志乃多寿司總本店
Handmade inarizushi is the specialty of this takeout sushi shop that opened in 1877. The building is modern with a white stone facade and large windows. They have a variety of boxed sets of sushi for purchase. There are no dining facilities on site. Going to the Meijiza theater for a performance? One of their boxes would be a good thing to enjoy during the intermission. They also sell to various department stores and supermarkets in Tokyo.
http://www.shinodazushi.co.jp
http://www.norenkai.net/en/portfolio-item/shinodazushi-sohonten/
A liquor store with a very wide selection, in business since 1915. They are especially noted for their broad selection of sake and shōchū from all over Japan, including many items not available elsewhere in Tokyo. They also stock awamori from Okinawa, wine, umeshu, and other alcoholic beverages.
Torihada specializes in yakitori, grilled chicken on skewers. They emphasize the freshness of the meat, using only birds processed that day. The menu includes as much of the chicken as possible so there is a large variety of meat and unusual organs. It also includes onigiri, hot pot dishes, and vegetables. Sake, beer, or wine are also available.
Seating is either at the counter or at a table. English speaking staff, non-smoking.
This is the main branch of a Tokyo area chain of restaurants specializing in hot pot dishes such as sukiyaki and shabu shabu. The Ningyōchō restaurant is in a traditional two-story brick-red building. Seating is Western, traditional on tatami, or at horigotatsu. They also have other shops where you can buy just the meat or boxes filled with all the ingredients you need to do your own dishes at home.
Hiyama was founded in 1912 and specializes in meals centered around beef. Here you can get steak, sukiyaki, and shabu shabu as part of a larger meal. Seating is both Western and traditional. Reservations are required. They also have many branches and operate butcher shops where one can purchase their high-quality meat.
Yoshiume has been in business since 1928 and is located in an old building in a former geisha neighborhood that survived the bombings of World War II. Their specialty is nabe done in an old-fashioned Edo style. The meals are either a la carte or full course. There is an English menu and some of the staff speak English. Seating is Western, but groups may be directed to private rooms with traditional seating on tatami and with horigotatsu.
http://www.yoshiume.jp/honten.html
This temple has an interesting history. During the Kamakura period in the city of Kamakura, there was a temple to Kannon with a statue that was over 26 feet (8 meters) tall. In 1258 the temple was destroyed by a fire; quick-thinking monks were able to save the statue’s head by tossing it into a well. In 1699 the head was recovered and a new temple was built. During the Meiji period the government gave orders for the head to be destroyed as part of their suppression of certain Buddhist practices. The head was smuggled out of Kamakura, and in 1877 this temple was built to house it. In the fires after the Great Kantō Earthquake, the temple burned, but the head was again saved. Later both the temple and the head survived the firebombings of World War II.
Access to the temple is up a set of stairs to the east of the buildings.
Monthly fair days are the eleventh and seventeenth; the Kannon head is open for viewing on those days. At 11:00 a.m. on the eleventh, a fire ceremony is performed. The temple is on the Tokyo 33 Kannon Pilgrimage and is sometimes referred to as Daikannonji, since the kanji 大 can be read as ō or as dai.
Sometimes called Geisha Alley, this short and narrow pedestrian street is lined with houses and restaurants dating from the days when it was an area where many geisha lived. The number of geisha in Tokyo has declined; after World War II there were some 400 working in Ningyōchō, with some 150 high-end restaurants called ryōtei providing places for them to entertain. Today only a handful of both remain and the ryōtei are mainly near the Meijiza kabuki theater. This area also survived both the Great Kantō Earthquake and the firebombings of World War II so it is lined with many older buildings, often with plants in front.
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An Inari shrine that used to be on a larger plot of land planted with tea (cha) plants as part of the Hotta clan residence. In the Edo period there were few fires in this area, so people came to pray at this shrine for protection from fire. Hotei is also enshrined here, so it is a spot on the Shichifukujin tour of Ningyōchō.
Kanmidokoro is a tea shop that serves traditional Japanese sweets such as several types of anmitsu and mochi. Founded in 1837, they pride themselves on using the best ingredients including agar and syrup acquired from domestic sources. All of their deserts are made by hand in the shop. The first episode of the Japanese TV series “Kantarō: The Sweet Tooth Salaryman” has the main character enjoying their anmitsu, a desert made of fruit and other sweets in a bowl.
A bakery of various pastries. The shop is small, with room for about six to stand. The most well-known product is kogane imo, a cinnamon covered cake with a sweet filling that is shaped like a sweet potato. Just follow your nose—the cinnamon smell will guide you.
Founded in 1877, this combination shop and restaurant specializes in handmade traditional Japanese sweets. Included are several varieties of anmitsu, zenzai (a sweet red bean soup with mochi), and more. A popular item is purin, a caramel-topped custard developed by the founder. Some items are available packaged to take out; others would not do well in that format and are served in the restaurant. The restaurant also serves simple food such as oden.
NINGYCHŌ DETAIL 4
The child emperor Antoku and his mother Kenreimonin, who died at the Battle of Dannoura, are enshrined here. This shrine is famous as a place to pray for safe childbirth, so it is common to see pregnant women, babies, and couples here. On the grounds, which are actually one story above the street, you will also see interesting sculptures with a maternal connection. One is a mother kappa with children, and another is a statue of a dog and a puppy surrounded by twelve spheres with kanji carved on them that symbolize the Chinese zodiac. Dogs are associated with easy childbirth in Japan, so for this reason the shrine sells items with a dog motif. The shrine was moved to this location in 1672 from the Arima estate in Shiba. Benten is also enshrined here, so it is on the Shichifukujin tour and there is a statue of her by the famous sculptor Unkei (c. 1150–1223).
The fair day is the fifth of every month. On May 5 and 6 there is a festival with mikoshi processions and kagura performances.
NOTE: The entire structure is supported on an underground system to allow it to move during a major earthquake. The planted areas at street level around the site are expansion joints for this system, so avoid them in earthquakes.
The founding date of this shrine is not known. Many of the shrine documents were destroyed in the Great Kantō Earthquake and most of the remainder in the firebombings of World War II. There are some documents indicating that it was rebuilt in the early 14th century. Legends indicate that the location was originally a forested island—Matsushima means “pine island”—and that a fire was kept by the priest to aid boats in navigation. This is an Ōtori Shrine, and the god of harvest, Daikoku, is also enshrined here, so it is on the Shichifukujin tour. As this is a neighborhood shrine, people pray for a variety of benefits, including business prosperity, musical skill, academic achievement, and protection from danger. The shrine sells Ryōmufuda: you write something you desire on it and put it under your pillow, and if you dream about it, the dream is a sign that your wish will come true. You may also go to the shrine and inform the priest so he can pray for your success.
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This branch of Ibaraki’s Kasama Inari Jinja was founded in 1859 by Makino Sadanao, lord of the Kasama han, on the grounds of his Edo residence. The kami enshrined here are Uga no Mitama, who is identified with Inari, and Jurōjin. This is one of the stops on the Shichifukujin tour of Ningyōchō.
This theater opened in 1873 under the name of Kishōza in Hisamatsuchō. After fire and other problems the name changed to Hisamatsuza and then to Chitoseza. In 1890 it burned down and was rebuilt in 1893 with the present name. The theater burned down again after the Great Kanto Earthquake and was rebuilt in the present location. It was firebombed during World War II, with thousands dying in the area including those who had taken refuge in the theatre. It suffered from another fire in 1957. Theaters do not do well in the face of fire. From 1990 to 1992 the theater underwent extensive renovation. Performances here have a wide range; one can see kabuki, rakugo, modern dramas, musical acts, comedy, and pretty much anything that will fit on a stage. For meals, there is a cafe and a cafeteria, and you can buy bentō to eat in your seat during intermission. Nearby, about two blocks to the southwest, there is a small park with a statue of Benkei from the famous kabuki play Kanjinchō.
This is a very small Kannon temple, more of a roadside shrine, in the corner of the park next to the Meijiza Theater. It was placed there in 1950 as a memorial to the thousands who died locally in the firebombings of World War II.
NINGYCHŌ DETAIL 5
Hamachō Park / Hamachō Kōen 浜町公園
Designed as part of the Tokyo reconstruction after the Great Kantō Earthquake, this park along the Sumidagawa is the largest in Chūō Ward. The land was once occupied by many ryōtei where geisha performed traditional dances and songs for wealthy patrons. It took some negotiation to move these businesses to the west and today a few still exist in the newer location. The park was established not only for recreation but to also function as an evacuation point in disasters. Hamachō Park consists mainly of large open spaces, some benches, trees, and a sports center with a heated swimming pool. If you have been walking for a while, this is a good place to rest. There are cherry trees for springtime flower viewing and gingko trees for fall colors. From here you can access the riverside pathway and stroll along the river.