1-Day Tour: Monzen-Nakacho & Kiyosumi: Buddhist Fire Ritual, Japanese Garden, and History

Are you looking for the full cultural experience during your stay here in Japan? Look no further than this tour! This tour will take you to see a Buddhist fire ritual where prayers are burned and carried to Buddha, visit a Japanese garden, and walk through a recreation of a town in Edo period Tokyo. We will also walk the local streets of Monzen-Nakacho and Kiyosumi, two retro feeling and slower-paced areas of Tokyo. Along the way there will be stores selling traditional Japanese sweets in Monzen-Nakacho, and various cafes and coffee roasteries in Kiyosumi, regarded as Tokyo's coffee town.

Highlights

• Shrine & Buddhist fire ritual: Start the day by visiting a famous shrine and temple in Monzen-Nakacho. You will take part in a fire ritual at the Buddhist temple by offering a wooden prayer stick for the ritual.

• Walk around Monzen-Nakacho: Next you will be lead around the town of Monzen-Nakacho to visit back streets and a historic Japanese sweets shop that has been open for over 100 years!

• Japanese Garden: After lunch you will head to the area known as Kiyosumi to visit their Japanese garden.

• Edo museum: Our last destination will be the Fukagawa Edo museum that has a recreation of an Edo period town of Tokyo that you can walk around in and see what life was like in the 1800s.

Description

This tour will start at Monzen-Nakacho Station outside of the Oedo Line ticket gate at 10:00. Your guide will be holding a "SNOW MONKEY RESORTS" sign and greet you there and provide a brief overview of the day’s activities. From the station, you will head directly to the local Shinto shrine. This is Tokyo's oldest shrine dedicated to the god Hachiman and was established in 1627. This shrine is connected to the sport of sumo and was where the first sumo tournaments were held.

After the shrine, you will then visit the Buddhist temple for the fire ritual. This temple is a branch of Esoteric Buddhism founded by Kukai who brough it to Japan from China. This temple worships Fudo-myo also known as the "immovable one" and is one of the Wisdom Kings. We will buy wooden prayer sticks to be burned during the ritual. The ritual takes about 40 minutes to complete.

*Please note that no photography or video of the ritual is allowed
*Please wear appropriate clothing. The temple does not allow short skirts and shorts or sleeveless tops

After visiting the shrine and temple, you will walk around the streets of Monzen-Nakacho. On the main street, hidden in plain sight, is an unassuming store selling Japanese sweets that has been in business for over 100 years - why not stop in for a quick treat! Also in the area is a popular alley filled with small, local bars. These are usually run by a single person and packed with regulars stopping in for a quick drink or two on their way home from work.

After eating lunch in the area, you will make your way over to the area known as Kiyosumi or Kiyosumi-Shirakawa. Kiyosumi-Shirakawa is a charming Tokyo neighborhood where Edo-period history exists side by side seamlessly with the new. It is a quiet bayside district has transformed from an industrial warehouse area into the city’s unofficial artisanal coffee capital, drawing caffeine lovers to its trendy roasteries and cafe-lined streets. You can find many coffee shops, cafes, and roasteries in this area and is a great place to spend a slow, quite day!

Our first stop in Kiyosumi is their wonderful garden. This garden was acquired and used by the founder of Mistubishi, Iwasaki Yataro, after completion in 1880. Eventually water was brought in from the nearby Sumida River as well as famous rocks from various locations across the country, and it took on a shape resembling that of the garden we see today. It was donated to the city of Tokyo in 1932 and opened to the public. In 1979, it was designated as a Tokyo Metropolitan Place of Scenic Beauty.

Our last stop of the day is to an Edo-period museum. This museum shows you what a Tokyo town looked like during the later part of the Edo period. The Edo period started from around 1603 and continued until 1868 and was ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate. This period was brought by the unification of the country and ushered in a new era of peace and prosperity for the country coming out of a long warring-states period.

Here you can walk through a life-sized recreation of a town and step inside houses and businesses to see what life was like almost two hundred years ago. Walk on tatami mats inside of homes, see how rice was milled and stored, and learn about the different people who lived in Tokyo.

Meetup Points

MONZEN-NAKACHO STATION OEDO LINE TICKET GATES @ 10:00

The meetup point is inside of Monzen-Nakacho Station outside of the Oedo Line ticket gates.

If you are taking the Oedo Line:
Follow the signs for the exit and the guide will be just outside of the gates holding a "SNOW MONKEY RESORTS" sign.

If you are taking the Tozai Line:
Follow signs for the Exits 3, 5, 6 / Oedo Line. Once you reach the entrance to the Oedo Line, you will see your guide holding a "SNOW MONKEY RESORTS" sign.

Notes

Included

• Fee for wooden prayer stick and entrance into the fire ritual
• Entrance into the Japanese garden
• Entrance into the Edo museum

Excluded

• Accommodation
• Lunch and snacks during the tour
• Transportation expenses before and after the tour

Tour Availability Disclaimer

All listed events, activities, and experiences are subject to availability. Please note that while certain tour options may appear bookable through our platforms, this does not guarantee that every experience can be carried out as scheduled in the tour itinerary. Many activities require direct confirmation with our partner venues, and availability may vary based on the date and other factors. Should any part of your ordered itinerary require adjustment or deviation from the original schedule, or if a specific experience is unavailable, we will contact you promptly to discuss suitable alternatives or amendments.

Other Information

• This tour involves walking in the outdoors. We recommend that you wear shoes and clothes which are easy to walk in. Please check the weather forecast before you head to the meetup point and prepare an umbrella or raincoat if necessary.

• In winter the temperatures may drop below freezing, and even during the daytime temperatures may not exceed 1-2 ℃ on some days. Please wear warm clothing and footwear appropriate for snowy and cold conditions. There may also be snow and ice on the road/sidewalk, and so you should take care to not slip by preparing the correct shoes for such conditions.