Atago Shrine

Shrine · Tokyo

愛宕神社 · Atago Jinja

Researched and translated with AI assistance. Every claim is linked to its source, but errors get through, so check the official site for opening times, fees and closures.About

In short

A shrine on a steep hill in Minato, founded in 1603 on Tokugawa Ieyasu's order as a deity against fire, and known for the stone staircase named after a rider who is said to have galloped up it.

The steep stone staircase at Atago Shrine seen from the foot, rising to a torii at the top — Photo: Suicasmo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts

Address: 1-5-3 Atago, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0002
Access: Kamiyacho and Toranomon Hills on the Hibiya line are both five minutes on foot, Toranomon on the Ginza line is eight, and Onarimon on the Toei Mita line is eight. Shimbashi on the JR lines is about twenty minutes.
Hours: No opening or closing times are published by the shrine. The grounds are on an open hill and are reachable at any hour by the steps or the lift — unofficial, and the office keeps daytime hours.
Best time: The Sennichi-mairi in summer is the shrine's own headline rite. Otherwise early morning, when the steps are empty enough to climb without queueing behind anyone.
Spiritual entities: Homusubi no Mikoto (火産霊命)
Official site: www.atago-jinja.com

About this place

Atago Shrine sits at the top of a short, very steep flight of stone steps in an otherwise flat district of offices. It was founded in 1603, the year the Tokugawa shogunate was established in Edo, and its deity is a fire deity: enshrined, in the shrine's words, as a deity against fire. The steps are the reason most people come: they are called the Stone Steps of Success, after a story about a horseman.

Origin and history

The shrine was founded in 1603, in the eighth year of Keichō, by order of Tokugawa Ieyasu as he established his government in Edo, and was enshrined as a deity of fire prevention. Its principal deity is Homusubi no Mikoto, the deity of fire, with deities of water, mountains and martial virtue enshrined alongside, together with Jizō and bodhisattva figures.

What it is locally associated with

Power spotCareer & Work
The Stone Steps of Success
The steep staircase at the front, named after the story of Magaki Heikurō. The gentler flight to the right as you face the shrine is the women's slope.
folk tradition
OriginProtection & Safety
A deity against fire, 1603
Founded the year the shogunate was established in Edo, on Ieyasu's order, enshrining the fire deity Homusubi as protection against fire.
documented history

The shrine names four things it is associated with, and they are an unusual set. First, anything to do with fire (fire prevention and disaster prevention), which follows directly from why it was founded and from the deity enshrined here. Second, and more surprisingly, printing and computing. Third, prosperity in trade. Fourth, love, marriage and the tying of bonds. That last is easy to miss and is stated as plainly as the rest.

The association most visitors arrive with, though, is success in one's career, and it comes from the staircase rather than from the deity. The steep flight at the front is called the Stone Steps of Success, named for the story of Magaki Heikurō. The gentler stair to the right as you face the shrine is the women's slope. Worth being exact here: the shrine says the steps are named after the story, and describes them as steep. It does not say that climbing them produces advancement, and the step count and gradient that circulate online are not on any official page.

Because the hill is small and the surrounding district is flat and modern, the climb is abrupt in a way photographs do not convey, which is much of the appeal.

Claims and evidence levels 4

The shrine was founded in 1603 by order of Tokugawa Ieyasu, as he established his government in Edo, and enshrined as a deity against fire. documented history
The principal deity is Homusubi no Mikoto, a deity of fire, with deities of water, mountains and martial virtue enshrined alongside. documented history
The shrine names fire and disaster prevention, printing and computing, prosperity in trade, and love, marriage and the tying of bonds among what it is associated with. documented history
The steep front staircase is called the Stone Steps of Success, named after the story of Magaki Heikurō; the gentler stair to the right is the women's slope. folk tradition

Visiting tips

The general form is in the visiting guide below. What is specific here is the approach.

There are two ways up. The front staircase is the steep one (the Stone Steps of Success), and the gentler flight on the right as you face the shrine is the women's slope. There is no obligation to take the steep one, and taking the gentler route is not a lesser visit.

The steps are steep and the treads are stone, so they are slick in rain and hard on the knees coming down. Anyone unsure of their footing should use the other approach.

No opening or closing times are published, so treat the hill as open and the office as keeping daytime hours.

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