Namiyoke Shrine

Shrine · Tokyo

波除神社 · Namiyoke Inari Shrine · Namiyoke 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 Tsukiji shrine whose name means wave-averting, founded in 1659 after an Inari image found floating in the sea was credited with calming the water enough to finish the reclamation.

The grounds of Namiyoke Shrine in Tsukiji — Photo: Nesnad, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts

Address: 6-20-37 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045
Access: Tsukiji station on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya line and Tsukijishijo on the Toei Oedo line are both a few minutes away, at the far end of the outer market from the station.
Hours: The shrine publishes its prayer information on its own site; check there before travelling for a specific rite.
Best time: The Tsukiji Lion Festival in June, when the great lion heads are carried. The shrine also keeps the seasonal festivals and the rake market.
Spiritual entities: Inari (稲荷大神)
Official site: www.namiyoke.or.jp

About this place

Namiyoke Shrine stands at the edge of Tsukiji, and its name says what it is for: averting waves. The land it sits on was sea until the seventeenth century, and the shrine's account of its own founding is an account of how that reclamation was finished. It is also where the Tsukiji market left its marks, in a row of stones raised to sushi, shrimp, anglerfish, egg and kelp.

Origin and history

About 370 years ago this whole area was open water. Reclamation of the sea south-east of Edo began from the Hibiya inlet using spoil from the moat dug for the castle's western enceinte, with seventy daimyo houses each supplying a labourer for every thousand koku; several districts still carry the names of the men who ran the work.

Seventy years later, after the Meireki fire, the last stretch of that reclamation was attempted here under the fourth shogun, Ietsuna, and it went badly. Embankments were built and swept away by the waves, again and again.

The shrine's account is that one night something was seen floating on the sea, giving off light. People rowed out and found an image of the Inari deity. They built a hall on this spot, enshrined it and held a great festival, and from then the wind and the waves dropped, the work went easily and the reclamation was completed. The shrine dates that to 1659.

Astonished at it, people gave the deity the honorific Namiyoke, wave-averting. Huge heads were dedicated: a dragon, which commands the clouds, a tiger, which commands the wind, and a lion, which subdues all things with a single roar. Carrying those around is the origin of the Tsukiji Lion Festival. The present hall was built in 1937 in the same style as the outer shrine of Ise, in Japanese cypress, and the shrine says it was the last shrine hall built in eastern Japan before the war.

What it is locally associated with

Origin
An image found floating in the sea
Embankments kept being swept away until, the shrine says, a glowing Inari image was found on the water. Once it was enshrined the waves dropped and the reclamation was finished, in 1659.
folk tradition
Power spotProtection & SafetyMoney & Prosperity
Removing calamity, riding out the waves
The name is the association. The shrine has been turned to since for warding off calamity and misfortune, for prosperity in trade, and for safety on building work.
documented history
Power spot
The lion that quiets the dragon and the tiger
The shrine explains the logic: waves are the work of the dragon that commands cloud and the tiger that commands wind, and the lion looking down on them stills both.
documented history
What people do here
Stones for sushi, shrimp and kelp
The grounds hold memorial stones raised by the market trades: for sushi, shrimp, anglerfish, live fish, eggs, kelp and clams.
local custom

This is one of the few shrines whose name states its own association. Namiyoke means averting the waves, and the shrine says the title was given to the deity by the people who watched the sea go quiet once it was enshrined. Since then, in its own words, it has been turned to as the Namiyoke Inari that removes calamity and rides out the waves, and the devotion attaches to warding off calamity and misfortune, to prosperity in trade, and to safety on construction work. The first and the last of those are what a reclamation crew would ask for; the second is what the market that grew here would.

The main hall enshrines Uganomitama, described by the shrine as the guardian of clothing, food and shelter, of industry and of commerce, and given the honorific Namiyoke-sama.

The lion is worth understanding rather than just seeing. The shrine sets out the reasoning: the waves are the work of the dragon, which commands the clouds, and the tiger, which commands the wind, and the lion is the one animal that makes both prostrate themselves with a single roar. With the lion looking down on them the dragon and tiger are calmed and the waves stop, and, the shrine adds, by extension so do the rough waves of a life. A pair of lion heads in the grounds is a Chuo ward cultural property, as is an iron water basin.

The most unusual thing here belongs to the fish market rather than to the shrine. The grounds hold a row of memorial stones raised by the trades: a sushi mound, a shrimp mound, an anglerfish mound, a live-fish mound, an egg mound, a kelp mound and a clam stone. They are markers of gratitude to what was sold and eaten, and there is nowhere else in Tokyo quite like them.

Claims and evidence levels 7

The Tsukiji area was open sea until the seventeenth century, reclaimed from the Hibiya inlet using spoil from the moat dug for Edo castle's western enceinte, with seventy daimyo houses each supplying one labourer per thousand koku. documented history
The shrine relates that the final stretch of reclamation here kept being swept away by waves until an image of the Inari deity was found floating and giving off light; once it was enshrined the wind and waves dropped and the work was completed, which the shrine dates to 1659. folk tradition
The people of the time gave the deity the honorific Namiyoke, wave-averting, and dedicated large heads of a dragon, a tiger and a lion; carrying these is the origin of the Tsukiji Lion Festival. documented history
The shrine states that it has been turned to as the Namiyoke Inari that removes calamity and rides out the waves, with devotion attaching to warding off calamity and misfortune, prosperity in trade, and safety on construction work. documented history
The main hall enshrines Uganomitama, described by the shrine as guardian of clothing, food and shelter, of industry and of commerce; the present hall was built in 1937 in the style of the outer shrine of Ise, and the shrine says it was the last shrine hall built in eastern Japan before the war. documented history
A pair of lion heads and an iron water basin in the grounds are designated cultural properties of Chuo ward. documented history
The grounds hold memorial stones raised by the market trades for sushi, shrimp, anglerfish, live fish, eggs, kelp and clams. local custom

Visiting tips

The general form is in the visiting guide below. Specific to Namiyoke:

The grounds are small and sit among what is left of the Tsukiji outer market, so the shrine is busiest when the market streets are.

The memorial stones are memorials rather than exhibits. They were raised by working trades for the creatures those trades handled, and are worth reading rather than photographing in passing.

The Tsukiji Lion Festival in June is when the great lion heads come out, and is a substantial event rather than a quiet rite.

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