Temple · Minowa / Minami-Senju

Jokan-ji (Nagekomi-dera) 浄閑寺（投込寺）

A small Minowa temple where some 25,000 Yoshiwara courtesans were laid to rest, known as the "throw-in temple", with a moving memorial and the poetry stone of Nagai Kafu, who loved this quarter.

About

Jokan-ji earned its nickname, Nagekomi-dera, after the 1855 Ansei earthquake, when the bodies of many courtesans from the nearby Yoshiwara pleasure quarter were brought here, wrapped in straw, with no family to claim them. Over the following decades around 25,000 women and their children are recorded as buried here. Today the temple is small and peaceful, its cemetery behind the main hall holding the Shin-Yoshiwara Soreito, a memorial tower to the courtesans, surrounded by flowers and offerings. The novelist Nagai Kafu, who wrote tenderly about the old pleasure quarters, wished to be remembered here, and a stone with his poem stands facing the memorial. It is a quiet, reflective place a few steps from the end of the Toden tram line.

Highlights

• Shin-Yoshiwara Soreito memorial to about 25,000 courtesans
• Poetry stone and memorial for novelist Nagai Kafu
• Quiet temple cemetery with fresh flower offerings
• Two minutes from Minowabashi, the terminus of the Tokyo Sakura Tram

Tips

• This is an active temple and graveyard, visit quietly and do not photograph mourners.
• Enter the cemetery from the side of the main hall during daytime only.
• Start a Toden tram ride from Minowabashi after your visit, or walk the Joyful Minowa arcade next door.
• A good reflective counterpoint to an Asakusa day.

Open in Google Maps · Info checked 2026-10-09

Nearby

• Ramen-ya Toy BoxRamen & Noodles · 90 m away
• Toden Arakawa Line (Tokyo Sakura Tram) & MinowabashiTransit Hub · 220 m away
• Joyful Minowa Shopping StreetShopping Street · 560 m away
• Susanō ShrineShrine · 780 m away
• Otori Shrine (Asakusa)Shrine · 880 m away
• Senju Ohashi BridgeBridge · 1.1 km away
• Onoterusaki ShrineShrine · 1.3 km away
• Arakawa Nature ParkPark · 1.3 km away