Shrine · Mukojima

Mimeguri Shrine 三囲神社

The Mitsui family's guardian shrine in Mukojima, home to a three-legged torii and the bronze lions that once guarded the Mitsukoshi Ikebukuro department store.

About

Mimeguri Shrine, a short walk up the Sumida riverbank from Asakusa, has been tied to the Mitsui merchant house since the Edo period, when the family adopted it as the protector of their Echigoya store, the ancestor of Mitsukoshi. That connection explains the curiosities: a rare three-pillared torii (a copy of the one at Kyoto's Konoshima Shrine) and the pair of lions that stood at the entrance of Mitsukoshi Ikebukuro until it closed in 2009, now standing guard here. The shrine also holds statues of Ebisu and Daikoku for the Sumida Seven Lucky Gods walk, and there is the story of the poet Takarai Kikaku, whose 1693 haiku prayer for rain was answered the next day. The grounds are small, leafy and almost always empty.

Highlights

• Rare three-pillared Mitsu-bashira torii
• Pair of bronze lions rescued from Mitsukoshi Ikebukuro in 2009
• Ebisu and Daikoku statues on the Sumida Seven Lucky Gods route
• Stone of poet Kikaku's famous rain-prayer haiku
• Quiet precinct just behind the Sumida riverbank

Tips

• From Asakusa, walk across the river and north along Sumida Park, about 15 minutes.
• Do the Sumida Seven Lucky Gods walk during the first week of January, when special stamps are given out.
• Chomeiji's sakuramochi shop is 5 minutes north, the perfect snack stop.
• The Mitsukoshi lion statue is near the back of the grounds; the three-legged torii is beside the main hall.

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

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