Kanda Myojin Shrine

Situated on one of the most expensive real estates in Tokyo this Shinto shrine dates back to the eighth century, making it the oldest in the city. It also has become deeply associated with the famed Akihabara Electronic Town district nearby.

The shrine was first built near the modern Otemachi district. Due to the expanding Edo Castle the shrine had to be moved to the former Kanda ward in 1603, but only stood there for a little over a decade before being moved again, this time to its modern site on a small hill near Akiba. The shrine has suffered a significant damage during the Great Kanto Earthquake and was reinforced with concrete ten years later, which helped it survive the firebombing of Tokyo in WW2. 

The shrine was a significant place of worship not only to regular citizens of Edo period Japan, but also to the warrior class and to the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu himself, who would make his servants go to the Kanda Shrine and pray for victory before upcoming battles.

Nowadays, the shrine has a different kind of following. Due to its proximity to Akihabara, the shrine has attracted the attention of its denizens including anime otaku, technophiles and lovers of Miko outfits. Because of this, Kanda Myojin is the only known shrine offering talismans and blessings to not only its visitors, but even to their electronic appliances from laptops to iphones. Those lucky charms are, fittingly, designed to look like computer chips.

The shrine is also the site of one of the three great festivals of Japan: the Kanda Festival that takes place in May. The highlight of the festival is Shinkosai - a row of roughly 500 people dressed in traditional clothing of the Heian period.