Nakamise-dori: Three Centuries of Temple Market Street
Why is it significant?
Walk down the smooth flagstones of Nakamise-dori between the colorful rows of matching stalls decorated with cherry blossom garlands. Operating continuously since sixteen eighty-five, this is one of the oldest shopping streets in all of Japan.
Key Facts
| Place | Nakamise-dori: Three Centuries of Temple Market Street |
|---|---|
| Address | 1-Chome-36-3 Asakusa, Taito City, Tokyo 111-0032 |
| Geo Coordinates | 35.71260, 139.79660 |
| Part of Walk | Old Edo to Tokyo: Asakusa's Senso-ji, Red Lanterns, and Ueno's Shrines |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk down the smooth flagstones of Nakamise-dori between the colorful rows of matching stalls decorated with cherry blossom garlands. Operating continuously since sixteen eighty-five, this is one of the oldest shopping streets in all of Japan.
In the Edo period, local townspeople who performed maintenance and sweeping duties for the temple were granted exclusive privileges by the Tokugawa Shogunate to set up merchant stalls along the temple approach. Today, eighty-nine traditional shops sell fresh ningyo-yaki, small sponge cakes filled with sweet red azuki bean paste pressed into the shapes of lanterns, pagodas, and pigeon gods.
At night, when the wooden stall shutters are pulled down, they reveal hand-painted murals depicting the Asakusa Emaki, illustrating four hundred years of local festival history and downtown Edo culture.
Continue forward to the massive Hozomon Gate at the end of the promenade.