Zojo-ji Audio Guide

Welcome to Zojo-ji

Welcome to Zojo-ji. Before you stands a great gate, with the main hall rising beyond it — and behind that, the orange form of Tokyo Tower reaching into the sky. An old temple and a modern tower, resting quietly side by side within a single view: that is the curious charm of this place. Though it sits in the very center of Shiba in Tokyo, step inside the grounds and the noise of the city fades away, and more than four hundred years of time begins to flow quietly. This temple is said to have been deeply tied to the Tokugawa family since the age when the shogunate was founded in Edo, and its grounds, they say, once spread far wider than they do today. For locals, it is an anchor for the heart, a place to press their hands together at the year's first visit and at life's turning points. For travelers, it is a special place where you can feel, all at once, the face of old Tokyo and the symbol of the new. For a little while now, let's trace the long story this temple has walked. Stop wherever catches your eye, and listen at your own pace. So let me begin with the story of Zojo-ji.