Asakusa Shrine

Standing beside the great temple of Asakusa, this shrine honors the two fishermen and a local elder credited in legend with founding it, and it preserves an ornate seventeenth-century hall commissioned by a shogun that survived the wars intact. Its lively three-day festival each May is one of Tokyo's largest, sending dozens of portable shrines and huge crowds surging through the old district. Away from the festival, its weathered carvings and quieter grounds offer a calmer counterpoint to the constant bustle of the temple approach.