神社 · jinja
Temples & Shrines
Visiting sacred places
Bow at the torii, rinse your hands, drop a coin, and pause — visiting Tokyo’s shrines and temples is gentler and simpler than the ceremony makes it look.
Shrines and temples are where a lot of first-timers freeze. You walk under the big gate at Meiji Jingu or up to the incense cauldron at Sensoji, you see locals doing something with their hands at a stone basin, and you panic that you’re about to get it wrong in a sacred place. I promise you are not. Nobody is grading you, and the people who pray here every week are far too busy with their own quiet moment to watch yours.
Here is the part that calms most people down: the etiquette is a short, repeatable rhythm, not a performance you have to memorize. Bow when you pass through the torii, rinse your hands at the water basin, approach the offering box, give a small coin, and take a few seconds of stillness. At a Shinto shrine you add two bows, two claps, one more bow; at a Buddhist temple you keep your hands together and skip the clapping. Once you know that one difference, you can walk into almost any sacred space in the city and feel at ease.
And these places are genuinely open to you. Meiji Jingu sits in a forest in the middle of Tokyo and welcomes millions of visitors a year. Sensoji in Asakusa has greeted travelers for centuries. Showing up with a little awareness and a willingness to slow down is exactly what’s being asked of you — that’s the whole bar.
What you’ll learn
- The four-step rhythm that works almost everywhere: bow at the torii, purify, offer a small coin, pause — no chanting or kneeling required
- Shrine versus temple in one glance: how to tell Shinto from Buddhist, and the single etiquette difference (claps at a shrine, quiet hands at a temple)
- The water basin (temizuya), done right: which hand first, how much water, and the part everyone gets wrong about not putting your mouth on the ladle
- Two bows, two claps, one bow at a Shinto shrine — and exactly when to stay silent at a Buddhist temple like Sensoji instead
- Where photos are warm and welcome and where they’re quietly off-limits — main halls, inner sanctuaries, and people mid-prayer
- Small acts that matter more than perfect form: stepping slightly to the side of the center path, a light nod as you leave, and keeping your voice low
The questions travelers actually ask
Pulled from what real visitors are searching and posting — every one answered inside the guide.
- What is the difference between a shrine and a temple, and does the etiquette change between them?
- How do I correctly pray and bow at a Shinto shrine like Meiji Jingu?
- What coins do I need for the offering box, and is the 100-yen coin enough?
- What is an ema and how do I write my wish on one?
- What does walking through a torii gate mean, and is there proper etiquette for passing under it?
- Is it okay to take photos inside temples and shrines, or are some areas off-limits?
- What is the Shichi-Go-San event with the kimono-dressed children I see at shrines?