As one of the biggest city parks in Tokyo, Yoyogi Park is a hive of activity. Yoyogi Park is home to the Meiji Shrine, as well as the Tokyo Flea Market. In spring it is a popular spot for enjoying the cherry blossom trees, but when we visited in Autumn, we found the Autumn instalment of the quarterly Earth Garden festival, which was a nice surprise.

Japan has quite a conservative culture, yet in Yoyogi Park people seemed to wear their heart on their sleeve. The park is known for attracting rockabillies (one of many eccentric Japanese subcultures), students, jugglers and street performers.

The sombre, respectful atmosphere around the Meiji Shrine was in stark contrast to the colourful and casual Earth Garden Festival and the flea market – Tokyo is a city of contrasts, which is one of the reasons I love it so much.

Visiting Tokyo? Check out my itinerary for one week in Tokyo.

Visiting the Meiji Shrine

The part of Yoyogi Park with the Meiji Shrine feels a world away from the rest of Yoyogi Park, and the surrounding Shibuya neighbourhood. After passing through the Tori Gate at the entrance, there is a long, winding path that leads to the shrine is fringed by towering, dense forest. The forest is made from 365 different species of trees, donated by people from all over Japan.

The path was crowded with the usual tourists, but there were also many families in traditional Japanese formalwear, heading for ceremonies at the shrine. The small children dressed in their best traditional clothing were absolutely adorable.

When we reached the shrine, we found it buzzing with activity. Unlike so many sacred sites I’ve visited around the world, where tourists far outnumber genuine worshippers, the Meiji Shrine was host to a number of ceremonies, including one that I think was a traditional wedding.

The Meiji Shrine was very busy, but clearly still a functioning sacred space with an important role in the community.

History of the Meiji Shrine & Emperor Meiji

Meiji Shrine is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken. Emperor Meiji ruled from the late 1860s until his death in 1912, during a period of rapid change for Japan. The original shrine was completed in the 1920s, but was destroyed during a series of fire-bombings by the US military during World War II. The shrine you see today was built in the 1950s.

The story of Emperor Meiji is quite interesting because it explains how Japan came to be the country it is today. Before his reign, Japan was an isolated, feudal power ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate. Emperor Meiji abolished feudalism and introduced democratic government and established Japan as an imperial power.

Meiji ended an Sakoku era, which was a period of 250 years where the death penalty was awarded for foreiengers entering or Japanese nationals leaving the country. This isolationist culture meant that Japan was no where near as technologically advanced as many other parts of the world, leaving it vulnerable to foreign colonising powers.

Emperor Meiji threw open the doors to foreign ideas and as a result, Japan grew to become one of the leading economic powers in the rapidly industrialising world. It also meant Japan could defend itself against colonising powers, and as a result retained its independence. Meiji means “enlightened rule” and the movement sought to learn from the outside world while cherishing and protecting eastern values.

The Meiji Emperor announced in his 1868 Charter Oath that “Knowledge shall be sought all over the world, and thereby the foundations of imperial rule shall be strengthened.

Types of Shinto Shrines

Shinto is the indigenous religion to Japan, which focuses on rituals that connects the present with the ancient past. Shinto shrines exist to house kami, which are the spirits of venerated beings, qualities, landscapes or forces of nature.

There are approximately 100,000 Shinto shrines in Japan and nearly 80,000 Shinto priests.

Translated into English, all Shinto shrines are simplified under the banner “shrine”, however in Japanese there are several words for shrine, each with different meanings.

For example, the Meiji Shrine is Meiji Jingu in Japanese. The first part of the name refers to the place or the spirit that the shrine is dedicated to – in this case, Emperor Meiji.

The second word refers to the type of the shrine, in this case it is Jingu. Jingu signifies that it is a shrine of high status with deep ties to the Imperial government. Which makes perfect sense, because Emperor Meiji was largely responsible for consolidating the power of Imperial Japan in the late 19^th century.

Other types of shrines include: Inari shrines, which are dedicated to the kami of rice; Hachiman shrines which are dedicated to the Kami of war; Tenjin shrines which are dedicated to the Japanese scholar Sugawara Michizane and Sengen shrines, which are dedicated to the Princess Konohanasakuya who is the deity of Mt Fuji.

It’s not surprising that the myriad terms for shrines are simplified under one banner in English, but it is also a reminder that as a foreigner, just because you think you understand something at face value doesn’t mean you do. You really don’t know what you don’t know.

Earth Garden Festival

Earth Garden is a quarterly sustainability festival that promotes living an eco-friendly lifestyle. Not being able to speak Japanese, a lot of the eco-friendly messaging was lost on me, but I did spot a few recycling education stations and stalls selling recycled products or second hand items.

Yoyogi Flea Market

Yoyogi Flea Market is one of the biggest flea markets in Tokyo, with more than 800 vendors lining part of Yoyogi Park. I wish I’d done some shopping while I was here, but I think I was in a state of total sensory overload the entire time I was in Tokyo, so I couldn’t concentrate on shopping.

The Yoyogi Flea Market is held on Sundays, but the schedule can be a little erratic apparently – if you can read Japanese you could check the Yoyogi Park website, but otherwise your best bet is to drop by the park. Yoyogi Park is beautiful and interesting with or without the flea market, so it’s worth a visit either way.

Have you been to Yoyogi Park, or Tokyo?