Takenobu Inari Shrine
Nijo, Kyoto
Source: ja.kyoto.travel, checked 11 Oct 2026.
Takenobu Inari is a shrine founded in 859, a few steps south of the Sanjo-kai arcade, where people pray for business and for winning. Sakamoto Ryoma and his wife Oryo are tied to its sacred enoki tree, said to be 850 years old, which fell in May 2025, and the shrine is also linked to the folk tale of Issun-boshi.
Insider tip
Ask for the Kachi-goma and Kachi-mamori charms for winning, which the shrine has handed out for a long time. It's a short walk from Shinsen-en and Nijo Castle, so you can fit it into the same loop.
What's on near Takenobu Inari Shrine
Upcoming events within a ten-minute walk of Takenobu Inari Shrine, from the weekly Kyoto events calendar.
Shinsen-en Dainenbutsu Kyogen
神泉苑大念佛狂言
Time 13:00 to about 17:30 Station Nijojo-mae (Tozai Line), 1 min walk
The local kyogen society, performing since 1903, puts on five or six silent masked plays a day to gongs, drums and flutes on the stage by Shinsen-en's pond, and the programme is chosen on the day. Tsuchigumo, where the spider throws its threads over the audience, is the favourite. Entry is by donation, the seats are outdoors and you can't take photos during the plays.
Jason Riedy, CC BY 2.0 Setsubun at Mibu-dera
節分会（壬生寺）
Time 8:00 to 21:00 (4 February 9:00 to 19:00) Station Mibudera-michi bus stop (City Bus 26, 28)
Three days of Setsubun rites at the temple that guards Kyoto's southwest corner, with stalls and the silent Mibu Kyogen play Setsubun performed free on the hour from 17:00 to 20:00 on the 2nd and 3rd. You can buy an unglazed plate and write your family's ages and wishes on it, and it's smashed on stage at the spring and autumn kyogen.
Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert, CC BY 4.0 Mibu Kyogen Spring Performances
壬生大念佛狂言 春の公開
Time 13:00 to 17:30, and 18:30 to 21:30 on 5 May Station Mibudera-michi bus stop (City Bus 26, 28)
Masked plays with no words, only gongs, drums and flute, performed by the temple's lay association for 700 years. Each day opens with Horokuwari, where a tower of the plates people wrote wishes on at Setsubun is pushed off the stage to smash.
Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert, CC BY 4.0 Mibu Kyogen Autumn Performances
壬生狂言 秋の公開
Time 13:00 to about 17:30 (doors 12:30) Station Mibudera-michi bus stop (City Bus 26, 28, 71), 1 min walk
Masked performers act out Buddhist stories in silent mime to gongs, drums and flutes, a 700-year-old tradition listed as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. There are six plays a day of about 45 minutes each, and seats are unreserved, so you just pay at the gate.
Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert, CC BY 4.0 Obon Lantern Service at Mibu-dera
盂蘭盆万灯供養会（壬生寺）
Time Sunset to 21:00 Station Omiya (Hankyu), 10 min walk
About a thousand lanterns dedicated to families' ancestors are lit in front of the main hall every evening of Obon, a service with records going back to 1153. Dedicating a lantern costs ¥2,000 the first year.
Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert, CC BY 4.0 Nearby
Around Nijo
The shogun's castle, with the Shinsengumi's Mibu a walk south
Most people come for Nijo Castle, and it's worth its two hours. Tokugawa Ieyasu built it in 1603, and its Ninomaru Palace is the only palace complex still standing inside a Japanese castle. Then walk south, past a pond garden first laid out in 794 and an 800 m covered shopping street, to the temple in Mibu where the Shinsengumi trained.
Nijo has 17 places on the Roam Kyoto map: 5 shrines and temples, 3 landmarks, 3 shops, 2 restaurants, 1 bar, 1 cafe, 1 museum and 1 bathhouse. Read the Nijo guide.
Good to know
- What is the address of Takenobu Inari Shrine?
- 38 Imashinzaike Nishi-machi, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto (in Japanese: 京都市中京区今新在家西町38).
- How do I get to Takenobu Inari Shrine?
- The nearest station is Nijo (JR, Tozai Line). Takenobu Inari Shrine is in Nijo, Kyoto.
- How much does Takenobu Inari Shrine cost?
- Nothing. Takenobu Inari Shrine is free to visit.
- How long do you need at Takenobu Inari Shrine?
- Plan for 15 min.
- When is the best time to visit Takenobu Inari Shrine?
- Daytime.
Stay near Takenobu Inari Shrine
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