Takanawadai Walking Guide — 3 Spots: Hilltop Shrines, Temples and a Museum

Around Takanawadai Station there are 3 walking spots, ranging from a shrine and a temple to an art museum. All 3 list Takanawadai Station as their nearest station, and they are scattered along the slopes and quiet residential streets of Takanawa, a district that flourished as a temple town from the Edo period. None of the 3 spots has budget information registered, which makes this an easy route built around visiting shrines and simply taking in the townscape.

Suggested order: [Sodegasaki Shrine](/en/spot/2c3f6051-a96a-4a49-bb8d-1e158062c7af) → [Ryoshinji Temple](/en/spot/61fa943f-c0ac-4bb4-a5af-abe39a6cc64f) → [Ebara Hatakeyama Memorial Museum of Fine Art](/en/spot/180156fe-82ef-40be-b24a-52641bbb4ae7). Take in the temple-town character of Takanawa at the shrine and temple in the residential streets first, then spend unhurried time at the museum up on the hill.

Sodegasaki Shrine

A shrine that sits near Takanawadai Station. The evocative name "Sodegasaki" leaves an impression, and the shrine stands quietly tucked into a residential neighborhood of Takanawa. It's a good place to bow once before starting a walk through this hilly part of Takanawa. What it lacks in showiness it keeps in atmosphere — a shrine still embedded in the daily life of the neighborhood.

Ryoshinji Temple

A temple located near Takanawadai Station. Takanawa has been a temple town since the Edo period, gathering many temples in one area, and Ryoshinji is one of them. You can pay a quiet visit while taking in the townscape that Takanawa's slopes and religious sites weave together. Visiting it right after Sodegasaki Shrine makes it easy to feel how shrines and temples have coexisted in the same neighborhood.

Ebara Hatakeyama Memorial Museum of Fine Art

A museum exhibiting Japanese and East Asian artworks collected by the industrialist Isseï Hatakeyama. The collection of tea ceremony utensils is especially rich, and the museum lies at the end of a walk up a quiet hill from Takanawadai Station. It reopened in 2024 after an extended closure for renovation, and offers art viewing in a calm setting. As the finish to the walk, it lets you carry the quiet of the hillside straight indoors.

A closing tip: All 3 spots share Takanawadai Station as their nearest station, so the route stays compact. Takanawa is a hilly area, though, so comfortable walking shoes make the trip from the shrine and temple up to the hilltop museum far more pleasant. If you want to linger at the museum, visit the shrine and temple first.