Karasumori Shrine

Karasumori Shrine is an Inari shrine associated with prosperity and good fortune, it is a well-known place of worship tucked among the office buildings near Shimbashi Station. The name Karasumori, meaning "crow forest", comes from the area's distant past. This part of Tokyo was once a pine-covered sandbar on the shore of Edo Bay, and because crows gathered to nest in the pines, it came to be known as the crow forest.

According to tradition, the shrine was founded in 940, during the Heian period. When the warrior Fujiwara no Hidesato prayed for victory in the campaign against the rebel Taira no Masakado, a white fox is said to have brought him a white-feathered arrow, with which he swiftly prevailed. In thanks he sought to found a shrine, and, guided by a dream to the place where sacred crows gathered, he built it in the forest of what was then Sakurada village.

The shrine's standing grew after the Great Fire of Meireki in 1657, which reduced much of Edo to ashes but, remarkably, spared Karasumori. This was taken as a sign of divine protection, and devotion to the shrine deepened. Along with Suginomori Shrine in Nihonbashi and Yanagimori Shrine in Kanda, it is counted among the "Three Mori of Edo". It took its present name in 1873, and the current shrine building dates from 1971.

Its annual festival, the Karasumori Matsuri, is held on 4, 5, and 6 May, and is well known as one of the first festivals of the summer season.

The shrine is also popular with collectors of goshuin (shrine seal stamps), known for its colourful and seasonal designs.