Tenjinzaka

The stone-paved slope of Tenjinzaka rises between two high, vine-covered earthen walls that date back to the early Edo period. It gets its name from the nearby Yasui Shrine, which enshrines Sugawara no Michizane, a scholar often called Tenjin. In the late nineteenth century, the novelist Nagai Kafu frequented this steep path, writing of the quiet, mossy stone walls and the shadows cast by the trees. The street remains a rare pocket of calm where the city sounds vanish behind the masonry.