Walking along the 3rd Loop Route | Discover Kishimojin! | Midori 3-chome to Iriya

I found the Kishimojin and the Koutokuji (ruins).

This shrine and temple are famous for the play on words “Osore Iriya no Kishibojin, Bikkuri Shitaya no Kotokuji.

Midori 3-chome, Sumida-ku
Kototoi-dori
Iriya, Taito-ku
Kishimojin and Koutokuji Temple
Walking data

Midori 3-chome, Sumida-ku

Continuing from last week, we will walk along the 3rd Ring Road.

Kinshicho Station

I start from Kinshicho station.

Kinshicho is one of my favorite neighborhoods, with Yodobashi Camera, Yuzawaya, and a candy store (Ewatari).

Koto Bridge

Walking out to the south of the station on Keiyo Road (Route 14), I found the Koto Bridge. Koto-bashi spans the Oyoko River, but is now a water park, and the water seems to be only in places.

Nearby, there is a pillar of the old Koto-bashi bridge, on which is written that Keiyo Road used to be a pilgrimage route to Naritasan Shinsho-ji Temple. The route crosses Ryogoku Bridge from Asakusa Bridge and passes through Koiwa and Ichikawa. Indeed, the Mito Sakura Road had to pass through the Senju area, which I thought was a long way around. If you simply want to go to Narita-san, it would be smarter to take the Keiyo Road.

Midori 3-chome intersection

Enter Loop Route 3 (Mitsume-dori) from the Midori 3-chome intersection.

shake tree

After crossing the Sobu Line for a while, there was a long line…

It was a hamburger shop called “shake tree. If it’s that good that I have to wait in line, I want to try it.

Honjo-Azumabashi Housing Gallery

At the Honjo Azumabashi Housing Gallery, visitors can play on a dolphin slide with the Tokyo Sky Tree in the background. A banner next to it says that the building will have 3, 4, and 5 stories with a lightweight steel frame. Are there many individuals who build 5-story buildings?

Genmori Bridge

At Genmoribashi Bridge, the limited express Ryomou was just passing by.

Kototoi-bashi East intersection

Mitsume-dori ends at the Kototoibashi East intersection.

If you continue straight, you will be on Route 6, heading toward Mito.

If you turn left, you will still be on Route 6, heading toward Nihonbashi. The road toward Nihonbashi is also known as Kototoi Dori.

Loop Route 3 continues on Kototoi-dori.

Kototoi-dori

Kototoi Bridge

Soon Kototoi Bridge, which gave Kototoi Dori its name, appears.

I was a little concerned about the subtle slanting of the Braille blocks.

Thunder 5656 Kaikan

There is not much quaintness behind Sensoji Temple. However, the naming of this Thunder 5656 (Gorogoro = onomatopoeia for thunder) Kaikan is delightful.

Kappabashi Tool District

Kappabashi Tool Street can be seen from the intersection in front of Kinryu Elementary School. It is such an interesting street that you could spend a whole day here and never get bored. But I am not going there today.

Iriya, Taito-ku

Iriya Intersection

Today’s walk was to the Iriya intersection.

Kishimojin and Koutokuji Temple

Kishibojin

But I went a little further and paid a visit to Kishibojin. It is famous for the play on words “Osore Iriya no Kishibojin”.
In the old Tokyo dialect, “I give up” was said as “Osore Iriyashita.” And here in Iriya, we have this Kishimojin. Therefore, when they surrendered, they would connect these words together and said, in a fashionable manner, “Osore Iriya no Kishibojin.”

There is a counterpart to this phrase. It is “Bikkuri Shitaya no Koutokuji.”

To be surprised is called “Bikkuri Shita” in Japanese. Then there was Koutokuji Temple in Shitaya. So, when they were surprised, they connected these words together and said in a stylish way, “Bikkuri Shitaya no Koutokuji.”

This makes me want to visit Koutokuji Temple.

The Koutokuji temple seems to have moved from Shitaya to Sakuradai, Nerima-ku, but a stone monument still remains on the grounds of the Taito Ward Office, so I decided to visit the temple.