Nakamise-dori

The street began in the early Edo period, when local residents who cleaned the temple grounds were given the privilege of trading on the approach. It is counted among the oldest shopping streets in Japan. After a red-brick row built in 1885 was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake, it was rebuilt in 1925 as a vermilion, Momoyama-style concrete arcade. The interior burned in the Second World War, but the exterior was restored. Shops include Sukeroku for small toys, Kimuraya Honten for ningyō-yaki cakes and Maeda Shoten for kaminari-okoshi.