Atago Jinja stands on Atago-yama in Minato, Tokyo — at roughly 26 metres, the highest natural hill in the capital's 23 special wards. Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered the shrine founded in 1603, the year he established his shogunate, as a guardian against fire: the summit commanded a clear view across the young city and served as a fire lookout. Its principal kami is Homusubi no Mikoto, deity of fire, enshrined alongside the water deity Mizuhanome no Mikoto, the mountain deity Oyamazumi no Mikoto, and Yamato Takeru no Mikoto. The shrine is best known for the stone staircase that climbs from the main gate at about 40 degrees — 86 steps known as the Stairs of Success (出世の石段). The name comes from an episode of 1634, when Magaki Heikuro, a samurai of the Marugame domain, rode his horse up the steps to carry plum blossoms to the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu and was proclaimed the finest horseman in Japan. A painting of the ride hangs in the main hall. Atago-yama also saw the beginning of the end of the shogunate it was built to protect: Mito rōnin gathered here in 1860 before the Sakuradamon Incident, the assassination of Ii Naosuke. The present shrine buildings date from 1958. Two observances anchor the year — Sennichi Mairi on 23–24 June, when passing through a ring of reeds is traditionally counted as a thousand visits, and the annual festival on 22–24 September.