Atsuta Shrine

Atsuta holds the Kusanagi no Tsurugi, the sword that is one of the three imperial regalia of Japan. Nobody has seen it. It is not displayed, has not been displayed, and will not be; the priests who serve it do not look at it either. That single fact puts this shrine second only to Ise in the Shinto hierarchy, and it explains why a city as commercial as Nagoya has nineteen hectares of dense forest in the middle of it.

The trees are the surprise. Camphors here are said to be over a thousand years old, one of them credited to Kobo Daishi, and the approach under them drops the temperature and the traffic noise together within a minute of leaving the road.

Oda Nobunaga prayed here in 1560 before riding out to attack an army ten times the size of his at Okehazama. He won, and paid for a wall in thanks. The Nobunaga-bei, a mud and tile wall beside the main hall, is still standing, and it is one of the few things you can touch in Japan that a figure of that scale personally commissioned.

The treasure hall holds swords, and the shrine's collection of blades is among the best in the country, rotated through the displays.

Eat before you leave. Miya Kishimen, in a wooden pavilion in the grounds, serves the flat Nagoya noodle in a light broth, and it is the best-known bowl in the city.

The grounds are free and open at all hours. About six million people come for the New Year visit. Jingu-mae station on the Meitetsu line is at the eastern gate.