Kunosan Toshogu shrine is one of the most popular historical sites in Shizuoka city. The first shogun of the Edo feudal government, Ieyasu Tokugawa ...
Shizuoka station
Kunozan Toshogu shrine
A View from Nihondaira
Sushi Museum
Sushi lunch
Other places in Shizuoka are available to be added to your itinerary
Shizuoka station
Kunosan Toshogu shrine is one of the most popular historical sites in Shizuoka city. The first shogun of the Edo feudal government, Ieyasu Tokugawa was enshrined here about 400 years ago. I think he is the most famous shogun in Japanese history, because he united the nation for the first time. After he retired from the position of shogun, he spent his last years in Sumpu, the former name of Shizuoka because he loved the place very much. When he died in 1616, according to his living will, he was buried on the top of Mt. Kuno and Toshogu shrine was built the following year to enshrine his deified spirit. The main building was designated as a national treasure in 2010. The beautiful building is worth seeing and its design also exemplifies Ieyasu Tokugawa’s message of peace. I think you will find out why he wanted to be buried there and understand his spirit for pursuing peace.
After visiting Toshogu shrine, you can fully enjoy a panoramic view of the Shimizu port, Miho pine grove and Mt. Fuji, if the weather allows. We can visit Sushi Museum in the Shimizu Dream Plaza(which includes a shopping mall, a movie theater, museums, restaurants etc.). There are some good sushi restaurants around the port and a sushi lunch there is recommended since it boasts Japan’s largest catch of tuna. You will love the fresh seafood there!
☆ As an option, you can visit the fish market near the Shimizu port as well.
☆ If you are interested in other places in Shizuoka, I can add it to your itinerary.
Please don’t hesitate to ask.
guide fee
■ transportation fee(you and guide)
・ Total Taxi fare from Shizuoka station to Nihondaira and from Nihondaira to around Shimizu port
1 to 3 persons: a regular taxi 8,000 to 9,000 yen
・ JR Tokaido line from Shimizu to Shizuoka 240yen/person
or Chartered taxi for 4 hours： a regular taxi(1 to 3 persons)20,860 yen
a taxi van(4 to 8 persons) 39,820yen
■ ropeway&entarance fee of Toshogu shrine 1,750yen/person
■ Sushi museum 300yen/person
■ lunch(you and guide)
I can guide you in cities other than Shizuoka if you pay my transportation fee.
The tour will take 5 hours if a fish market visit is added and the guide fee will be 25,000yen.
Depending on the places to visit, if the tour takes 6 hours, the guide fee will be 29,000yen.
One of the best tours we have ever had by far. Hiroyo was prompt and made sure the tour was paced so we all could enjoy it as see as much as possible. The tea farm is lovely, and the owner is very nice. He described the plants, harvesting and how they process the leaves. It is a very informative tour, and the area is beautiful. Then you get to experience the tea. I cannot say enough about the tasting. We tasted tea over three ways and were able to taste snacks made from tea products. The owner's wife was so nice and answered all of our questions. We then had the opportunity to purchase lovely tea pots and products. We toured some of the sites in the town. It was lovely with great views of Mt. Fuji. We proceeded to a distillery tour. This was my husband's favorite. The tour guide was very knowledgeable of the distillery process and kind enough to answer all of my husband's questions about the history of Sake and best of all we got to taste many different kinds. Oue group age ranged from 27 to 55 and Hiroyo was very kind to ensure the pace of the tour was not too much for any of the members. She stopped whenever we asked for pictures and more information on many sites. Highly recommend this tour.
Dear Tanya, Thank you very much for your warm comments! It is always my great pleasure to welcome tea lovers here! Yes, as you mentioned, the tea farm couple is always very nice. Maybe because of the mild climate here in Shizuoka, local people are very kind. The tea grown with their great care naturally tastes great. Not only tea, but sake is also produced with all the blessings of Mt. Fuji. So I hope you can enjoy both of them at home now! If you have another chance to visit here, I’ll always welcome you! Thank you so much!! Best wishes, Hiroyo
Hiroyo was a great tour guide. She worked with our family to come up with a tour itinerary that fit all of our needs. We are a family of three with vastly different interests, but Hiroyo was able to include something for everyone in the tour. Hiroyo speaks fluent English, is very tentative to your request and makes meeting easy. She was prompt and met us at our hotel to begin the tour early. We had four stops planned, and they were all great. She recommended the best transportation to ensure we were able to make all of our stops within our tight timeframe. The Toshogu Shrine was beautiful, and she was able to add historical information. The Museum was informative, and Hiroyo interpreted everything we needed to make the experience more fulfilling. Hiroyo was mindful of our walking pace ability and adjusted when needed. She also was able to adjust our lunch spot to accommodate my son's Japanese food exploration desires. I cannot say enough. I highly recommend her tour.
Dear Tanya, Thank you very much for your great comment! I’m so happy to hear from you that your family could enjoy the day! It was really nice for me as well to visit the places related to Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa in Shizuoka City with you who are very interested in the history. The city has more places to visit and more foods to enjoy as Shogun Ieyasu decided to spent the last years. If you’d like to taste another kinds, I’ll show you around the city anytime! Great thanks & Best wishes, Hiroyo
My wife and I scheduled a tour with Hiroyo as a daytime activity while staying in the Fujikawaguchiko area and it was a lovely experience! We had spent the rest of our trip in metropolitan areas, so seeing a bit of the countryside in Fujinomiya was a breath of fresh air. Our tour included a visit to a local tea farm (with snacks!), Omiya Yokocho (a restaurant street), the Mt. Fuji World Heritage Museum, Fujinomiya Sengen Shrine, and the Takasago Sake Brewery. As travelers that mainly speak english with little to no Japanese proficiency, all of these tour stops (save for maybe the Fuji museum) would have been inaccessible to us otherwise. Hiroyo was an excellent guide and translator throughout the entire tour. She helped us interface with other shop staff and members of the community along with providing occasional cultural tidbits about sights in the area. Hiroyo even went as far as to arrange for a cab driver to pick us up from our hotel in Fujikawaguchiko in the morning and drive us back! We handled the cost of the taxi but Hiroyo's work with local businesses saved us a lot of stress. The local tea farm and Takasago Sake Brewery tours were completely in Japanese, we were lucky to have Hiroyo with us to translate tour information back in English to us. The tea farm visit included some small snacks and a tasting of sencha and genmaicha tea. We enjoy the taste of green tea and are interested in learning about how food is produced, so this part of the tour was definitely for us. You can gain a greater appreciation for the labor that goes into the food that you consume from this tour. The Takasago Brewery tour was very interesting to see the large equipment used to make sake. We also greatly enjoyed the tasting session at the end, where we were able to try both pasteurized and unpasteurized sake. The difference in taste is fascinating and something we could only try in Japan as US won't allow unpasteurized sake into the country (as far as we know). the My advice is to save some room in your luggage to take home souvenirs from each stop! We regretted not having enough room to take home one of our favorite flavors from the tasting, the yuzu sake. Omiya Yokocho had some of the best yakisoba we've ever eaten along with some very delicious gelato nearby as a quick dessert (the Fuji shaped gelato has flavors that change daily and is great for a photo!). Oden is also nearby if you want to try another authentic Japanese food that's hard to get stateside. The Fujinomiya Sengen Shrine was super beautiful and Hiroyo provided us additional knowledge on how to respectfully visit shrines in Japan (something that hardly came up in our Japan research before the trip!). Overall, it was an absolute privilege to have Hiroyo as our tour guide and I strongly recommend one of her tours if you are travelling in a small group that can fully appreciate each stop on the tour.
Thank you so much for your kind and great comments for the tour!! I’m so happy to know that you enjoyed the day in Fujinomiya. It was a great day for a view of Mt.Fuji and local people here including the tea farm visit, sake brewery, Omiya Yokocho street foods are always very nice. I also enjoyed to be your guide the whole day! If you have another chance to visit Japan, we have a lot more places to visit and enjoy in Shizuoka Prefecture. I’ll always welcome you here with Mt. Fuji!! Thank you very much!! Hiroyo
Hiroyo was a great guide. She seemed to know her way around very well and was very patient with my kids. She was able to get us to a Green Tea Farm and a Wasabi Farm which was fascinating to see in person. The Green Tea Farm actually ended up being one of my kid's favorite part. We had a great time. Thank you again!
Thank you very much, Joseph! I’m very happy to hear from you! It was a great fun for me to spend the day with you and your children. They are really cute and it’s amazing to know that they are very much interested in Japanese wasabi and tea production. I hope you and your family will have another chance to visit Japan! Best wishes, Hiroyo