Wender·Vista
Meiji Jingū
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileJapan
in Shibuya, beside Yoyogi Park

Meiji Jingū

— — the forest the city planted for its emperor.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“A Shinto shrine in central Tokyo, surrounded by a seventy-hectare forest of about 120,000 trees, every one of them donated and planted by hand a century ago. Dedicated in 1920 to the spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken. The torii at the south entrance is cypress from Taiwan, twelve metres tall. Step through it and the city goes quiet.

from the studio
Meiji Jingū
— bring it home

Meiji Jingū, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Meiji Jingū

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

A Shinto shrine in Tokyo's Shibuya ward, immediately northwest of Harajuku Station and adjacent to Yoyogi Park. Dedicated on the third of November, 1920, to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji, who reigned from 1867 until 1912, and his consort Empress Shōken. The original buildings were destroyed in the 1945 firebombing of Tokyo and rebuilt by public subscription in 1958. The surrounding forest covers about seventy hectares and was created from roughly 120,000 trees donated from across Japan and planted by volunteer youth in the 1910s.

— the visit

Open from sunrise to sunset; admission free. The main approach runs north from Harajuku Station through the south torii, a twelve-metre cypress gate cut from a 1,500-year-old hinoki in what is now Taiwan. Plan an hour for the inner precinct and another for the forest. The Inner Garden, with its iris pond, is the one paid section — five hundred yen — and peaks in mid-June. New Year's hatsumōde draws roughly three million visitors over the first three days of January, more than any other shrine in Japan.

— the year

The shrine year turns on hatsumōde — the first three days of January, when about three million people pass through the torii, the largest such count at any shrine in Japan. The June iris bloom in the Inner Garden runs about two weeks. The Meiji birthday festival falls on the third of November, the shrine's founding date. The forest, planted in the 1910s to mature on a 150-year cycle, is now reaching the second half of that horizon.

— where
Japan · Shibuya, Tokyo
— position
35.6764° N · 139.6993° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
at the lake
Yoyogi Park
city park
at the lake
Harajuku
shopping district
2 km S
Shibuya Crossing
scramble crossing
3 km NE
Shinjuku Gyoen
imperial garden
N
Meiji Jingū
Yoyogi Park
Harajuku
Shibuya Crossing
Shinjuku Gyoen
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Meiji Jingū — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Dedicated on the third of November, 1920, eight years after the death of Emperor Meiji. The original buildings burned in the 1945 firebombing of Tokyo and were rebuilt by public subscription in 1958.

A seventy-hectare planted forest of about 120,000 trees donated from across Japan and Taiwan a century ago, then planted by volunteer youth. It was designed to mature on a 150-year cycle.

The deified spirits of Emperor Meiji, who reigned from 1867 until 1912 and oversaw Japan's opening to the modern world, and his consort Empress Shōken, who died in 1914.

Harajuku Station on the JR Yamanote Line sits directly at the south entrance. Meiji-Jingūmae on the Chiyoda and Fukutoshin subway lines is a short walk away. Admission is free; the Inner Garden charges five hundred yen.

The first shrine visit of the new year. Meiji Jingū draws about three million visitors over the first three days of January, the largest hatsumōde count of any shrine in Japan.

The south torii stands roughly twelve metres tall, cut from a 1,500-year-old hinoki cypress from what is now Taiwan. The Ōtorii at the second approach is the largest wooden myōjin torii in Japan.

— about the piece in your home

Yes. Meiji Jingū is one of the quiet centres of the city — the forest, the torii, the new year. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries that well.

Japandi, Minimalist Asian, and warm Eclectic rooms take it best. The forest greens and quiet vermilion of the torii also read against a soft plaster cream or a natural cedar wall.

Yes. Specific-place art with a restrained palette is central to the current Japandi direction, replacing generic 'zen' imagery. A Medium or Large above a low console fits that read.

A single Large reads from across the room. A four-tile Mural anchors a long sofa wall; a nine-tile Mural carries an entrance gallery or a tall foyer.

Yes. Order the Dura Satin or Matte finish — soft sheen, scratch-resistant, comfortable with steam and splash. The Glossy is meant for dry walls and framed display.

A microfibre cloth and water. The colour lives in the ceramic surface beneath a thin glossy finish, so it doesn't lift the way a printed surface would.

Yes. Reid Wender curates the atlas and the family studio in Knoxville, Tennessee, finishes each piece in-house. No licensing, no third-party imagery — the WenderVista line is one single studio's work.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

Hand-picked by the eye that found Sorapis. Same air, same kind of quiet.