Hanazono Shrine is the guardian shrine of Shinjuku, a bright vermilion Shinto shrine that sits right between the department stores of Shinjuku-sanchome and the tiny bars of Golden Gai. Its grounds are generally open around the clock and free to enter, which makes it one of the few places in central Shinjuku where you can step out of the neon and into a quiet, working shrine at almost any hour.

Its front opens onto a busy shopping street. Its back edge touches Golden Gai, and Kabukicho is a few minutes' walk away. The official GO TOKYO map of Shinjuku describes it as a place locals use to escape the bustle, and after one evening visit you will see why.

① A shrine named after a flower garden

【Who is enshrined here?】 Hanazono Shrine (Hanazono Jinja) is dedicated mainly to Inari, the kami associated with rice, harvests and prosperity. For centuries it has been Shinjuku's local guardian shrine, and neighbourhood businesses still come here to pray for a good year.

【Where the name comes from】 The exact founding date is not known, but sources agree the shrine already existed before the Edo period began in the early 1600s, when this area was growing into Naito Shinjuku, a post town on the Koshu Kaido highway.

It first stood a short distance away, on land now occupied by the Isetan department store. In the Kan'ei era (1624-1644) that land was given to a shogunate retainer, and the shrine moved to its present grounds, part of an Owari Tokugawa estate known as a flower garden. "Hanazono" means exactly that: "flower garden".

【Rebuilt, but still classic】 The shrine suffered fires in the Edo period and was destroyed in the Second World War. The current main hall, finished in 1965, is concrete but follows traditional shrine architecture, so from the street it still reads as a classic vermilion shrine.

② What to see in 15 to 20 minutes

The grounds are compact and easy to explore.

• The main hall. The vermilion hall at the top of the steps is where most people pray. At night it is lit, and the red glows against the office buildings behind it.

• Geino Asama Shrine. A smaller shrine for the performing arts. Actors, singers and dancers pray here before big performances, and its charm for performers, with space to write your real or stage name, is one of the best known.

• Itoku Inari Shrine. A small sub-shrine reached through a short row of red torii gates, and a popular photo spot.

• Charms and goshuin. The shrine office offers omamori (charms) and goshuin, the handwritten shrine stamps that collectors gather in a special book.

【A red tent in theatre history】 In 1967 the playwright Juro Kara and his Situation Theatre company first pitched their famous red tent on these grounds and staged performances there. The "red tent" became a symbol of Tokyo's underground theatre of the late 1960s, a fitting story for a shrine that performers have visited since the Edo period.

③ Festivals worth planning around

【Tori no Ichi (November)】 A market festival held on the days of the rooster in the old calendar, which fall two or three times each November. Hanazono's is counted among the three best-known Tori no Ichi of old Edo, with those in Asakusa and Fuchu. Stalls sell kumade, decorated bamboo rakes said to "rake in" good fortune, and when a sale is made, sellers and buyer often clap in rhythm together. It is liveliest after dark, and a festival eve is held the night before each day. Dates change every year, so check the shrine's official announcement, and expect big evening crowds.

【Reitaisai, the grand festival (late May)】 The main annual festival runs over several days around the last weekend of May. Mikoshi (portable shrines) are carried through Shinjuku's streets and the grounds fill with food stalls. Which mikoshi take part varies by year.

【The Sunday antique market】 On most Sundays, dealers set up on the grounds with prints, scrolls, furniture and old kimono, usually from early morning until mid-afternoon. It may be cancelled in bad weather or during shrine events, so treat it as a bonus and check before you go.

④ Visiting at night: the best time, with three manners

The grounds are generally open around the clock and the shrine is lit in the evening. This is when many visitors like it best: the office workers have gone home, the steps and lanterns are calm, and the glow of Golden Gai is only a few steps away.

• The office closes. Charms, goshuin and formal prayers are handled during office hours only, from morning into the early evening, and hours can change. Go in the daytime or early evening if you want a stamp or a charm.

• Keep your voice down. This is an active place of worship, used by people who live and work nearby. It is not a spot to drink, even with bars next door.

• Watch your footing. The stone steps can be slippery in the rain.

⑤ How to pray, in four steps

You do not need to be Shinto or speak Japanese to pray.

1. Bow lightly at the torii gate, and walk slightly to the side rather than down the centre of the path.

2. Purify your hands and mouth at the water basin (temizuya): rinse your left hand, then your right, then pour a little water into your cupped left hand to rinse your mouth. Never drink directly from the ladle.

3. At the hall, drop a coin into the offering box. Any amount is fine.

4. Bow twice, clap twice, make your wish, then bow once more.

Photos of the grounds are generally fine, but avoid photographing people while they pray, and follow any signs asking you not to photograph the halls or ceremonies.

⑥ Getting there, and what to pair it with

The shrine is next to Shinjuku-sanchome Station (Tokyo Metro Marunouchi and Fukutoshin lines, Toei Shinjuku Line); exit E2 is the usual one. From the east side of JR Shinjuku Station it is an easy walk along Yasukuni-dori, and only a few minutes on foot from Kabukicho.

Allow 15 to 30 minutes for the shrine itself. Pair it with Golden Gai directly behind and the neon of Kabukicho, and you have a good first evening in Shinjuku.

Explore it with a local

A guide can point out small details, like which charms suit performers, that are easy to miss on your own. On the Golden Gai back alleys and nightlife tour, a NINJA GO TOURS guide in a Ninja costume walks you through the prayer ritual at Hanazono Shrine before heading into Golden Gai. The secret shrine and neon backstreets walk also ends at Hanazono, after a stop at a smaller hidden shrine in Kabukicho.