Nagoya partly started around Atsuta Jingu, a shrine about 1,900 years old ⛩

I went to Atsuta Jingu in Nagoya.

(I did not know this, so I had AI look it up.)

• It is a very old shrine in Atsuta Ward, Nagoya.
• It is said to have started about 1,900 years ago.
• Kusanagi no Tsurugi, one of Japan's "Three Sacred Treasures," is kept here.
• About 7 million people come to pray here every year.

There was something that surprised me, even though I live in Nagoya.

Nagoya is now said to be the 3rd biggest city in Japan,

and I wondered, where in Nagoya did it start to grow?

When I asked AI, it said the area around this Atsuta Jingu was one of the places where Nagoya slowly became a city.

The area around Nagoya Station, which is very busy now, is a new place that grew after the Meiji era.

Nagoya Station opened in 1886, so it only has about 140 years of history.

As someone from Nagoya, I was a little surprised: "So Atsuta Jingu was one of the places where Nagoya began."

Japanese people go to shrines and temples to pray around January 1st.

This is called "Hatsumode."

Atsuta Jingu is very big inside, but at Hatsumode, there are huge lines here.

To say to the gods, "Please take care of me this year," everyone waits in really long lines.

Atsuta Jingu is a shrine very famous for this Hatsumode too.

That is Atsuta Jingu.