Naritasan Omotesando Route

What Naritasan Omotesando is

Naritasan Omotesando is the roughly eight-hundred-metre approach that runs to the gate of Naritasan Shinshoji, a head temple of Shingon Buddhism. Opened in 940, Shinshoji draws among the very largest crowds of New Year worshippers in Japan, and since Edo times a temple-gate town grew along this street to host pilgrims coming and going. You walk gently downhill from Narita station toward the temple. Eel, chestnut yokan, dango, senbei, local sake — all from old houses that have traded on the same spot for one or two centuries. Beyond its airport, this is the other face of Narita.

The approach's eel and sweets

Say Narita and you say eel first. Nearby waters like Lake Inba, in this canal country, teemed with eel, and eel houses gathered along the approach. Most of the famous ones still butcher the eel at the storefront, skewer it and grill it over charcoal — that sound, smoke and smell are half the reason for the queue. The sweets are famous too: Nagomi-no-Yoneya, said to be the first to make chestnut yokan; charcoal-grilled soy dango; the thin-skinned Kantaro-yaki; and the approach's only hand-grilled senbei. Add local sake brewed with Naritasan's spring water, and the pleasures of a temple-gate town are packed into a single street.

How to walk this route

Start at Narita station. Enter Omotesando and head toward the temple from the station end, working down by house number. Nibble lightly first — Kantaro-yaki, Goto's grilled dango, Hayashida's senbei — and taste the local sake at Chomeisen along the way. Buy a chestnut yokan at Yoneya for a souvenir as you descend the slope toward the temple. The eel is in the latter half of the approach, around Nakamachi. Closing this route means sitting down to unaju at Kawatoyo or Omiya. The street is only about eight hundred metres, but with a proper eel sit-down, allow about two and a half hours in all.

What to look for

Both eel houses are must-eats. Kawatoyo is famous for the storefront butchering display and its queue, a classic fragrant unaju. Right next door, Omiya's secret sauce — topped up for two hundred years — is lighter than Kawatoyo's, and comparing the two is a pleasure. Among sweets, Nagomi-no-Yoneya's chestnut yokan: the very idea of putting chestnut into yokan is said to have started here. Goto's dango is grilled over charcoal to order, fragrant with soy. Hayashida's senbei is handmade from the dough up, curling and hot straight off the grill. Chomeisen's local sake is just right for a sip between stretches of the walk.

Before you go

Around the New Year holiday and the worship season, the area is jammed to a standstill, so avoid it for an unhurried food walk. The popular eel houses draw long lunchtime queues, so go early, or put your name down and stroll the approach while you wait. The approach is a gentle slope with stone-paved stretches, so wear easy shoes. Hours and closing days change, so it is safer to check the eel houses in advance.