Senju Shrine Bomb Shelter

As fighting during the Pacific War grew more intense, Tokyo was often subjected to air raids from the Allied forces. To escape the bombings, civilians constructed shelters across the city. Although many didn’t survive the war, a few are still easily accessible.

One such shelter can be found within the grounds of Senju Shrine, which contains two shrines originally founded in 926 and 1279. The makeshift concrete shelter could house around a dozen people should the occasion arise. Although abandoned today, the bomb shelter survived the war and is preserved by the shrine as a memento of wartime history.

The shrine itself, however, wasn’t all that lucky. The building was destroyed in an air raid on April 3, 1945, and left in that state until it was restored 13 years later. On the shrine grounds, there is also a ginkgo tree that survived the bombing, half-burned, but still standing. Other war-damaged trees can be found at several nearby temples as well.