Name:
円通寺坂 えんつうじざか
Entsuuji-zaka, Entsuu Temple Rise

Location:
赤坂4丁目13番、5丁目2番の間
Between Akasaka 4-13 and 5-2

This article is part of the special feature Akasaka on the Rise. Check it out in my Live Maps Collection.

The official description:

元禄八年(1695)に付近から坂上南側に移転した寺院の名称をとった。それ以前に同名の別寺があったともいう。
Named after the temple that was moved from a nearby location to the south side of the top of the hill in Genroku 8 Year (1695). Even before that, there was another temple of the same name nearby.

Unofficial explanation:

This rise leads up to Entsuu Temple. The temple is at the highest point in Akasaka, accessible also by Drug Mortar Rise, Inari Rise, and Three Bit Rise. It's quite a steep rise, with a nice curving approach visible from a good distance back at the bottom.

Entsuu Temple was established in 1626 at the top of Three Bit Rise on the middle estate of the Lord of Aki Country (安芸国, Aki no Kuni), present-day Hiroshima Prefecture (広島県, Hiroshima-ken). After the temple burned in a fire, it was relocated to its current location in 1698. In the background is Akasaka Park Building (赤坂パークビルヂング, Akasaka Paaku Birutzingu), which provides a shortcut around the hilltop. The tower grounds also has a small, attractive park memorializing the Imperial 3rd Infantry which was based here in the Meiji and early Showa Periods (around 1900 until World War Two).

The temple was relocated here because sometime after its bell was cast in 1683, it became one of 13 locations throughout Edo that chimed the time using its temple bell. Entsuu Temple's bell is known as the "Twelve Signs of the Zodiac Bell," and has poems inscribed on it including all twelve signs' characters. It chimed hours until the 1750s, when responsibility was moved to Jyouman Temple (成満寺, Jyoumanji), which was located closer to Akasakamitsuke in Tamachi. Entsuu Temple's bell was lost after being hidden during World War Two, then resurfaced in Itabashi Ward (板橋区, Itabashi-ku) in 1975.