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All Japan Tokyo Secret Cobblestones of Hide-and-Seek Alley
AO Edited

Secret Cobblestones of Hide-and-Seek Alley

A few hidden stones are said to bring fortune and love.

Tokyo, Japan

Added By
Fred Cherrygarden
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Heart.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Star.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Diamond (rhombus).   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Hide-and-Seek Alley.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Hide-and-Seek Alley.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Can you find one of the secret cobblestones.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
Heart.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
“Pinkoro” cobblestones.   Fred Cherrygarden / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Kakurenbo Yokochō, usually translated as Hide-and-Seek Alley, is a quiet little alley lined with traditional Japanese restaurants and izakaya, a lesser-known gem in the upscale Kagurazaka district of Shinjuku City.

The alley is known for its quaint cobblestone pavement, consisting of roughly 28,000 pieces of granite known as pincoro stone. When its drainage underwent repairs in 2016, the cobblestones were also replaced by new ones, along with a few secret additions. The stones in question, one heart-shaped and two with engravings: a pentagram and a diamond.

As the rumors about them slowly spread, they came to be known to have magical properties, which may grant a certain sort of luck to those who manage to find the stone.

The heart-shaped stone, for example, is said to make the finder more likely to find love, while the pentagram is associated with work-related success and the diamond with monetary luck. The only catch is that you have to find them on your own. 

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The alley is easily accessible from either Kagurazaka, Ushigome-Kagurazaka, or Iidabashi station. While the heart and the star are hidden in plain sight, the diamond is extremely hard to find as it’s very worn and faded, though still visible if you know where to look.

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Added By

Fred Cherrygarden

Published

August 9, 2022

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Secret Cobblestones of Hide-and-Seek Alley
Shinjuku City
Tokyo, 162-0825
Japan
35.701906, 139.740968
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