The Ashikaga shoguns ruled Japan from Kyoto from 1336 to 1573, and their temples survive as Tenryū-ji, Shōkoku-ji, Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion), Ryōan-ji and Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion).
The route follows the dynasty from Ashikaga Takauji's memorial temple for Emperor Go-Daigo, through Yoshimitsu's Flower Palace and golden villa, to the Ōnin War and Yoshimasa's unfinished silver pavilion. The Flower Palace itself is gone; only a stone marker commemorates it.
Emperor Go-Daigo overthrew the Kamakura shogunate in 1333 after holding out at Kasagi Temple, being exiled to the Oki Islands and escaping to Mount Funanoue, and he ended his life at Yoshino. This route follows him from Kasagi to Kyoto and the Southern Court.
The six stops trace 1331 to 1339: the failed stand at Kasagi, exile on Oki, the escape to Mount Funanoue, the short Kenmu Restoration in Kyoto, the temporary palace at Yoshimizu Shrine and the emperor's tomb at Nyoirin-ji. Several pins are approximate because the sources describe regions or traditions, not exact spots.
Demon Slayer is set in Taisho-era Japan, and fans trace its real places from the Kamado shrines of Dazaifu and Beppu to Mt. Kumotori and Asakusa.
Tanjiro's story runs from Mt. Kumotori to the Infinity Castle, and the route follows the fan trail in story order: two Kamado shrines, the mountain where he burned charcoal, the boulder he had to cut, the wisteria park fans read as the Final Selection, Asakusa and Yoshiwara, Ginzan Onsen as the Swordsmith Village, and the Aizu ryokan whose lobby looks like the Infinity Castle. Most are working shrines, streets and businesses; visit quietly.
Alice in Borderland begins with three friends running through Shibuya and ends with Arisu and Usagi fighting for the city itself. Between those points the series empties Tokyo, then lets it grow over. This route follows the real Shibuya landmarks the characters use — the scramble crossing, the Hachikō gate, Shibuya Stream, 109 and SHIBUYA SKY — and visits the two sets where the empty and overgrown city was built, in Ashikaga and Yokohama.
The story never leaves Tokyo; the production did. This route follows the Netflix series, not Haro Aso's manga, and each stop keeps the story place and its stand-in apart.
In 1581 the African slave Diogo comes to Kyoto with a Jesuit delegation and is handed to the warlord Oda Nobunaga, who renames him Yasuke and makes him a samurai. That year Nobunaga's army crushes the ninja province of Iga, where the young shinobi Naoe loses her father and inherits his Hidden Blade.
From there the two hunt the same conspiracy across Kansai: the port of Sakai, the temple at Honnō-ji where Nobunaga dies, a kofun in Settsu, the castle of Shōryūji at Yamazaki, the shrines of Yamato, and the Templar recruiting ground of Kii. Most stops are real castles, temples and tombs that the game rebuilds.
