Players discover shocking Easter Egg in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Zelda fans have mapped TOTK shrine locations and discovered a connection between real-world Japan and Hyrule. Here’s how they discovered The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Easter Egg.

Nintendo fans keep discovering connections between the map of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and real-world Japan. This time, a Reddit user pointed out a surprising Easter egg involving the fact that TOTK’s shrines seem to be inspired by locations in Kyoto, the home of Nintendo’s headquarters.

According to Reddit user Chubby_Bub, Tears of the Kingdom’s shrines are anagrams of some iconic Kyoto locations. Inspired by Twitter user SO_far_69, the fan made a map marking down all locations and their respective reference in the real world. For example, the In-isa shrine in Hyrule Field should be a reference for the Saiin train station downtown, and the Gutanbac Shrine could be made with the letters that spell Tanbaguchi Station.

TotK’s shrines are named after corresponding real-life places in Kyoto. I made a map to try to document them all.
by u/Chubby_Bub in tearsofthekingdom

Players pointed out that this could mean that all of Zelda’s in-game locations could have real-life references since TOTK inherits a large part of its map from Breath of the Wild. Chubby_Bub even went so far as to state that the overall map of Hyrule is inspired by Kyoto’s topography since Nintendo’s developers explained that they began creating their new map thinking of the distance between various locations in their town.

“Even so, it’s possible to see how the actual geography of Hyrule is somewhat inspired by Kyoto at a larger level, such as the mountainous Ukyō Ward corresponding with Hebra, or the Katsura River dividing the mountains in Arashiyama and the Nishikyō Ward from the rest of Hyrule like the Gerudo Highlands and Desert,” explained the Reddit user.

You can check out the fan-made TOTK map that compares in-game locations with real Kyoto locations here.

For more Zelda content, check out some of our other guides:

All food recipes in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom | How to make money fast in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom | How to get the Master Sword in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom | Best weapons in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom | When is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom set? | Is weapon durability in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom? | Can you play as Zelda in Tears of the Kingdom? | Will there be DLC for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom?