The Oji district 王子
View of the neighborhood from Asukayama Park
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Greenery north of Tokyo
Located in the district of Kita, just 10 min by train from Ueno, Oji is a small district that is not well known to travel guides. However, its Inari shrines, the famous Asukayama park, and the last tram attract many visitors on weekends and holidays. Discover the greenery hidden in the north of Tokyo!
A district under the protection of the Inari deity
Since the Heian era (794-1185), Oji has been home to three Shinto shrines dedicated to the deity Inari: a small shrine located a stone's throw from the district's central train station; the Oji Jinja, which is one of the ten shrines chosen by Emperor Meiji in 1868 to constitute the TokyoJissha pilgrimage; and the famous Oji Inari Jinja which hosts the annual Fox Festival on December 31.
- Read also: 5 pilgrimages to do in Japan
Oji Jinja
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A significant event in the district of Kita, the Inari Matsuri attracts many curious people every year. Parade with music in the colors of the fox deity, prayers at the shrine for the New Year, and tasting of traditional dishes, the Oji festival brings a touch of magic to the winter celebrations! An excellent way to end the year in style, which also offers the opportunity to discover (or rediscover) the small altars hidden between the rocks and the hardwood that border the main sanctuary.
A corner of greenery in the north of the capital
When one is led to enumerate the corners of greenery hidden in Tokyo, one immediately thinks of the districts of Ueno or Yoyogi. However, Oji is also very popular with lovers of parks and gardens. And especially when spring arrives, since it has one of the most beautiful cherry tree parks in the capital: Asukayama Park.
During Hanami , Asukayama Park is a must-see is a home to dozens of cherry trees that turn pink from the end of March. A rural setting attracts more and more visitors each year and animates the already trendy alleys of the park.
Indeed, Asukayama Park is visited all year round. The park is particularly popular with families between its paper museum, the kindergarten it hides, and its mysterious square sprinkled with waterfalls. Add its monorail, which is very popular with children, and you get one of the most popular parks in northern Tokyo!
- See as well: Top 6 places to see cherry blossoms in Tokyo.
Asukayama Park under the cherry blossoms
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If you are more of a solitary walker, Otonashi Shinsui Park, located a few minutes from Asukayama, maybe more to your liking. Immortalized by Hiroshige in one of the prints in "One Hundred Views of Edo," Otonashi Shinsui's mill still inspires local artists who regularly come to draw it on the banks of the river that crosses the park. The latter also leads to the Oji Jinja shrine if you want to kill two birds with one stone.
The Oji mill inspired the printmaker Hiroshige
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An open-air railway museum
Beyond the shrines and parks, the Oji district is also famous for its old-fashioned transportation.
In Asukayama, you can admire two marvels lost in the middle of the kindergarten: a locomotive in circulation from 1936 to 1945 and a small tram from the 1960s that linked southern Tokyo to Saitama prefecture. The curious usually come to see two attractions in Oji by tram!
1930s locomotive
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Indeed, the district is served by the last tram still in operation in the capital: the Tokyo Sakura Tram. Connecting the community of Arakawa to that of Shinjuku, Tokyo's last streetcar offers passengers a true journey through time as it passes through the city's many small neighborhoods that have been preserved from the ravages of World War II.
- See also: the Toden Arakayama tram line.
The Toden-Arakawa Line at Oji
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Address, timetable & access
Address
Timetable
Oji station (JR, Tokyo Metro and Light Rail lines)
