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Tokyo · Special ward

Toshima

豊島区としまくToshima-ku

Ikebukuro's terminals, anime culture and old Sugamo

Toshima is the special ward of north-western Tokyo centred on Ikebukuro, one of the city's great rail terminals and shopping districts; it also takes in the old-fashioned Sugamo shopping street, the literary cemetery of Zōshigaya and the site of the Tokiwa-sō apartment where Tezuka Osamu and a generation of manga artists began.

Overview

Toshima lies on the Musashino upland north-west of central Tokyo, on the Yamanote loop line. Until the early twentieth century it was farmland and villages, among them Somei, whose nurseries bred the Somei-Yoshino cherry that now dominates Japan's spring. The railways turned it into a suburb: Ikebukuro became the terminus of the Tōbu Tōjō and Seibu Ikebukuro lines, and around the station grew department stores, offices and entertainment streets.

Ikebukuro today is one of Tokyo's three great western sub-centres with Shinjuku and Shibuya. East of the station, Sunshine City – built in 1978 on the site of Sugamo Prison – combines an office tower, an aquarium, a planetarium and shops; nearby, Otome Road is known for anime and manga shops aimed at women. West of the station stand the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre and Rikkyō University's ivy-covered brick buildings.

The ward also has quieter sides. Sugamo's Jizō-dōri, the approach to the temple of the 'thorn-removing Jizō', is a shopping street popular with older Tokyoites. Zōshigaya has a seventeenth-century shrine to the child-protecting deity Kishimojin and a cemetery where Natsume Sōseki and Lafcadio Hearn are buried. In Minami-Nagasaki, a reconstruction of the Tokiwa-sō apartment commemorates the young manga artists who lived there in the 1950s.

Landmarks

  • Sunshine City

    サンシャインシティSanshain Shiti

    Complex around the 240-metre Sunshine 60 tower, with an aquarium on the roof of the World Import Mart, a planetarium and an observatory.

  • Jiyū Gakuen Myōnichikan

    自由学園明日館Jiyū Gakuen Myōnichikan

    School building by Frank Lloyd Wright and Endō Arata, completed in 1921; an Important Cultural Property that can be visited.

  • Zōshigaya Kishimojin-dō

    雑司ヶ谷鬼子母神堂Zōshigaya Kishimojin-dō

    Hall of 1664 dedicated to the protector of children and childbirth, an Important Cultural Property with a tree-shaded approach.

  • Kōgan-ji (Togenuki Jizō)

    高岩寺Kōgan-ji

    Temple on Sugamo's Jizō-dōri, where visitors wash a statue of Kannon at the part of the body they want healed.

  • Tokiwa-sō Manga Museum

    トキワ荘マンガミュージアムTokiwa-sō Manga Myūjiamu

    Reconstruction of the wooden apartment house where Tezuka Osamu and other leading manga artists lived and worked in the 1950s.

  • Zōshigaya Cemetery

    雑司ヶ谷霊園Zōshigaya Reien

    Public cemetery with the graves of Natsume Sōseki, Lafcadio Hearn, Nagai Kafū and Izumi Kyōka.

  • Rikkyō University

    立教大学Rikkyō Daigaku

    Anglican-founded university whose red-brick main building and chapel from 1918–1919 form one of Tokyo's best-known campuses.

Districts

  • Ikebukuro

    池袋Ikebukuro

    The station district with department stores, theatres, entertainment streets and an informal Chinatown north of the station.

  • Higashi-Ikebukuro

    東池袋Higashi-Ikebukuro

    Sunshine City, Otome Road and the anime and game shops.

  • Sugamo

    巣鴨Sugamo

    Jizō-dōri shopping street, nicknamed the 'Harajuku for grandmothers'.

  • Komagome

    駒込Komagome

    Former Somei village, birthplace of the Somei-Yoshino cherry, bordering the Rikugien garden.

  • Zōshigaya

    雑司が谷Zōshigaya

    Quiet quarter of the Kishimojin shrine and the cemetery, on the Toden Arakawa tram line.

History

In the Edo period the area was farmland north-west of the city, crossed by the Nakasendō at Sugamo, where travellers left Edo, and dotted with daimyo residences and nurseries. Gardeners in Somei bred the Somei-Yoshino cherry in the late Edo period. The Yamanote Line reached Ikebukuro in 1903, followed by the Tōjō and Musashino (later Seibu) railways; Rikkyō University moved there in 1918, and the ward was formed in 1932 when Tokyo City expanded.

In the post-war years the black markets around Ikebukuro station gave way to the Seibu and Tōbu department stores. Sugamo Prison, where war criminals were held and executed after 1945, was demolished and replaced by Sunshine City in 1978. In the 1950s the modest Tokiwa-sō apartment housed Tezuka Osamu, Fujiko Fujio, Ishinomori Shōtarō and Akatsuka Fujio; a reconstruction opened as a museum in 2020.

  1. c. 1860s

    Nurserymen of Somei village breed the Somei-Yoshino cherry.

  2. 1903

    The railway reaches Ikebukuro.

  3. 1918

    Rikkyō University moves to Ikebukuro.

  4. 1921

    Frank Lloyd Wright's Jiyū Gakuen Myōnichikan school building is completed.

  5. 1932

    Toshima Ward is formed as Tokyo City expands.

  6. 1953

    Tezuka Osamu moves into the Tokiwa-sō apartment in Minami-Nagasaki.

  7. 1978

    Sunshine City opens on the former site of Sugamo Prison.

  8. 1990

    The Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre opens in Ikebukuro.

  9. 2020

    The Toshima City Tokiwa-sō Manga Museum opens in a reconstruction of the apartment.

Culture

Toshima presents itself as a ward of culture and pop culture: the Tokiwa-sō legacy, the anime shops of Otome Road, cosplay events and theatres around Ikebukuro. The ward's mascot animal is the owl, because the name Ikebukuro contains the sound fukuro ('owl'), and owl statues appear around the station. Sugamo, by contrast, keeps the rhythm of an old temple-town market on the 4th, 14th and 24th of each month, the fair days of Togenuki Jizō.

Festivals

  • Fukurō Matsuri

    ふくろ祭りFukuro Matsuri

    Ikebukuro's autumn festival with portable shrines and the Tokyo Yosakoi dance parade.

  • Jizō fair days

    とげぬき地蔵縁日Togenuki Jizō Ennichi

    On the 4th, 14th and 24th of each month, stalls line Sugamo's Jizō-dōri.

  • Oeshiki at Kishimojin

    御会式Oeshiki

    In mid-October, processions with lantern-decked paper-flower towers commemorate the monk Nichiren at Zōshigaya.

Food

  • Ramen

    ラーメンrāmen

    Ikebukuro is one of Tokyo's most competitive ramen districts, especially for tsukemen dipping noodles.

  • Chinese cuisine

    中華料理chūka ryōri

    Regional Chinese restaurants run by newer immigrants cluster north of Ikebukuro station.

  • Shio daifuku

    塩大福shio daifuku

    Salted rice cakes filled with sweet bean paste, the classic snack of Sugamo's Jizō-dōri.

Getting around

  • Ikebukuro Station is served by the JR Yamanote, Saikyō and Shōnan-Shinjuku lines, the Tōbu Tōjō and Seibu Ikebukuro lines, and the Marunouchi, Yūrakuchō and Fukutoshin subway lines.
  • Direct trains run from Ikebukuro to Kawagoe (Tōbu Tōjō Line) and Chichibu (Seibu Line); the Saikyō Line reaches Shinjuku and Shibuya.
  • Sugamo and Komagome are on the Yamanote Line; the Toden Arakawa tram line crosses the ward through Zōshigaya and Higashi-Ikebukuro.

Day trips

  • Kawagoe

    The 'Little Edo' of clay-walled warehouses, about half an hour by Tōbu Tōjō Line.

  • Chichibu

    Mountain town with shrines and the winter night festival, by Seibu limited express.

  • Shinjuku

    Tokyo's biggest hub, a few stops south on the Yamanote Line.

  • Taito

    Ueno and Yanaka, reached by the Yamanote Line.

Other cities in the prefecture

CapitalShinjukuShinjuku-kuSkyscrapers, neon and the seat of Tokyo's governmentSpecial wardChiyodaChiyoda-kuThe palace, the Diet and Tokyo Station at the heart of JapanSpecial wardChuoChūō-kuEdo's merchant heart, from Nihonbashi to GinzaCore cityHachiojiHachiōji-shiMount Takao and the silk town at Tokyo's western edgeSpecial wardKotoKōtō-kuFrom Edo's canal town to the reclaimed islands of Tokyo BaySpecial wardMinatoMinato-kuEmbassies, art museums and Tokyo Tower on the baySpecial wardShibuyaShibuya-kuFashion, youth culture and a forest shrine in the heart of TokyoSpecial wardSumidaSumida-kuSkytree, sumo and the old town across the riverSpecial wardTaitoTaitō-kuTemples, museums and the old shitamachi of Asakusa and Ueno

Frequently asked questions

Is Ikebukuro a good base in Tokyo?

Yes, especially for trips to Kawagoe and Chichibu and for the Narita Express and Saikyō lines; it is often somewhat calmer than Shinjuku or Shibuya.

What is Otome Road?

A street east of Ikebukuro station with shops for anime, manga and character goods aimed mainly at women – the counterpart to Akihabara.

What was Tokiwa-sō?

A small wooden apartment house where Tezuka Osamu, Fujiko Fujio, Ishinomori Shōtarō and other manga pioneers lived in the 1950s; the original was demolished and a reconstruction now serves as a museum.

Where does the Somei-Yoshino cherry come from?

It was bred by nurserymen in Somei village, now Komagome in Toshima, in the late Edo period, and spread across Japan from the Meiji era.

Related

Sources

  1. 1.豊島区公式ホームページ (opens in a new tab) — 豊島区 (Toshima City)
  2. 2.令和2年国勢調査 (opens in a new tab) — 総務省統計局 (Statistics Bureau of Japan)
  3. 3.Japan National Tourism Organization (opens in a new tab) — JNTO

Editorial team · Published: