Ueno-Kōen (Ueno Park)

Tokyo’s oldest public park has several names: its Sunday name, which no one ever uses, is Ueno Onshi Kōen; some locals dub it Ueno no Oyama (Ueno Mountain); and English speakers call it Ueno Park. Whichever you prefer, Ueno-Kōen makes for a pleasant city escape. There are two entrances to the park: the main one takes you straight into the museum and art gallery area, a course that might leave you worn out before you get to Ueno’s temples. For these, it’s better to start at the southern entrance between JR Ueno Station and Keisei Ueno Station, and do a little temple-viewing en route to the museums. From the JR Station, take the Ikenohata exit and turn right. Just around the corner is a flight of stairs leading up into the park. Situated slightly to your right at the top of the stairs is the mother of all meeting places, a statue of Saigō Takamori. Fans of the film The Last Samurai should note that Katsumoto, the character played by Ken Watanabe, was loosely based on Takamori, a Tokugawa loyalist who gained legendary status among the common Japanese. The Meiji government, capitalising on this fame, posthumously pardoned Takamori and granted him full honours. Today he remains an exemplar of the samurai spirit in Japan. Continue along the way, bear to the far left and follow a wide tree-lined path until you reach Kiyōmizu Kannon-dō, modelled after the landmark Kiyōmizu-dera (Kiyomizu Temple) in Kyoto. During Ningyō-kuyō those wishing to conceive a child leave a doll here for the Senjū Kannon (the 1000-armed Buddhist goddess of mercy), and the accumulated dolls are burnt ceremoniously each 25 September. From the temple, continue down to the narrow road that follows the pond, Shinobazu-ike. Through a red torii (gate), located on an island in the pond, is Benten-dō, a memorial to Benten, a patron goddess of the arts. Behind the temple you can hire a small boat to take out on the water, weather permitting. Make your way back to the road that follows Shinobazu-ike and turn left. Where the road begins to curve and leaves Shinobazu-ike behind, there is a stair pathway to the right. Follow this path and take the second turn to the left. This will take you into the grounds of Tōshō-gū, which was established in 1627 (the present building dates from 1651). This is a shrine which, like its counterpart in Nikkō, was founded in memory of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Inside, beyond the subdued worship hall, Ieyasu’s shrine is all black lacquerwork and gold leaf. Miraculously, the entire structure has survived all of Tokyo’s many disasters, making it one of the few early Edo structures still extant. There’s a good view of the 17th-century, five-storey pagoda Kanei-ji, now stranded inside Ueno Zoo, to your right as you take the pathway into the shrine. The pathway itself is fronted by a stone torii and is lined with 200 stone lanterns rendered as gifts by daimyō in the Edo period.