UENO PARK

Description

Essentials about Ueno Park in brief

Ueno Park is the most visited city park in all of Tokyo. The main reason for the park’s popularity is the countless sights and attractions located on its grounds. Ueno Park not only houses some of Tokyo’s most renowned museums, but also Japan’s oldest zoo, several ponds, and a number of historic shrines and other structures. Ueno Park is especially bursting at the seams at cherry blossom time, when Tokyoites flock to the park in their thousands to celebrate Hanami under the blossoming trees. Spending a whole day in Ueno Park is really not difficult.

The history and grounds of Ueno Park

After the Kan’ei-ji temple complex was largely destroyed during the Boshin War in 1868, the government decided to build a park on the site in 1873. Three years later, this was opened. This was followed in 1882 by the opening of the National Museum and the zoo. In 1890, the park came under the administration of the Imperial Court Office, which ceded it to the city of Tokyo in 1924. The official name of the park is therefore “Ueno Onshi Kōen”, which literally means “Ueno Imperial Gift Park”.

The attractions and sights in Ueno Park

A number of buildings from the Edo period have been preserved in the park. First and foremost are the five-story pagoda of Kan’ei-ji and the Ueno Tōshōgū Shrine. Furthermore, the Benzaiten Shrine located in the Shinobazu Pond and the Gojō-Tenjinja with its Inari fox statues in an artificial grotto are located there. A tiny hillside Kiyomizu Kannon-dō recalls its model, the Kiyomizu-dera in Kyōto. Also on the site is a (restored) bell tower, whose bell told the time in the Edo period.

The oldest building of the National Museum, the Imperial Library, and the Conservatory, restored in recent years, date from the Meiji period. Later, other National Museum buildings, the National Museum of Natural Sciences, the National Museum of Western Art, the Tokyo Prefectural Art Museum, and the Tōkyō Bunka Kaikan Concert Hall were added. Likewise, the University of the Arts is located on the grounds of Ueno Park. Last but not least, in the northwest corner of the park is the eponymous Ueno Zoo, Japan’s oldest zoo.

Its many museums, the zoo, the Shinobazu Pond, and the preserved historic buildings make Ueno Park one of Tokyo’s most popular destinations. Especially during the cherry blossom season in spring, the park gets really crowded when Tokyoites celebrate Hanami under the blossoming trees.