Photo walk Zoshigaya town-1

I am interested in visiting a part of Tokyo that I have never walked around before, so I spend my days looking at maps and thinking about where to go.

This time, I decided to walk around Zoshigaya town in Toshima Ward. Zoshigaya is a place with a strong literary flavor, as mentioned in Soseki Natsume’s “Kokoro,” but the Zoshigaya novels I have in my head are about this kind of maverick.

I started this walk at Gokokuji station on the Yurakucho subway line to see how Zoshigaya really is. When you step out of the station onto the ground, you will first be greeted by this stately building.

This is the headquarters building of Kodansha group (known as the “Otowa group”), one of the three major publishers in Japan. The other two, Shogakukan and Shueisha, were originally parent and subsidiary companies, both located in Kanda Hitotsubashi, and are commonly referred to as the “Hitotsubashi Group”.

Well, I’m not in the destination yet, so the main part of the photo walk has not started yet. I will gradually go to Zoshigaya from here Otowa, Bunkyo ward. It’s almost my first time walking in this town, but I have google map, so I should be able to manage.

BTW let me stop by Gokokuji Temple, which is also the origin of the station’s name.

The view from here Niomon gate is quite magnificent, but the view of the Furo-mon gate halfway up the approach stairs and the huge main hall beyond is also quite outstanding.

As one would expect from a historic and famous temple that was built at the behest of the fifth Tokugawa Shogun Tsunayoshi, the main hall of the temple is quite magnificent. Of course, I paid a visit to the temple, but it was difficult to take a picture of the entire temple because of the surrounding scenery, so I did not take a picture of the main hall. This picture taken from in front of the Buromon gate was the easiest picture for me to take.

This white camellia is on the verge of opening. Once it opens, it shrivels up and gets dirty very quickly, so it is surprisingly difficult to photograph it in its most beautiful state, especially the white flower.

I should have aimed for Zoshigaya earlier, but I ended up wandering off the road and taking pictures of something I don’t know what it is.

This huge water bowl? Hand water? What is this?

Finally turning on my mind, I left the temple and headed for Zoshigaya town.
On the way, I saw this building, which seems to be a public facility of Bunkyo Ward, but what is it? It has a cool name “Public Academy Otowa”.
It’s a multi-purpose lifelong learning facility including art and craft rooms as well as rental conference rooms. There are five similar facilities called “Academy **” in Bunkyo Ward, including this one. I know here Bunkyo area is so sophisticated.

Crossing a wide street, we finally enter Toshima Ward. It is a densely populated residential area, but the difference in elevation of the land makes it look less cluttered, and there is a sense of high society, like Jonan Go-zan area. Is it a promise of Tokyo’s Yamanote area to have high-class residential areas on higher ground?
Now I’m aiming for “Former missionary house museum” here.

【雑司が谷旧宣教師館】アクセス・営業時間・料金情報 - じゃらんnet
雑司が谷旧宣教師館の観光情報 営業期間:開館:9:00〜16:30、交通アクセス:(1)東池袋駅から徒歩で10分。雑司が谷旧宣教師館周辺情報も充実しています。東京の観光情報ならじゃらんnet 明治時代の典型的洋風建築で、キリスト教布教の拠点

As we were walking through the residential area, we saw a building that looked like it.
This was the back entrance, so I followed the posted map to the other side.

To my surprise, the museum is closed today. Geez.

What a pity that I chose a day when the museum was closed.

So here I am, at my wits’ end in the vicinity of Zoshigaya town central.
Next time, I will regroup and resume my photo walk.

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