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36-572: Ueno Park occupies land once belonging to Kan'ei-ji , founded in 1625 in the " demon gate ", the unlucky direction to the northeast of Edo Castle . Most of the temple buildings were destroyed in the Battle of Ueno in 1868 during the Boshin War , when the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate were defeated by those aiming at the restoration of imperial rule . In December of that year Ueno Hill became

72-404: Is a reconstruction. Tenkai wanted to create a powerful religious center and, to achieve that, he built Kan'ei-ji imitating Enryaku-ji . The temple was therefore erected north-east of Edo Castle to ward off evil spirits that were believed to come from that unlucky direction. Tenkai's project enjoyed from the beginning the shogunate support, so much so that Tokugawa Hidetada in 1622 donated

108-892: Is known as the Japanese Lantern and currently resides in West Potomac Park among a number of cherry trees, the first of which were gifted by Tokyo mayor Yukio Ozaki in 1912. For over 50 years, the lighting of the lantern by the Embassy of Japan ’s appointed Cherry Blossom Princess has opened the United States' annual National Cherry Blossom Festival . Taito City Board of Education operates public elementary and junior high schools. Uenokoen 1-11- ban are zoned to Shinobugaoka Elementary School ( 忍岡小学校 ), while 12-18-ban are zoned to Negishi Elementary School ( 根岸小学校 ). Part of Uenokoen (1-14 ban and parts of 15-17 ban)

144-460: Is the most urgent task for the people across the borders”. Gojōten Jinja is dedicated to scholar Sugawara no Michizane , while neighbouring Hanazono Inari Jinja has red-bibbed Inari fox statues in an atmospheric grotto. There is a Yayoi-period burial mound on a small hill near the park's centre. For a decade until 1894 there was horse racing near Shinobazu Pond. Nowadays there is a baseball field, named in honour of poet Masaoka Shiki , fan of

180-563: Is today the temple's main hall was taken from Kita-in in Kawagoe ( Saitama Prefecture ) and transferred to the site of a former Kan'ei-ji subtemple. Kan'ei-ji's five-story pagoda (photo above) and the Ueno Tōshō-gū shrine were amongst the gems of the old temple enclosure. Both stand undisturbed by the passage of years since the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Shinobazu Pond itself and

216-545: Is zoned to Ueno Junior High School ( 上野中学校 ), while another part (18-ban and the rest of 15-17 ban) is zoned to Shinobugaoka Junior High School ( 忍岡中学校 ). Many homeless people squat in Ueno Park. Found among the park's treelines and wooded areas, homeless camps border on the size of small villages, with an internal structure, culture, and support system. The long-term shelters are typically constructed of cardboard covered with blue tarps . The police occasionally tear down

252-524: The Honbō , was built in 1625, which is considered the year of foundation of the temple. After that, several daimyōs contributed with the construction of other buildings. The main hall, called as in Enryaku-ji's case Konponchūdō , was finished only in 1697. In 1643, after Tenkai's death, disciple Kōkai took his place. His successor was Emperor Go-Mizunoo 's third son Shuchōho Shinnō. From then on until

288-654: The Iwakura Mission and other early visits to North America and Europe. The Tokyo National Museum was founded in 1872 after the first exhibition by the Museum Department of the new Ministry of Education . In the same year the Ministry of Education Museum opened, now the National Museum of Nature and Science . The National Museum of Western Art was founded in 1959 based on the collection of

324-631: The Kan'ei era by Tenkai , in an attempt to emulate the powerful religious center Enryaku-ji , in Kyoto . The main object of worship is Yakushirurikō Nyorai ( 薬師瑠璃光如来 ) . It was named in a reference both to the Enryaku-ji's location atop Mount Hiei ( Tōeizan means "Mount Hiei of the East"), and also after the era during which it was erected, like Enryaku-ji (named after the Enryaku year period). Because it

360-525: The Nikkō Tōshō-gū , mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu , founder of the dynasty, was there; he however also built a mausoleum at Kan'ei'ji. After that, the fourth shōgun Tokugawa Ietsuna and the fifth Tokugawa Tsunayoshi were put to rest in Ueno, and Kan'ei-ji became a Tokugawa funeral temple like Zōjō-ji. Zōjō-ji didn't like the change, but after the next shogun Tokugawa Ienobu's mausoleum was built on its land,

396-608: The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum , dating back to 1926, and Shitamachi Museum of 1980, which is dedicated to the culture of the " Low City ". The park was also chosen as home for the Japan Academy (1879), Tokyo School of Fine Arts (1889), and Tokyo School of Music (1890). The first western-style concert hall in the country, the Sōgakudō Concert Hall of 1890 ( ICP ) was donated to

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432-489: The Tokyo National Museum are interred Tokugawa Ietsuna , Tokugawa Tsunayoshi , Tokugawa Yoshimune , Tokugawa Ieharu , Tokugawa Ienari , Tokugawa Iesada and Iesada's wife Tenshō-in . Ietsuna's and Tsunayoshi's mausoleums were destroyed in 1945. The cemetery is closed to the public, but can be seen from the street. The last visit of a Tokugawa shogunate member was on the 8 August 1863 by Tenshō-in, for

468-456: The tufted duck , Eurasian wigeon , northern pintail , common pochard , little grebe , great egret , and great cormorant . The Baer's pochard , ring-necked duck , and American wigeon have also been recorded. The central island houses a shrine to Benzaiten , goddess of fortune, modelled on Chikubu Island in Lake Biwa . The area was once full of "rendezvous teahouses", equivalent of

504-427: The 15 Tokugawa shōguns , six are buried here. Many temple structures were destroyed in the great Meireki fire of 1657. A new hall was constructed inside the enclosure of Kan'ei-ji in 1698. The temple and its numerous annexes were almost completely destroyed during the Boshin War 's Battle of Ueno and never restored. Much of the site where it once stood was confiscated and is now occupied by Ueno Park . What

540-525: The Bentendō Temple which stands on its island used to be an integral part of Kan'ei-ji. Tenkai, liking Lake Biwa , had Benten Island built in imitation of Chikubushima, and then the Bentendō on it. At the time the island was accessible only by boat, but later a stone bridge was added on the east, making it possible to walk to it. The Bentendō Temple was destroyed during World War II , and the present one

576-575: The Flame of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Lit at Ueno Toshogu” was founded and tens of thousands of people took part in the fundraising for over one year. The construction of the monument was completed on July 21, 1990. The dedication carved into the memorial stone states that “We, hereby pledge to keep burning the A-bomb flame, convinced that this monument will contribute to strengthening the worldwide people's movement to abolish nuclear weapons and achieve peace, which

612-467: The area be turned into a park. In January 1873 the Dajō-kan issued a notice providing for the establishment of public parks, noting that "in prefectures including Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, there are places of historic interest, scenic beauty, and recreation and relaxation where people can visit and enjoy themselves, for example Sensō-ji and Kan'ei-ji..." This was the year after the foundation of Yellowstone ,

648-478: The building now houses the International Library of Children's Literature . Tokugawa Ieyasu is enshrined at Ueno Tōshō-gū , dating to 1651. Flame of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Memorial: On the right of the alley leading North to Tokugawa Ieyasu Tōshō-gū shrine is a grey stone memorial with a permanently burning flame in memory of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki of August 1945 at

684-589: The camps and drive out or arrest the homeless, who return as soon as they can. While squatting is illegal in Japan, homelessness is seen as an endemic problem in Tokyo and other cities, and the presence of squatters is accepted as an inevitability. Kan%27ei-ji Tōeizan Kan'ei-ji Endon-in ( 東叡山寛永寺円頓院 ) (also spelled Kan'eiji or Kaneiji) is a Tendai Buddhist temple in Tokyo , Japan , founded in 1625 during

720-552: The city by Emperor Taishō , receiving the official name that lasts to this day of Ueno Onshi Kōen ( 上野恩賜公園 ) , lit. "Ueno Imperial Gift Park". The park has some 8,800 trees, including Ginkgo biloba , Cinnamomum camphora , Zelkova serrata , Formosan cherry , Somei-Yoshino cherry , and Japanese cherry . There is a further 24,800 m of shrubs. Shinobazu Pond is a small lake with an area of 16 ha , extensive lotus beds , and marshland . It provides an important wintering ground for birds. Species commonly found include

756-505: The custom became to alternate the temples at each generation, and that lasted until the closing of the shogunate era. Excepted Ieyasu and Iemitsu (buried in Nikkō ) and last shogun Yoshinobu (also known as Keiki, buried in nearby Yanaka Cemetery ), all of the Tokugawa shōguns are buried either at Zōjō-ji or Kan'ei-ji, six at one and six at the other. In what used to be the Kan'ei-ji cemetery near

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792-572: The end of World War II . This Flame of Hiroshima and Nagasaki memorial was initiated in Hiroshima shortly after the nuclear bombings by Mr. Tatsuo Yamamoto (1916–2004), from the town of Hoshino. This flame was later merged with a flame started in Nagasaki. In 1968 members of the Tokyo's Shitamachi People Association put forward the idea of lighting the flame at the precinct of Tosho-gu shrine in Tokyo's Ueno Park. In April 1989, an “Association for

828-535: The end of the shogunate, Kan'ei-ji's chief abbots were chosen among the Emperor's children or favorite nephews and called with the honorific Rinnōjinomiya ( 輪王寺宮 ) . With the favor of the Tokugawa the temple prospered but, at least in the first years since foundation, it was just the Tokugawa family temple, while the sole funeral temple of the Tokugawa was still Zōjō-ji, where the second shogun Hidetada rests. His successor Iemitsu sent his remains to Nikkō because

864-727: The industrialist (Kawasaki group) Matsukata Kōjirō ; the collection was left in storage in France by Matsukata and it was returned by the French government in 1959 after the Treaty of San Francisco . The building is by Le Corbusier who used it to express his concept of the Museum of Unlimited Growth, based on an expanding spiral. It has been nominated for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List . Other museums include

900-579: The land on which it was built. At the time, on that land there were the suburban residences of three daimyōs , ( Tōdō Takatora of the Tsu domain , Tsugaru Nobuhira of the Hirosaki domain and Hori Naoyori of the Murakami domain ), but the land was expropriated and donated to Tenkai for the temple. He was also given 50 thousand silver Ryō and a building as a contribution. The chief abbot's residence,

936-420: The lanterns that is present at the park is a stone lantern that was one of two carved in 1651 to memorialize Tokugawa Iemitsu . Both lanterns stood at the park until the governor of Tokyo gifted one of them in 1954 to the city of Washington, D.C. to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Commodore Matthew C. Perry 's signing of the 1854 Japan-US Treaty of Amity and Friendship . The lantern brought to Washington

972-719: The late afternoon the revolutionary forces broke through the defenses in the south at the Black Gate (the Kuromon ), near what is today Ueno Park's entrance. There were altogether about 300 dead, mostly defenders. Most of the artillery rounds had gone astray, causing fires in which the whole Kan'ei-ji and up to a thousand houses were destroyed. The temple's abbot fled in disguise and left the city by boat. 35°43′17″N 139°46′28″E  /  35.721432°N 139.774306°E  / 35.721432; 139.774306 Tokyo subway Too Many Requests If you report this error to

1008-441: The memorial service of her husband Tokugawa Iesada . In his book High City, Low City Japanologist Edward Seidensticker describes the last days and the destruction of Kan'ei-ji. The revolutionary forces had occupied most of Tokyo, and Edo Castle and the majority of the Tokugawa troops had already surrendered, however one band of shogunate soldiers barricaded itself in Ueno with the intention to resist. About 2000 men strong, it

1044-458: The modern love hotel . After the Pacific War the pond was drained and used for the cultivation of cereals and subsequently there were plans to turn the site into a baseball stadium or multi-storey carpark. The lotus pond was restored in 1949, although much of it was again accidentally drained in 1968 during work on a new subway line. In all there are some eight hundred cherry trees in

1080-563: The park, although with the inclusion of those belonging to the Ueno Tōshō-gū shrine, temple buildings, and other neighbouring points the total reaches some twelve hundred. Inspired, Matsuo Bashō wrote "cloud of blossoms - is the temple bell from Ueno or Asakusa". Ueno Park is home to a number of museums. The very words in Japanese for museum as well as for art were coined in the Meiji period (from 1868) to capture Western concepts after

1116-484: The property of the city of Tokyo, other than for the surviving temple buildings which include the five-storey pagoda of 1639, the Kiyomizu Kannon dō (or Shimizudō) of 1631, and approximately coeval main gate (all designated as Important Cultural Properties of Japan ). Various proposals were put forward for the use of the site as a medical school or hospital, but Dutch doctor Bauduin urged instead that

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1152-580: The sport. As well as the first art museum in Japan, the park had the first zoo , first tram , first May Day celebrations (in 1920), and staged a number of industrial expositions. Ueno Station opened nearby in 1883. After the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, notices of missing persons were attached to the statue of Saigō Takamori . Ueno Park and its surroundings figure prominently in Japanese fiction, including The Wild Geese by Mori Ōgai . One of

1188-555: The ward in 1983 and reconstructed on another site in the park, where it is used for concerts. The Tokyo Bunka Kaikan opened in 1961 as a venue for opera and ballet , in celebration of the five hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the city of Edo . The Imperial Library was established as the national library in 1872 and opened in Ueno Park in 1906; the National Diet Library opened in Chiyoda in 1948 and

1224-585: The world's first national park . Later that year Ueno Park was established, alongside Shiba , Asakusa , Asukayama , and Fukugawa Parks. It was administered first by the Home Ministry 's Museum Bureau, then by the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce , before passing to the Ministry of the Imperial Household . In 1924, in honour of the marriage of Hirohito , Ueno Park was presented to

1260-517: Was composed of members of the Shōgitai , a military unit of former Tokugawa retainers. They held the Kan'ei-ji's abbot in hostage, and maybe for this reason the Satsuma and Chōshū revolutionaries didn't attack immediately. On July 4, 1868 ( Meiji 1, 15th day of the 5th month ), the final attack came and from early morning artillery rounds fell from Hongo's heights on Ueno. After a fierce battle, in

1296-478: Was one of the two Tokugawa bodaiji (funeral temple; the other was Zōjō-ji ) and because it was destroyed in the closing days of the war that put an end to the Tokugawa shogunate , it is inextricably linked to the Tokugawa shōguns . Once a great complex, it used to occupy the entire heights north and east of Shinobazu Pond and the plains where Ueno Station now stands. It had immense wealth, power and prestige, and it once consisted of over 30 buildings. Of

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