Admire Fall Colors Just 30 Minutes from the Center of Tokyo: How to Enjoy Inokashira Park
Peaceful Oasis Away from the City Clamor
Inokashira Park, which spreads out across an area of around 430,000 square meters, opened in 1917. This makes it a Tokyo Metropolitan park with a history of over 100 years. Inokashira Pond, which takes up almost a third of the area, has been a major spring-fed pond for hundreds of years, valued by the local residents of Edo (present-day Tokyo) as a vital source of water. It is also the headwater of the Kanda River, which flows through the center of Tokyo.
The station closest to Inokashira Park is Kichijoji, on the JR Chuo Line, and it can be reached in around 30 minutes from JR Tokyo Station on the rapid train. The easy access makes the park a popular destination for walks and dates, where visitors can enjoy cherry blossoms in spring and colorful foliage in late fall to early winter. The streets from Kichijoji Station to the park are lined with stylish cafes and boutique stores, but the park is surrounded by a quiet residential area, so visitors can enjoy a peaceful oasis far removed from the clamors of the city.
Beautiful Views Reflected on the Water
Inokashira Park is largely split into four areas: Inokashira Pond and its surroundings; the wooded Gotenyama area, including the Inokashira Park Zoo; the West Park, including the Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, a baseball field, and the Bird Sanctuary; and the Second Park.
The first thing one sees after walking into the park from the Kichijoji Station direction is a bridge called Nanaibashi. It straddles the middle of the large pond, which extends east and west. Inokashira Pond used to be called Nanai Pond for its many springheads, which is also where the name of the bridge comes from. Standing on the bridge offers a beautiful view of the trees surrounding the pond, reflected on the water's surface. In spring, cherry blossom petals scatter across the water like a carpet, and between late fall and early winter, the vibrant fall colors are truly a sight to see.
On the other side of the bridge is a dock, where visitors can rent a swan boat and enjoy a slow, relaxing cruise around the pond, drifting along with the fall breeze.
Heading west will take visitors to Gotenyama, which was named after a rest area built for Tokugawa Iemitsu, a shogun who ruled in the 17th century, when he went falconry hunting. The wooded area is mainly comprised of East Asian hornbeam, Jolcham oak, and sawtooth oak, and visitors can surround themselves with the smell of the trees and soil to enjoy a moment of deep relaxation.
Important Preservation Activities
With such wealth of nature, there is a wide variety of living creatures to be found in Inokashira Park. In particular, the pond is home to one of the largest numbers and species of waterfowl among Tokyo parks. Resident birds that live in the area all year long include the grey heron, eastern spot-billed duck, little grebe, and common kingfisher. Wintering birds that arrive in late fall and stay through the winter include the Eurasian coot, tufted duck, northern pintail, and northern shoveler.
Efforts to preserve and nurture waterfowl are also important, rather than leaving them solely to nature. The water gets drained on a regular basis so that sunlight can reach the pond bed, and the sediment is stacked into steps near the shoreside to create a shallow area where aquatic plants can grow. These activities are carried out by Tokyo Metropolitan officials working together with volunteers, such as local residents, and the Inokashira Park's pond draining team.
These efforts are, in fact, linked to the preservation of an aquatic plant called "inokashira furasukomo," which the Ministry of the Environment has classified as "Threatened I" in its Red List, which indicates that it is at the highest risk of extinction. The plant was discovered in Inokashira Pond in 1957 and registered as a new species native to Japan, but its existence could not be verified since then, which led to people believing it had gone extinct. Then, some 60 years later, it was rediscovered in 2016. Experts believe that the drainings of the pond must have stimulated the plant into sprouting. Visitors can now see it in Aquatic Life Park, located by the pond.
In addition, the park's abundance of underbrush and low- to medium-height shrubs also attracts many small birds such as the Japanese sparrowhawk, dusky thrush, pale thrush, and red-flanked bluetail. The Bird Sanctuary was built for them, and while visitors cannot enter, since it is a protected area, they can watch the birds from small windows along a wall. Another thing worth seeing is the Benzaiten Shrine, which appears to almost be floating on the pond's west end and is said to have been reconstructed by Tokugawa Iemitsu.
Discover all these attractive spots, and more, at Inokashira Park.