Visit Duration
90 minutes
Inokashira Park
井の頭恩賜公園Musashino, Tokyo
Garden
What makes this place special?
At a Glance
Inokashira Park is a large park around Inokashira Pond, straddling Musashino and Mitaka in western Tokyo. It opened on 1 May 1917 as Japan's first suburban park, on land given to the city by the imperial household, which is why onshi, meaning imperial grant, appears in its name. The Y-shaped pond is one of three spring-fed ponds of the Musashino area and the source of the Kanda River.
On an island at the western end of the pond stands Inokashira Benzaiten, a shrine to the goddess Benzaiten that the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu, is recorded as rebuilding. Cherry trees line the pond, the park is listed among Japan's 100 cherry blossom sites, and migratory ducks winter on the water. A small zoo lies on the west side, and the Ghibli Museum stands in the park's West Garden. Boats on the pond are a long-standing attraction, although local lore says couples who ride them soon part.
Goshuin within a short walk
Temples, shrines and castles near Inokashira Park that give goshuin, closest first.
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