Ueno Park

Coordinates: 35°42′44″N 139°46′16″E / 35.71222°N 139.77111°E / 35.71222; 139.77111
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Ueno Park
cherry blossoms
Map
LocationTaitō, Tokyo, Japan
Coordinates35°42′44″N 139°46′16″E / 35.71222°N 139.77111°E / 35.71222; 139.77111
Area538,506.96 square metres (133.06797 acres)
Created19 October 1873[1]
Public transit access

Ueno Park (上野公園, Ueno Kōen) is a spacious public park in the

Meiji period. The home of a number of major museums, Ueno Park is also celebrated in spring for its cherry blossoms and hanami. In recent times the park and its attractions have drawn over ten million visitors a year, making it Japan's most popular city park.[2]

History

Ueno Park occupies land once belonging to

Important Cultural Properties of Japan).[2][4][5][6]

Various proposals were put forward for the use of the site as a medical school or hospital, but

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..."[8][9] This was the year after the foundation of Yellowstone, the world's first national park.[10]

Later that year Ueno Park was established, alongside

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 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".[8]

Natural features

The park has some 8,800 trees, including

Cinnamomum camphora, Zelkova serrata, Formosan cherry, Somei-Yoshino cherry, and Japanese cherry. There is a further 24,800 m2 of shrubs.[1] 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 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.[12]

The central island houses a shrine to

cereals and subsequently there were plans to turn the site into a baseball stadium or multi-storey carpark.[14] The lotus pond was restored in 1949, although much of it was again accidentally drained in 1968 during work on a new subway line.[14]

In all there are some eight hundred cherry trees in 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.[11] Inspired, Matsuo Bashō wrote "cloud of blossoms - is the temple bell from Ueno or Asakusa".[15]

Cultural facilities

Seiyōken was founded in 1872, one of the first western-style restaurants in Japan; the first coffee house followed nearby in 1888.[16][17]

Ueno Park is home to a number of museums. The very words in

Meiji period (from 1868) to capture Western concepts after the Iwakura Mission and other early visits to North America and Europe.[18] The Tokyo National Museum was founded in 1872 after the first exhibition by the Museum Department of the new Ministry of Education.[19] In the same year the Ministry of Education Museum opened, now the National Museum of Nature and Science.[20]

The

World Heritage List.[24]

Other museums include the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, dating back to 1926, and Shitamachi Museum of 1980, which is dedicated to the culture of the "Low City".[25][26]

The park was also chosen as home for the Japan Academy (1879), Tokyo School of Fine Arts (1889), and Tokyo School of Music (1890).[2]

The first western-style concert hall in the country, the

ICP) was donated to the ward in 1983 and reconstructed on another site in the park, where it is used for concerts.[27][28] 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.[29]

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 the building now houses the International Library of Children's Literature.[30][31]

Other landmarks

Tokugawa Ieyasu is enshrined at Ueno Tōshō-gū, dating to 1651.[32]

Flame of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Memorial: On the right of the alley leading North to

Tosho-gu
shrine in Tokyo's Ueno Park. In April 1989, an “Association for 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 is the most urgent task for the people across the borders”.

Gojōten Jinja is dedicated to scholar

Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, notices of missing persons were attached to the statue of Saigō Takamori.[8] Ueno Park and its surroundings figure prominently in Japanese fiction, including The Wild Geese by Mori Ōgai
.

One of 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 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.[36]

Education

Shinobugaoka Junior High School (忍岡中学校) in Uenokoen

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).[37]

Part of Uenokoen (1-14 ban and parts of 15-17 ban) 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).[38]

Squatting

Many

blue tarps. The police occasionally tear down 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.[39]

Access

Gallery of main attractions

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ueno Park.

References

  1. ^ a b 上野恩賜公園 [Ueno Park] (in Japanese). Tokyo Metropolis. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8248-3477-7
    .
  3. ISBN 0-520-07135-2
    .
  4. ^ "旧寛永寺五重塔" [Former Kan'ei-ji five-storey pagoda]. Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  5. ^ "寛永寺清水堂" [Kan'ei-ji Shimizudō]. Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  6. ^ "寛永寺旧本坊表門 (黒門)" [Former Kan'ei-ji Omotemon (Kuromon)]. Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-4-8053-1024-3
    .
  8. ^ a b c d e "Ueno Park". National Diet Library. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  9. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
    . Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  10. ISBN 4-7700-1971-8
    .
  11. ^ a b c d "Ueno Park" (PDF). Tokyo Metropolis. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  12. ^ "Japan - Introduction" (PDF). Ramsar. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  13. ^
    ISBN 0-520-07135-2
    .
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-4-8053-1024-3
    .
  15. ISBN 978-4-7700-3063-4
    .
  16. ISBN 978-4-8053-1024-3
    .
  17. ^ 歴史 [History] (in Japanese). Seiyōken. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  18. ISBN 978-0-2959-8777-4
    .
  19. ^ "History of the TNM". Tokyo National Museum. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  20. ^ "Profile and History of NMNS". National Museum of Nature and Science. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  21. ^ "Outline". National Museum of Western Art. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  22. ^ "Matsukata Collection". National Museum of Western Art. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  23. ISBN 3-930698-93-5
    .
  24. ^ "Main Building of the National Museum of Western Art". UNESCO. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  25. ^ 東京都美術館について [Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum - About] (in Japanese). Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  26. Taitō Ward. Archived from the original
    on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  27. ISBN 0-8348-0288-0
    .
  28. ^ "旧東京音楽学校奏楽堂" [Former Tokyo School of Music Sōgakudō]. Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  29. ^ "Tokyo Bunka Kaikan - About". Tokyo Bunka Kaikan. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  30. ^ "History". National Diet Library. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  31. ^ "History". International Library of Children's Literature. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  32. ^ 上野東照宮 [Ueno Tōshō-gū] (in Japanese). Ueno Tōshō-gū. Archived from the original on 7 February 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  33. ^ "Gojōten Jinja" (in Japanese). Gojōten Jinja. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  34. ^ 花園稲荷神社 [Hanazono Inari Jinja] (in Japanese). Gojōten Jinja. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  35. ^ "1883年・JR上野駅開業" [1883 - Opening of Ueno Station] (in Japanese). Nishinippon Shimbun. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  36. ^ "Japanese Stone Lantern". U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  37. ^ "台東区立小学校通学区域表" (PDF). City of Taito. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  38. ^ "台東区立中学校通学区域表" (PDF). City of Taito. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  39. ^ Margolis, Abby Rachel. "Samurai Beneath Blue Tarps: Doing homelessness, rejecting marginality and preserving nation in Ueno Park (Japan)". University of Pittsburgh. Archived from the original on 26 June 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2012.

External links

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