A student town for Toyo University, with around three thousand hydrangeas blooming around Hakusan Shrine in June
The closest neighborhoods in the same city.
The Toei Mita Line's Hakusan Station sits directly below Yakushi-zaka, with the area at the top of the slope called Hakusan-ue and the area at the foot of the slope called Hakusan-shita. The station's ticket gates are split the same way, into two: one marked "Hakusan-ue" and the other "Hakusan-shita". The Hakusan area is an educational and residential district, with many schools and temples.
Among the schools, Toyo University stands out, and this is a student town; during peak hours the station is mostly full of students. The A3 exit at the top of the slope leads to Toyo University and Hakusan Shrine, about a two-minute walk to the shrine.
Every year in mid-June, Hakusan Shrine holds the Bunkyo Hydrangea Festival, with about 3,000 hydrangea bushes on the shrine grounds and in neighboring Hakusan Park. During the festival, the Fuji-zuka, a small mound built to resemble Mount Fuji, is also open to the public.
As of March 2025, Hakusan 1-chome through 5-chome were home to 18,863 people in 10,546 households.
Hakusan 3-chome is home to Koishikawa Botanical Garden, about a 10-minute walk from Hakusan Station. Based on our street photos, greenery ranks 44th among Tokyo's 395 neighborhoods, the highest-ranking category for this neighborhood.
From the A2 and A3 exits at the top of the slope, heading toward Sengoku, there's still a steep climb ahead. Based on our street photos, buildings rank 239th among Tokyo's 395 neighborhoods, the lowest-ranking category for this neighborhood; convenience ranks 133rd, in the middle. Since the mid-2000s, as Toyo University moved back to central Tokyo and more buildings went up nearby, the station has grown busier again, with about 48,400 people passing through daily in fiscal 2024.
The name Hakusan comes from Hakusan Shrine. According to tradition, the shrine's spirit was invited from Kaga (now Ishikawa Prefecture) in 948, and in the early Edo period it was once relocated to the site that is now Koishikawa Botanical Garden.
In 1655, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (who later became the fifth shogun) wanted to build a residence there, so the shrine moved to its current site. In 1684, a medicinal herb garden from Azabu was moved into this residence, and in 1722 the Koishikawa Yojosho medical clinic was also established within the garden. In 1877, the garden became an affiliated botanical garden of the University of Tokyo, and it is also known as Japan's oldest botanical garden.
The low, marshy land on the west side of Hakusan-dori followed a different path. In 1912, it was approved as a sangyochi, a pleasure quarter where geisha houses, restaurants, and teahouses could legally operate. It suffered little damage in the Great Kanto Earthquake, and in fact thrived from the Taisho era into the early Showa era.
Compared with the 395 Tokyo neighborhoods in this guide (scores 0–10)
Hospitals with inpatient beds (2020 data), public elementary and junior high schools whose catchment covers this area, high schools and universities within 1 km, stations, parks of 1 ha or more, and large shopping malls and department stores. Many Tokyo junior high students attend private schools, so junior high catchments are only a guide.
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