Art students rented rooms here over a century ago; painters and writers followed, and it became a "writers' village"
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After the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in Ueno opened in 1887, students started renting rooms in Tabata.
Painters, potters and writers followed and moved in one after another, and the area later came to be known as "Tabata Bunshi-mura".
Tabata Station is served by the Yamanote Line and the Keihin-Tohoku Line. For everyday convenience, it ranks 85th out of 395 neighborhoods in Tokyo, and 66th for daily shopping.
The history of the Writers' Village is documented at the Tabata Bunshi-mura Memorial Hall in Asuka Tower, Tabata 6-chome, about a 2-minute walk from Tabata Station. People featured in the hall include Akutagawa Ryunosuke, the potter Itaya Hazan, the poet Muro Saisei, and the cartoonist Tagawa Suiho.
The station is built on the edge of a plateau, with the high ground on the west side being old Tabata, and the low ground on the east side being East Tabata, with a height difference between the two. Much of East Tabata's land is railway land, including Tabata Signal Station and JR East's Tabata Operation Center.
The elevators and escalators only connect to the north exit; the south exit is a small station building with a narrow passage and no staff stationed all day.
In 2020, this neighborhood had about 212 people per hectare. Based on our street photos, greenery ranks 361st out of 395 neighborhoods, the weakest aspect of this neighborhood; buildings rank 289th.
In the Edo period, Tabata Village was a farming village known for its daikon radish and taro. After Tabata Station opened in 1896, the farming village gradually turned into a residential area.
In 1903, the potter Itaya Hazan built a kiln here, which is considered the starting point of the Writers' Village. Around 1908, the painter Kosugi Misei invited fellow painters living in Tabata to form the Hakuyo Club, playing tennis and baseball together.
In 1914, Akutagawa Ryunosuke also moved in, and three years later Muro Saisei started the poetry magazine Kanjo here.
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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How to read it: yellow = poor, blue = good; grey = not enough data
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