The Walk from Kiyousumi-Shirakawa station to Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art is full of gardens and neighborhood charm
photos and text by Whitney Conti
Accessing Tokyo’s best arts can mean massive crowds, busy train stations, and oceans of concrete, but it doesn’t have to. The 15 minute walk to Tokyo’s Museum of Contemporary Art, or MOT, from Kiyousumi-Shirakawa metro station winds past one of Tokyo’s best Japanese style strolling gardens and down a neighborhood street of small galleries and sweet shops. As Tokyo’s summer heat becomes sweltering and train cars turn to business suit attired saunas, Kiyousumi-Shirakawa metro stop is an arts portal to open, shaded parks and airy installations.
Kiyosumi Garden 清澄庭園
Koyosumi Garden is famed for the beauty of its central pond and seasonally changing reflection
Almost caddy corner to Kiyousumi-Shirakawa station, Kiyosumi garden has a diversity of design, greenery, and wildlife that rivals some of Kyoto’s best strolling gardens. And, particularly for budget travelers, the 150 yen entry ticket makes it an easy stop for short or long strolls or even a shaded break from summer heat.
Kiyosumi’s Design and History :
Entertaining Mitsubishi Style
As a larger strolling garden, Kiyosumi is different from many of Kyoto’s smaller zen gardens that are tucked in temples and designed to be viewed from seated positions. Instead, Kiyosumi is more like a park that has been stretched around a central pond. Business merchant, Kinokuniya Bunzaemon, was the first owner of the grounds. The architecture and design are exemplary of Kaiyuu style residences of edo period Feudal Lords. After Bunzaemon’s ownership, in the Meji period of 1878, Kiyosumi was purchased and transformed into a garden by Yataro Iwasaki, founder of the Mistubishi group. Iwasaki apparently re-designed the garden for entertaining business guests and comforting employees. He imported rocks from all over Japan and drew the pond’s water from Sumida River though the pond now relies on rain fall. The Mistubishi group donated the garden to Tokyo city in 1932, opening it to public use.
Egrets, Coy, and Tea
Kiyosumi Garden attracts Egretts throughout the year
Today, particularly on weekends, Kiyosumi is a popular hangout for families, old friends, and the occasional wedding party and tourist. You can buy bread to throw to the mass of coy swimming throughout the large central pond or sit on pagoda shaded benches admiring the park’s turtles and egrets. There is an almost interactive feeling to the park as you can enjoy frothed green tea at the pond perched sukiya tea house, picnics in Kiyosumi’s small park, or join the gaggle of photographers during peak seasons in the adjacent flower field. However, the central attraction which distinguishes Kiyosumi from any normal neighborhood park is the high quality and historic traditional Japanese garden design, picturesque reflection in the pond, and varied rocks.
Strolling Gardens:
The subliminally guided tour
Like in any Japanese strolling garden, how and where guests stroll is guided by the pathways’ design. The shape and spacing of the stepping rocks can even affect your pace and what you see. Smaller rocks, for example, may encourage quicker steps, while the larger rocks provide more space to stop and look around – maybe at a particular tree or vantage points. Kiyosumi’s iso-watari stepping stones which go slightly off the shore and into the water, are particularly notable and allow visitors better views of the fish and changing reflections in the pond surface.
Garden Map: http://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/english/park/detail_04.html
Kiyosumi Public Park & Sweet Potato on your way out to the MOT Museum
Outside of the garden walls there is the larger public Kiyosumi park (清澄公園) which occasionally has trucks selling yaki imo, sweet potato, and always feels like a neighborhood with families, sports, and picnics. The sign posted walk from Kiyousumi garden to the MOT has such a small neighborhood feel that actually reaching the museum may seem dubious at times. But the signs, somewhat casually tacked on lamps and street posts, have the easily recognizable MOT trademark in bold and track your progress with “you are here” markers on the loosely literal map.
Café Ippuku :
Grabbing an Iced Coffee and Neighborhood Chat
Along the way from Kiyousumi-Shirakawa station to the MOT, there are street front shops that sell local foods like inago, or small fried grasshoppers, and sweets like mochi and dango. For an iced coffee, chai, or fizzy glass bottle Ramune soda, look for café Ippuku. The café easily stands out because of the giant pepper sculpture politely seated in front of Ippuku’s doorway. Ippuku is a quant combination of local crafts, small gallery art, and nice owners. There is also a unique family feel as the owner of Ippuku’s husband also has his own gallery just across the street. Stay focused though because if you can make it to the museum after all of the distractions along the way, the world-class Contemporary Art mecca is never disappointing and certainly never boring.
*www.fukagawa-ippuku.jp (TEL. 03-3641-3477) 13:00-20:00/wed. 18:00 Clsd. Mon./Tues. (except Hol.)
The MOT:
Tokyo’s Museum of Contemporary Art
For the best all in one sampling of diverse and innovative contemporary art in Tokyo, the MOT is second to none. The Museum of Contemporary Art is an installation lover’s dream and always has at least two feature exhibits to choose from for separate ticket prices.
Content: Permaculture Restaurant
If all the walking to the MOT has peaked your appetite, Content, MOT’s basement vegetarian permaculture restaurant, serves the best local vegetables with an internationally inspired spin. The restaurant is based around its small vegetable garden, though most of the vegetables are bought from neighboring markets. For those on a budget, look for the plate of the day which is usually the best deal compared to Content’s menu which ranges from 1,000yen to 2,500 yen per dish.
http://www.mot-art-museum.jp/eng/index.html
Kiba Park (木場公園)
– Neighborhood Sports and Trails
If you find yourself remiss at your decision to be indoors, MOT actually shares grounds with the larger neighborhood Kiba park (木場公園) . Basketball courts, running trails, and an expansive grass lawn attract Frisbee, sports, picnics, strollers, and just about anyone and anything on weekends.
Enjoying The Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Area
Particularly for those who need a break from Tokyo’s concrete, the parks, gardens, and neighborhood feel of the Kiyosumi –Shirakawa area are ideal for a summer afternoon or morning. For traditional and contemporary art lovers, however, skip the parks and go straight to the art! The MOT can entertain for hours and particularly with good company, Kiyosumi garden’s strolling pathways and shaded benches can feel endless.
ACCESS:
From Tokyo Station:
Take the Marunouchi Subway Line from Tokyo Station to Otemachi (just one station) and transfer to the Hanzomon Subway Line for Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Station.
From Shinjuku Station:
Take the Oedo Subway Line from Shinjuku Nishiguchi Station towards Iidabashi directly to Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Station.
Kiyosumi Garden
3-3-9 Kiyosumi, Koto-ku, Tokyo, 135-0024
Kiyosumi Garden Office Tel: 3641-5892
http://teien.tokyo-park.or.jp/en/kiyosumi/index.html
Hours: 9:00 to 17:00 (Entry until 16:30)
Closed: Year-end holidays (December 29 to January 1)
Entrance fee: ¥150 (Persons 65 and over: ¥70)
(No charge for primary school children or younger, and junior high school students living or attending school in Tokyo)
Kiyosumi Garden Access:
3 min. on foot from Kiyosumi-shirakawa Sta. (Toei O-edo Line and Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line)
Toei Bus Line: JR Kameido Sta., North Exit, #7 Bus Stop (Line #33)
Take the Toyoumi-suisan-futo bus; get off at “Kiyosumiteien-mae” (3 minutes on foot).
*No parking available
MOT : Access & Hours
9 min on foot from Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Sta. (Hansomono Line from B2 exit)
12 min on foot from Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Sta. (Toei Oedo Line)
Open: 10am-6pm (tickets on sale until 5.30pm). Closed Monday, except if Monday is a national or substitute holiday, in which case it closes Tuesday.)
The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
4-1-1 Miyoshi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0022
Tel. 03 5245 4111
URL: http://www.mot-art-museum.jp/english/61/
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