Where the name Koenji comes from, what stood here before the station, and what you can still spot on a walk today. Then the events near the station that we have checked on the official pages.
Koenji takes its name from a Buddhist temple that still stands south of the station. The area was originally known as Ozawa village. Shukuhozan Koenji, a Soto Zen temple traditionally dated to 1555, is associated with Tokugawa Iemitsu, Japan's third Tokugawa shogun. According to local tradition, Iemitsu repeatedly visited the temple while falconry hunting, and its growing fame eventually led villagers to adopt Koenji as the name of their settlement.
Leave the station by the south exit and follow Konan-dori through the shopping streets toward the temple in Koenji-minami 4-chome. The quiet grounds preserve a connection between an agricultural village and the Tokugawa shogunate. A temporary residence for the shogun is also said to have stood near the temple, although its historical appearance has not been established.
Continue south and the ground gradually descends toward the former Momozono River. The river's name recalls peach trees that were once said to grow near the temple. The old village name Ozawa has disappeared from everyday use, but the temple, the descending landscape, and the hidden river still preserve the story of how Koenji acquired its identity.
→ Visit Shukuhozan Koenji Temple south of the station, then continue downhill to the Momozono River Greenway. The path reveals the former river valley beneath today's residential streets.
Sources (in Japanese): 杉並区ゆかりの地名資料・杉並の地名, 特別区協議会・杉並区 歴史と見所
Walk south from Koenji Station and you will eventually reach a narrow, landscaped pedestrian route: the Momozono River Greenway. Beneath this path once ran a stream that irrigated rice fields. The river began near a spring-fed pond in Amanuma and flowed east through Asagaya, Mabashi, and Koenji before joining the Kanda River. During the Edo period, its flow was supplemented with water diverted from other waterways to support farming.
Rice paddies occupied the low valley, while fields, woodland, and settlements spread across the slightly higher ground. Much of Koenji remained agricultural until the railway accelerated urban growth. Koenji Station opened in 1922, and the Great Kanto Earthquake the following year brought an influx of people leaving central Tokyo for the suburbs.
As houses replaced fields, the river increasingly carried domestic wastewater. Its shallow channel also flooded during heavy rain. River improvement projects beginning in the mid-1950s eventually enclosed the stream underground, while the former river corridor became a walking route. Today, stepping from Koenji's bustling shopping streets onto the greenway reveals the hidden shape of an agricultural valley beneath the modern neighborhood.
→ Follow the Momozono River Greenway, which extends about 1.6 kilometers through neighborhoods south of Koenji Station. Near Koenji-minami 2-chome 50, an information sign explains the former river and its agricultural past.
Sources (in Japanese): 杉並区・桃園川 文化財案内標示板, 杉並区・桃園川緑道
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We list events we could confirm on the official page or official Instagram of the venue or organiser. Details can change, tickets sell out and venues close, so check the official page before you go. Distances are straight-line and travel times are rough estimates. Photos show the venue or its surroundings, not the event itself. Titles and descriptions are our own translations from Japanese. This site contains affiliate links (ads).