Around Shinagawa Station: before it was Shinagawa

Did Shinagawa Get Its Name From a River or a Temple?

Shinagawa has more than one proposed name origin. A historical text published by Shinagawa City records the tradition that the Meguro River was once called Shinagawa and that the district inherited the river's name. It also mentions a theory that the name developed from Sunagawa, or Sand River. Another explanation, noted by the Shinagawa Tourism Association, connects the place name to Honsenji Temple, traditionally founded in the early Heian period. These explanations should be treated as theories rather than established facts. By 1601, the settlement around Shinagawa Port had become Shinagawa-juku, the first post station on the Tokaido road from Edo. The historic post town extended around today's Kita-Shinagawa and Aomono-yokocho stations. One geographical surprise remains: modern JR Shinagawa Station is actually located in Minato City, not Shinagawa City.

→ Walk the former Tokaido road through Kita-Shinagawa and Minami-Shinagawa, and visit Honsenji Temple, which is associated with one name-origin theory.

Sources (in Japanese): 品川区・品川町の沿革, 品川区・品川地区の都市形成, しながわ観光協会・旧東海道散策, 品川区・白黒川ウォーク＆クルーズ

Was Shinagawa Station's Konan Exit Once Underwater?

The skyscrapers outside Shinagawa Station's Konan Exit stand on land that was still shallow sea in 1872. When Japan's first railway opened between Shimbashi and Yokohama, its tracks followed the coastline. Passengers at Shinagawa could look out toward the gun batteries built offshore by the Tokugawa shogunate.

Shinagawa's transport history began much earlier. In 1601, Shinagawa-juku became the first post town on the Tokaido highway leaving Edo. Its historic streets stretched around today's Kita-Shinagawa and Aomono-yokocho stations. Feudal lords, merchants and pilgrims passed through the busy settlement, where travelers could rest before continuing their journeys.

After the Meiji period, land reclamation progressively transformed the shoreline. In 1965, the district incorporating two former batteries received the name Konan. The area was then dominated by facilities including an immigration office, a meat market and a sewage treatment plant.

High-rise redevelopment accelerated during the 1990s. A new east-west station passage opened in 1998, followed by the Shinkansen station in 2003. Today's commercial gateway occupies a landscape once divided between an Edo highway and the sea.

→ Stand outside the Konan Exit and imagine the former shoreline beneath the towers. For a glimpse of Shinagawa's older history, walk toward Kita-Shinagawa and the surviving route of the old Tokaido.

Sources (in Japanese): 港区・写真今昔物語 第2話：品川駅東口, 品川区・品川地区の都市形成とまちづくりの歩み, 港区・品川駅周辺のまちづくりについて