Sugamo

  

Sugamo Station is a station located in the Sugamo area of Toshima Ward of Tokyo. The station is served by the JR Yamanote Line and the Toei Mita Line.

 

Sugamo is a neighborhood in Tokyo's northern Toshima Ward. The area is best known for Jizo-dori , a popular shopping street for the elderly. During the Edo Period (1603-1867), the street was part of the Nakasendo Highway that connected Edo (now Tokyo) to Kyoto.

 

Jizo-dori

 

Jizo-dori is a long shopping street just north of Sugamo Station. This 800 meters long street with over 200 shops is one of the most famous shopping areas of Japan. The shops here sell clothing, traditional foods, domestic wares, and reading material that cater specifically to the older generation. Older people from all over Tokyo and surrounding areas come to Jizo-dori for their shopping. The place is popularly known as “Harajuku for Grannies” (Harajuku being a popular shopping street for the young) because of the large number of senior citizens that visit it.

Since Jizo-dori and the rest of the surrounding area of the street and Sugamo Station itself are mainly visited by older people, the authorities have taken all care in building the area accordingly. The guide-board and rate-tables at the Station are all hand written and placed at eye-level and ticket machines are set lower. The pavements around the station and the rest of the area are flat and the streets have textured bricks to prevent slip. The area also has several places of rest with covered roofs. Even the advertisements in Sugamo cater to the elderly - information for daily life and advice related to health. All shops at Jizo-dori and the rest of Sugamo are also barrier-free, making it easy for the elderly with canes, walkers, or wheelchairs to enter and move around. Restaurants have food displays with prices rather than menus, which are easier for the elderly to understand.

 

The most famous shops in Sugamo are the traditional cake shops and the clothing store Maruji. Maruji is popular for its red underwear that are coveted items among older women. These bright red undershirts and underpants, which are considered lucky, besides being warm and very comfortable, are sold in thousands everyday. Maruji found it impossible to cater to the demand with just one shop, so now they have four stores at Jizo-dori. At the traditional cake shops, the most popular item is the shio-daifuku - which is a rice ball with a sweet red bean paste at the center – for which Sugamo is famous.

 

Another attraction of Sugamo is the Koganji Temple, also very popular with the older generation.

 

Koganji Temple

Koganji Temple is also located on Jizo-dori. Koganji Temple is a Soto - Buddhist sect temple opened in 1596 in the Yushima neighborhood of Tokyo. In 1656, the temple was moved to Shimoya-Kamikurumasakachou, and then finally to its present location in Sugamo in 1891.

 

Konganji Temple is mainly known for its Togenuki Jizo (after which Jizo-dori takes its name), which is a statue of Buddha, or jizo . The word ‘togenuki' comes from the words ‘toge' (“thorn” of illness) and ‘nuki' (“pulled out”). It is believed that the “thorn” of illness is “pulled out” and life lengthened if a charm of this Buddhist image is placed on the ailing part of the body and prayed. Many people have faith in this and long queues of people, mainly old people, may be seen in front of the statue waiting for their turn to scrub it in the hope of curing themselves and their ailments. The 4 th , 14 th , and 24 th of every month are considered auspicious and on these days people in thousands descend on the area to pray for long lives. The 24 th of January, May, and September are major festival days and are much livelier than the other days and months. On these days scores of traditional food stalls and other stalls selling various merchandize that cater to mainly old people crowd the temple grounds and the streets around it.