Ogikubo 

 

Ogikubo Station is a train station located in the Ogikubo district of Suginami Ward of Tokyo. It is served by the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi and Tozai Subway Lines and the JR Chuo Line. The Tokyo Metro Tozai Line runs on the JR Chuo-Sobu Line tracks.

 

Ogikubo is a suburb located in the Suginami Ward of western Tokyo about 8 km west of Shinjuku. Being an important and busy transportation center, Ogikubo is the most developed area of Suginami. To the north of Ogikubo Station is a busy plaza formed by the crossing of two main roads – Kanpachi Dori and Ome Kaido. A bus terminal to the other wards and areas of Suginami is located at the plaza. Ome Kaido is a bustling shopping street with many banks and shops on both sides of the road. The headquarters of American Express and Hewlett-Packard are also located on this street.

Ogikubo is also known as being the birthplace of the popular Tokyo “ramen”, a kind of fish-bone soup with fish flakes in it. There are many typical ramen shops located throughout Ogikubo.

The name ‘Ogikubo' originated from the words “ogi”, a kind of Japanese reed, and “kubo”, meaning ‘hollow'. There is a story behind the name. It is said that in 708, a Buddhist priest was travelling with a statue on his back. While he was in this area, he suddenly felt the statue becoming heavier and he found it hard to walk. He took this to mean that the statue had some special relation to the place and decided to stay. He mowed the ogi growing in that area, built a hut there and enshrined the statue in it. Ever since, the place is called ‘Ogikubo'. The hut with the statue later became a temple, Komyoin Temple.

 

Komyoin Temple

 

Komyoin Temple is located about 3 minutes walk from the West Exit of Ogikubo Station. It is the oldest temple in Ogikubo and belongs to the Shingon sect of Buddhism. At its entrance gate there is a board that says "This is the temple where you can find the origin of the name of Ogikubo."

 

Komyoin Temple is a big temple with a meeting hall named Kannon Hall in the basement of the building. The main object of worship here is the enshrined statue, called the Senju Kannon, or the statue with "one thousand hands and one thousand eyes". Both the Senju Kannon and the Itabi (a stone tablet with Buddhist text) of the temple are Cultural Properties of Suginami Ward.

  

Ogikubo Hakusan Shrine

 

Another popular place of worship in Ogikubo is the Ogikubo Hakusan Shrine, located just two minutes walking distance from Ogikubo Station. Founded during the Bunmei period (1469-1486), its main object of worship is the sacred stone taken from Mt. Hakusan. Izanami-no-mikoto, a mythical goddess, is also enshrined here. The drum of the shrine is an added attraction as it is said to be one of the largest Japanese drums in Japan and the second largest in Tokyo. Ogikubo Hakusan Shrine is especially popular with people with tooth-aches. This is because it is believed that eating with chopsticks made of Hagi (a Japanese bush clover) planted in the shrine makes tooth-aches disappear.

 

Otaguro Park

 

Otaguro Park, situated about six minutes walk from Ogikubo Station, was formerly the estate of Motoo Otaguro, a music composer and critic of the Showa Era (1926-1989) credited with having introduced the music of Debussy and Stravinsky to Japan.

 

Otaguro Park is a beautiful Japanese-style garden with lots of Gingko and Zelkova trees. In the park are Otaguro's house with his favorite piano inside; a sukiya-style teahouse that is open to Suginami citizens; and a pond, whose water is kept clean with the help of a water purification facility.

 

Otaguro Park is free and is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.