A student district with ticket gates at both the top and bottom of the slope, plus hydrangeas and Japan's oldest botanical garden
Hakusan Station's ticket gates are split into two, marked "Hakusan-shita" and "Hakusan-ue". Because the station is built directly beneath the slope called Yakushi-zaka, one gate sits near the bottom of the slope and the other near the top. With Toyo University and many other schools, this is a student district; at peak hours most people in the station are students. Exit A3, on the side near the top of the slope, leads to Toyo University and Hakusan Shrine; the shrine is only a two-minute walk away.
Every mid-June, Hakusan Shrine holds the Bunkyo Hydrangea Festival, with about 3,000 hydrangeas across the shrine grounds and the neighboring Hakusan Park. During the festival, the shrine's Fuji-zuka - a small mound built to resemble Mount Fuji - is also open to visitors. Walking southwest from the shrine, Hakusan 3-chome is home to the Koishikawa Botanical Garden, about a 10-minute walk from Hakusan Station. Its predecessor was a shogunate medicinal herb garden established in 1684, and it is called Japan's oldest botanical garden. Looking at our street photos, the greenery here ranks 29th among Tokyo's 219 neighborhoods, in the upper range.
Exits A2 and A3, near the top of the slope, are still halfway up it - heading toward Sengoku, there's still a steep climb ahead. Looking at our street photos, buildings here rank 160th among Tokyo's 219 neighborhoods, in the lower range. The station is also getting busier: since the mid-2000s, Toyo University has moved back to central Tokyo, and quite a few more buildings have gone up nearby - in fiscal year 2024, about 48,400 people passed through the station each day.
The name Hakusan comes from Hakusan Shrine. According to the shrine's founding legend, its spirit was invited from Kaga (present-day Ishikawa Prefecture) in 948. The shrine originally stood on the land now occupied by Koishikawa Botanical Garden, and it was relocated in 1655 when Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (who later became the fifth shogun) wanted to build his residence there. Enjo-ji Temple in Hakusan 1-chome holds the grave of Yaoya Oshichi. According to legend, she was the daughter of a greengrocer in Hongo, and she set a fire in hopes of seeing her lover again; she was burned at the stake in 1683. The following year, the shogunate moved the medicinal herb garden from Azabu into Tsunayoshi's residence, and in 1722 the garden also became home to the Koishikawa Yojosho, a clinic that treated the poor. In 1912, the west side of Hakusan-dori was approved as a sangyochi - a licensed quarter where geisha houses, restaurants, and machiai teahouses could legally operate. This area suffered little damage in the Great Kanto Earthquake, and actually flourished from the Taisho era into the early Showa era. Today's Hakusan 1-chome through 5-chome were formed by merging old towns when the new address system was implemented in 1967.
Compared with the 219 Tokyo neighborhoods in this guide (scores 0–10)
Hospitals with inpatient beds (2020 data), public elementary and junior high schools whose catchment covers this area, high schools and universities within 1 km, stations, parks of 1 ha or more, and large shopping malls and department stores. Many Tokyo junior high students attend private schools, so junior high catchments are only a guide.
77 blocks · Curated boundary · Data version 2026-10-12
Compared against the Tokyo neighborhoods in this guide; metrics without enough data are not ranked. Shopping counts convenience stores plus the nearer of a supermarket or a traditional market (public and private retail markets); night markets, vendor zones and shopping-street shops are not counted. Transit is rail-first with a lower weight for buses.
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