Visitors to this year’s installment of UENOYES 2019 FLOATING NOMAD (held from November 9th to 10th) were treated to a special “mini tour” showcasing a curated selection of the many fascinating historical sights of Ueno Park. Aptly dubbed “Around the Park in 30 Minutes,” the tour whisked participants around the park’s many monuments and shrines, replete with insightful commentary kindly provided by knowledgeable volunteer tour guides. By tour’s end, each satisfied group disbanded with smiles and a newfound appreciation for the often-overlooked history that awaits the curious at every turn in one of Tokyo’s oldest and largest parks.
A commitment to community and continued learning
This unique tour was the brainchild of a
volunteer group led by Yuichi Yamamoto, a Specially Appointed Professor at the
Aoyama Gakuin University College of Community Studies. Specifically, the tour
began as an offshoot of BuRaLi in Ueno, a continued learning course taught by
Professor Yamamoto under the auspices of the Practical Social Education
Research Center (PSERC) at the National Institute for Educational Policy
Research.
Professor Yamamoto explains: “The PSERC is
situated a stone’s throw from Ueno Park, so I thought it would be fun to lead
students on a walking tour of the park and its vicinity to learn about the
value of history and culture firsthand. Actually, the guides who led today’s
mini tours were all volunteers who completed my course, and have continued
their studies on their own, outside the classroom. You can say the tours were a
perfect platform for them to share their passion, and the hard-earned fruits of
their study.”
Yuichi Yamamoto (Specially Appointed Professor at the Aoyama Gakuin University College of Community Studies)
On the day of the tour, participants gathered in front of the UENOYES visitor center. Whereas BuRaLi in Ueno requires advance registration, the Ueno mini tours were open to even last-minute arrivals, eager to tag along. A few of Professor Yamamoto’s students, along with Miko Satake, a volunteer guide from BuRaLi in Ueno, helped spread the word, aided with a homemade sign, and soon filled out the tour’s ranks with curious park patrons.
The team conducts three to four Ueno mini walking tours per day, each winding through various routes within a 30-minute radius of the UENOYES venue.
Without further ado, let the tour begin!
A public park with the power to bring people together
The first tour ventured out at 11:00, stewarded by volunteer guide Chieko Yoshida. Propitiously titled “The Deities who Dwell in Ueno’s Hills,” the tour would take the nine-person group to the Hanazono Inari Shrine, the Ana Inari Shrine, and the Gojo Tenjin Shrine.
Their first stop was the Hanazono Inari Shrine, famous for its brilliant red torii gates. Stepping onto the sanctified grounds, the group followed a small stone pathway off to the left of the shrine, arriving at the entrance to a rocky, cave-like recess. It is known as the Ana Inari Shrine, a sacred site where photography is strictly off limits. Each visitor took a turn peering into the mysterious shrine, all the more eager to preserve the moment in memory, if not film. Deep in the somber enclosure, they found a collection of cute little fox figurines. It turns out the site is the historical vestige of a former temple, and evidently does not currently enshrine a Shinto spirit.
Visitors travel from far and wide to admire the picturesque vermillion torii gates at the Hanazono Inari Shrine.Peeking inside the grounds of the Hanazono Inari Shrine.
Next, the group headed to the Gojo Tenjin Shrine, devoted to impermanence and reincarnation. An especially befitting mission statement, as fate would have it, seeing as how the shrine itself ended up being relocated multiple times back and forth across the park over its storied history. The shrine was moved to its present location in 1928. Each year, it hosts the important Ukera no Shinji ceremony paying tribute to the god of medicine on the Setsubun holiday, every February 3.
The group pauses to pay its respects to the god of medicine and learning at the Gojo Tenjin Shrine. Although historians have lost official count, this ancient shrine has been relocated multiple times in present-day Ueno Park.Volunteer tour guide Chieko Yoshida.
Fortunately, the group had the benefit of a knowledgeable guide to point out the kyudo archery grounds tucked away innocuously next to the shrine. Partitioned off behind a high wall, the detail has surely gone undetected by many a visitor to the site.
At tour’s end, the most glowing review came from a local couple in their 80s, who had been listening with particular ardor. When asked for their impressions, they smiled and excitedly explained, “We used to frequent this park often on strolls, but all these years, never knew the Gojo Tenjin Shrine had such a deep connection to medicine. You learn something new every day!”
Volunteer tour guide Fumio Asakura.
The afternoon tour was conducted by another volunteer guide, Fumio Asakura. He led a retinue of 10 eager participants around the park’s collection of formidable bronze monuments to the doctors and statesmen who shaped modern Japan.
Although Ueno Park is well known for its famed statue of Saigo Takamori, the vast park grounds house a number of other equally impressive monuments to notable personages, such as the bacteriologist Hideyo Noguchi and the physician A.F. Bauduin (the latter fondly remembered as the man who first suggested the creation of public parks in Japan, leading directly to the establishment of Ueno Park in 1873.) Walking in the footsteps of these movers and shakers, Mr. Asakura’s commentary brought their achievements to life from the history pages, and instilled a palpable new respect for the indelible role Ueno played in molding myriad aspects we take for granted in the present day.
The park is home to a number of notable monuments (in addition to one particularly famed statue of the so-called “last samurai,” Saigo Takamori). From top: Prince Komatsu Akihito, Dr. A.F. Bauduin, Hideyo Noguchi.
Above all, the Ueno mini tours provide a unique opportunity to learn from avid students of Ueno’s history and culture, who have now become teachers in their own right.
Perhaps Professor Yamamoto sums it up best: “Teaching is the best way to learn. When someone volunteers as a guide, they have to figure out how to convey their knowledge in an engaging, accessible way. This process motivates guides to form a more proactive connection with the neighborhood, with Ueno. Plus, the project fosters new relationships. Not only between guides and participants, but also between each year’s cohort of guides themselves. It turns out Ueno has a curious power to bring people together.”
Text: Naoko Tsunoda Photos: Fumitaka Miyoshi
Even Professor Yamamoto’s students from Aoyama Gakuin University joined in the fun as enthusiastic volunteers.
UENOYES 2019／FLOATING NOMAD
Dates: Saturday, November 9th and Sunday, November 10th, 2019 Hours: 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Venue: Ueno Park (Takenodai Plaza adjacent to the Grand Fountain） Event website: https://uenoyes.ueno-bunka.jp/2019
