21 Sendagi／千駄木

Sendagi Station is located under Shinobazu-dori avenue running north-south on a lowland between the west and east highlands.  On west side of Shinobazu-dori avenue is an old-fashioned shopping street called “Yanaka Ginza” (see the fourth picture of 05 Nippori) and narrow alleys crowed with small shops, bars and restaurants.

Hebi-michi (Snake alley) is a narrow twisting alley, which used to be a small river until 1921.  Some small houses along the alley were remodeled into small shops with good atmosphere.

There are more than 50 Buddhist temples on the west upland.  Many temples moved to this area after the Great Fire of Meireki in 1657.  While many of them were razed at the times of the Ueno War in 1868 and the air raids of WWII, some buildings survived and some were rebuilt after the difficult time.

The east upland is a quiet high-class residential area.  Many successful business persons, scholars and writers and artists including Ogai Mori and Kotaro Takamura lived in this area in the late Meiji to early Showa period.

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