The area
A geisha district on the castle slope
By the castle moat
Kagurazaka climbs from the outer moat of Edo Castle. In the Edo period samurai residences lined the slope, and the temple of Bishamonten drew crowds to its festivals.
The hanamachi
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it grew into one of Tokyo’s best-known geisha districts, with hundreds of geisha and many ryotei at its height.
A writers’ neighbourhood
Novelists including Natsume Soseki and Ozaki Koyo lived and worked nearby, and the publishing houses of the area kept them close.
Little Paris
The French institute is close by, and French bakeries and bistros sit among the lanes, which are often compared to Montmartre.
