Local Secret · Sekiguchi

Sekiguchi Basho-an 関口芭蕉庵

A tiny, free garden hermitage on the Kanda River where the poet Matsuo Basho lived while working on the city's water supply, a mossy pond, haiku stones and a thatched gate at the bottom of a hidden stair slope.

About

Long before he wrote "The Narrow Road to the Deep North", Matsuo Basho spent about four years here in the late 1670s, supervising repairs to the Kanda water system that fed Edo. Followers later built a hermitage on the spot, and today Sekiguchi Basho-an is a small wooded garden with a spring-fed pond, stone monuments carved with his poems, a mound where his sedge hat was buried as a memorial, and a thatched gate. It sits at the foot of Munatsuki-zaka, a steep stone stairway climbing between the Higo Hosokawa Garden and the Basho-an wall, which is one of Bunkyo's most atmospheric slopes. It takes ten minutes to see, but it is wonderfully still, and the Kanda River cherry promenade is just across the road.

Highlights

• Site of Matsuo Basho's home while supervising the Kanda water works
• Moss-covered pond garden with stone poetry monuments
• Thatched gate and memorial mound for Basho's hat
• Next to the steep Munatsuki-zaka stone stairway
• Free entry and almost always empty

Tips

• Open only 10:00–16:00 and closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
• Combine with Higo Hosokawa Garden next door and St. Mary's Cathedral at the top of the slope.
• Walk along the Kanda River from Edogawabashi Station, lovely in cherry season.
• Be quiet, the building is not open, and the caretakers appreciate low voices.

Open in Google Maps · Info checked 2026-10-09

Nearby

• Eisei Bunko MuseumMuseum · 110 m away
• Hotel Chinzanso TokyoStay · 180 m away
• Higo Hosokawa GardenGarden · 210 m away
• Edogawa ParkPark · 320 m away
• St. Mary's Cathedral, TokyoLocal Secret · 360 m away
• Waseda University Okuma AuditoriumLandmark & Tower · 390 m away
• Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda UniversityMuseum · 440 m away
• Hatoyama HallLocal Secret · 630 m away