Koganei & Musashino: Walking the Banks of the Tamagawa Josui Aqueduct

Walking a River That Built a City

The Tamagawa Josui is a 43-kilometer canal dug in 1653 to carry drinking water from the Tama River into Edo — an engineering feat completed in under a year with hand tools. Most of it still flows, and the stretch through Koganei and Musashino is now a tree-tunneled walking path that offers something rare: a Tokyo walk with almost no Tokyo in view. Just water, zelkova and cherry trees, joggers, and the occasional kingfisher.

The Walk Itself

The classic section runs from around Musashi-Sakai Station toward Koganei Park — flat, shaded, and paced by small bridges with Edo-era names. In cherry blossom season the Koganei stretch is historically famous: it was planted with thousands of cherry trees in the 1730s specifically to give Edo’s townspeople somewhere to celebrate, making it one of Japan’s first purpose-built hanami destinations.

What to Stop For

Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum

Inside Koganei Park, this collection of relocated historic buildings — farmhouses, a bathhouse, prewar shops, and a photo studio — famously inspired settings in Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away. It pairs naturally with the canal walk and deserves two unhurried hours.

Koganei Park

One of Tokyo’s largest parks, with broad lawns and, in spring, around 1,700 cherry trees. Locals treat it as the region’s backyard; visitors mostly never find it.

The water itself

Interpretive signs (some in English) explain the canal’s gradient trick: it drops only about 92 meters across 43 kilometers, a nearly flat line surveyed in the 17th century by lantern light. Once you know that, the modest stream reads like the monument it is.

Practical Notes

• Access: JR Chuo Line to Musashi-Sakai, Higashi-Koganei, or Musashi-Koganei — the path is a few minutes north of each
• Distance: the Musashi-Sakai to Koganei Park section is roughly 4–5km; walk one way and train back
• Season: late March for the historic cherry stretch; November for golden zelkova
• Combine with: Kichijoji, two stops east, for food and Inokashira Park

This is the walk to take when the city has been too loud — a straight green line drawn through 370 years of Tokyo’s history, still doing its quiet work.