Setagaya, Tokyo — Area Guide & Where to Stay

What are the main landmarks in Setagaya?

Setagaya keeps its draws in small museums and green fields. The Japanese Folk Crafts Museum gathers ceramics and textiles from across the country, while the Hasegawa Machiko Art Museum honours the cartoonist who lived and worked in the ward. Sport has its own ground here.

The Setagaya City Local Museum traces the district's own past, from the ancient Higashiyama shell mound to the streets of the present, and the Showa Women's University Koyo Museum rounds out the collections. Komazawa Hockey Field draws the crowds. Zelkova serrata lines the streets between them.

What is the history of Setagaya?

Setagaya took its modern shape in 1947. That was the year the ward was drawn in its present bounds, joining the twenty-three that make up the core of Tokyo. People had lived on this ground far longer.

Ancient settlement left its mark at the Higashiyama shell mound and the Sakuragi-iseki site, long before the ward carried a name. The Setagaya City Local Museum tells that longer story, and the Hasegawa Machiko Art Museum keeps a chapter of the twentieth century, when the ward filled with the homes and studios of a growing capital. Zelkova stayed through it all.

Where is Setagaya?

Setagaya is a ward in the west of Tokyo, the largest of the twenty-three by area, its residential streets fanning out around Komazawa and the park lawns.