From the Meiji Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Avenue and Picture Gallery to the Nezu Museum in Aoyama

Enter Meiji Jingu Gaien from JR Shinanomachi Station and view the building of the Seitoku Memorial Picture Gallery from the outside. Walk from the front of the picture gallery along the Meiji Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Avenue to Aoyama-dori Street, look back at the picture gallery through the rows of trees, and then head to the Nezu Museum in Aoyama. Finally, this course visits the Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum, which was once the atelier of Okamoto Taro.

History and Local Charm

Meiji Jingu Gaien was built as a memorial facility for Emperor Meiji by the Meiji Jingu Hosankai, a group formed by private volunteers, by collecting donations from the public. The industrialist Shibusawa Eiichi was also one of these volunteers. The central facility of the Gaien, the Seitoku Memorial Picture Gallery, was completed and the Gaien was dedicated to Meiji-jingu Shrine on October 22, 1926. The ginkgo avenue was completed earlier, in 1923.

Afterward, the art collected by individuals and the lives of artists took root in Aoyama. In 1941, the Nezu Museum, displaying pre-modern Japanese and East Asian art collected by the industrialist Nezu Kaichiro I, opened on the site of the former Nezu family private residence. In 1954, Okamoto Taro's atelier was completed in Aoyama, and Taro used this as his creative workspace for 42 years until his passing.

In the Jingu Gaien area, work is underway to rebuild the baseball stadium and rugby stadium in phases under a redevelopment project approved in 2023. Documents compiled by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government state that the four rows of ginkgo trees will be preserved and the clear vista toward the picture gallery will be passed down to future generations.

Key Highlights

• ​Meiji Jingu Seitoku Memorial Picture Gallery​​: A reinforced concrete structure with exterior walls covered in Mannari granite from Okayama Prefecture. The top of the central dome stands 32.1 meters above the ground. It was designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 2011. It is currently closed for building renovation work, which is scheduled to continue until 2027.
• ​Meiji Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Avenue​​: A 300-meter-long tree-lined avenue featuring 146 ginkgo trees planted in four rows at 9-meter intervals. The trees are planted along a downward slope from the Aoyama entrance in order of height, designed so that the picture gallery can be seen beautifully at the end of the trees.
• ​Nezu Museum​​: The collection consists of 7,630 items as of the end of March 2025, including 7 National Treasures and 93 Important Cultural Properties. The current main building, designed by Kuma Kengo and completed in 2009, is entered through a quiet bamboo-lined approach. The garden, spanning 17,000 square meters, is accessible to museum visitors.
• ​Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum​​: The atelier of Okamoto Taro completed in 1954, opened to the public as a memorial museum in 1998. The Tower of the Sun for the 1970 Japan World Exposition, along with other huge monuments and murals, was conceived here.

Recommended Route and Duration

The estimated time required is about 4 hours. Because the picture gallery is currently closed, this route focuses on viewing the building from the outside and enjoying its appearance through the ginkgo avenue.

From JR Shinanomachi Station, it takes about 5 minutes on foot to reach the Meiji Jingu Seitoku Memorial Picture Gallery. After viewing the domed building from the front, walk south from the front of the picture gallery along the ginkgo avenue to the Aoyama entrance on Aoyama-dori Street. During the leafless season, the trees are pruned into neat cones, appearing neatly aligned and uniform. Their appearance changes with the seasons, from yellow foliage in autumn to bare branches in winter.

When you reach the Aoyama entrance, view the stone monument "Meiji Jingu Gaien-no-Ki," which describes the origins of the Gaien's construction, and look back the way you came. The ground slopes down by about 1 meter from the Aoyama entrance toward the picture gallery, and at the end of the trees arranged in descending order of height, you can see the picture gallery you just viewed straight ahead.

From the Aoyama entrance, cross Aoyama-dori Street and walk south to the Nezu Museum. The straight-line distance from the picture gallery to the Nezu Museum is about 1.8 kilometers. At the museum, after viewing the exhibition rooms, you can exit into the garden from the garden entrance on the first floor or the tearoom entrance on the basement level. Watch your step, as there are slopes, steps, and ponds. Taking a break at NEZUCAFÉ inside the garden is also recommended.

After leaving the museum, walk about 190 meters southwest to reach the Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum. In the original building, you can see the atelier with tools and unfinished works preserved just as they were at the time, as well as a salon designed by Taro. For the return journey, Omotesando Station on the Tokyo Metro, an 8-minute walk from either location, is convenient.

Summary of the Experience

The tree-lined avenue of the Gaien built through public donations during the Taisho era, pre-modern Japanese and East Asian art collected by an industrialist, and the atelier of a postwar artist. Walking through Aoyama, one notices that works left behind by various individuals over the course of about 100 years stand side by side nearby. The picture gallery you see beyond the avenue when you look back from the Aoyama entrance is the view where this day began.