Ushigome-yanagicho Station
E04 · Oedo Line · Shinjuku
Ushigome-yanagicho Station (牛込柳町)
E04 opened on 12 December 2000, 36.9 km out from the Oedo Line’s far end at Hikarigaoka. It is a single island platform at B3, with the ticket machines and gates at B1; a south-eastern entrance was added on 9 September 2017. The station building is registered in Haramachi, but the station itself lies mostly under Ichigaya-yanagicho, the district it is named for.
The name carries two layers of history. Yanagi means willow, and the Edo-period neighbourhood took its name from the willows that grew there; Ichigaya was prefixed because the area belonged to the southern part of the old Ushigome ward. The station exists at all because of a tram. Toden route 13, from Shinjuku to Suitengumae, ran along this road until it was scrapped in 1970, leaving the district with buses and nothing else; when the metropolitan government moved its offices to Nishi-Shinjuku and a new subway was planned, the route through Ushigome was laid along the old tram line, and the station was placed exactly where the Ushigome-yanagicho tram stop had been. The provisional name was simply Yanagicho. In 2024 it was used by 19,954 people on an average day, well above the 7,000 forecast.
Finding Ushigome-yanagicho on the signs
Every line gives the station its own letter-and-number code. You never have to read the Japanese name to find the right platform.
Station numbers at Ushigome-yanagicho
Tokyo signposts every platform, exit and train door with a letter and a two-digit number. Matching the number is faster than reading the name — and it is what you will see on the map, in announcements and on the platform edge.
First and last trains at Ushigome-yanagicho
Departure times come from the operators’ own GTFS timetables (ODPT GTFS Toei-Train-GTFS (version 20261009, valid 2026-03-14..2027-03-12) + TokyoMetro-Train-GTFS (version 20261008, valid 2026-09-19..2027-03-12)). Japan publishes two subway timetables: 平日 weekdays and 土休日 Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays. There is no separate Sunday timetable, and the December 30 – January 3 period runs the holiday timetable.
How often do trains run?
| Line | Weekdays, busiest hour | Sat / Sun / holidays, busiest hour |
|---|---|---|
| EOedo | 15 trains/hour (about one every 4 min) | 12 trains/hour |
Departures in one direction during the hour with the most trains at this station, counted in the operators’ timetable.
Next stations from Ushigome-yanagicho
Scheduled running time between Ushigome-yanagicho and the stations either side of it.
| Line | Next station | Running time |
|---|---|---|
| EOedo | E05Ushigome-kagurazaka | 2 min |
| EOedo | E03Wakamatsu-kawada | 1 min |
Transfers and connections
Only the Oedo Line stops here, and no other railway serves this station, so there is nothing to transfer to inside the station.
Accessibility
| Line | Step-free by elevator | Accessible toilet | Escalator | Exits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EOedo | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 |
- Oedo Line: Toei: step-free “1-route” secured; 3 elevator(s) on this line. Elevator exit(s): 要翻訳, 要翻訳. Operator page (checked Oct 20, 2026).
Taken from the operators’ own accessibility pages and nothing else. Toei: every station has elevators and a street-gate-platform “1-route” is secured.
What is near Ushigome-yanagicho Station?
The crossing above the station, where Okubo-dori meets Gaien-higashi-dori, carries a lot of traffic; the streets off it are quiet and full of temples. Chōshōji is about 250 m from the exits, Keio-ji about 40 m and Jorakuji about 50 m, with a dozen more within a few minutes, several of them holding graves of note. The site of the Shieikan fencing school is about 160 m away and Haramachi Park about 210 m. Wakamatsu-kawada is a few minutes’ walk, and signs between the two point either way.
| Place | Distance (straight line) | On foot, estimated |
|---|---|---|
| Chōshōji Temple 長昌寺 | 250 m | about 4 min |
| 経王寺 | 40 m | about 1 min |
| 専行寺 | 260 m | about 4 min |
| 月桂寺 | 350 m | about 6 min |
| 常楽寺 | 50 m | about 1 min |
| 瑞光寺 | 80 m | about 1 min |
| 天祖神社 | 140 m | about 2 min |
| 試衛館跡 | 160 m | about 3 min |
Places from OpenStreetMap within 400 m of the station. The walking time is an estimate (straight line plus 30 %, 80 m a minute), not a measured route. © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Frequently asked questions
From Ichigaya-yanagicho, the district the platform lies under. Yanagi means willow, after the trees that grew here in the Edo period, and Ichigaya refers to the southern part of the old Ushigome ward. The planners’ working name was just Yanagicho; Ushigome was added because the ward name is what identifies the area.
It follows a tram. Toden route 13 ran from Shinjuku to Suitengumae along these roads until 1970 and was never replaced. When the move of the metropolitan government to Nishi-Shinjuku prompted a new subway, the Ushigome section was routed along the old tram alignment, and this station was built on the site of the tram stop of the same name.