Keio University and the Toden Streetcars

2021/09/06

Image: The Yochisha Elementary School and Tengenjibashi Intersection in 1956. Streetcars run through the rotary, with a control tower on the right side of the rotary and a depot at the top. The "KEIO" human formation is dazzling.

In the past, 40 routes of the Toden (streetcar) ran through Tokyo as a means of transportation for citizens. As society moved toward motorization, they were treated as obstacles and were abolished between December 1967 and November 1972. However, because they had many dedicated tracks, Route 27 (Minowabashi to Oji-ekimae) and Route 32 (Arakawa-shakomae to Waseda) were not abolished and remain today as the Toden Arakawa Line.

In front of the East Gate of the university in Mita, there was a Keio University-mae stop, where Route 3 (Shinagawa Station to Iidabashi), belonging to the Mita Depot, used to run. The site of the Mita Depot is now the Minato City Industry and Welfare Hall and Toei Apartments. It is located exactly above Mita Station on the Toei Mita Line.

In front of Keio Hospital in Shinanomachi, there was a Shinanomachi stop, where Route 7 (Yotsuya 3-chome to Shinagawa Station) and Route 33 (Yotsuya 3-chome to Hamamatsucho 1-chome) used to run. The bridge where the streetcar crossed the Chuo Line in front of Shinanomachi Station was a bridge dedicated to streetcars. When coming from Aoyama 1-chome, the streetcar could go straight, but cars had to turn in a "V" shape to the left. When the streetcars were abolished, cars began to pass over what had been the streetcar-only bridge, leading to the current state.

In front of the Yochisha, there was a Tengenji stop, but more than that, the Hiroo Depot for the streetcars was located diagonally across from the Yochisha. At Tengenji, Route 7, Route 8 (Nakameguro to Tsukiji), and Route 34 (Shibuya Station to Kanasugibashi) used to run. At the Tengenji intersection, there was a building that looked like a box placed on top of a pillar. It was a point-switching station called a control tower. Since the streetcars ran in a T-shape at the Tengenji intersection, staff members would visually confirm and switch the points from the top of this tower. There were also safety zones with unusual shapes. Usually they are rod-shaped, but the safety zone in front of the Yochisha was a wide area shaped like a right-angled triangle, allowing many Yochisha students to wait there.

On October 26, 1969, I went to visit the Hiroo Depot on the day it was to be closed. As you can imagine from the shape of the current Toei Apartments in Hiroo, it was a long, vertical depot, and there was a traverser to move the streetcars horizontally. I have included the photos I took at that time here.

(Mitsuaki Kato, Professor Emeritus of Keio University)