At the request of the mysterious Buddhist monk Tenkai, the first shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, appropriated the northern Edo homes of three distant samurai lords in order to build the temple Kaneiji.

Known as the “demon gate,” Kaneiji was built northeast of Edo Castle, the unlucky direction from whence evil spirits are believed to come. Kaneiji became a favorite religious retreat of the Tokugawa family, with six shogun now buried within the temple’s mausoleum.

After 250 years of peace the temple was site of the fierce final battle of the Boshin War, when 2,000 loyal retainers of the shogunate holed up inside its walls, only to be defeated by Imperial troops with the aid of cannons and Snider guns, ending the resistance and ushering in the westernization of Japan.

In the aftermath, the powers that be discussed turning the land of the destroyed temple into a hospital or school, but Dutch military doctor Anthonius Franciscus Bauduin fiercely argued that the beautiful land known as Mount Ueno be turned into Japan’s first public park (America’s first national park, Yellowstone, was opened a year earlier).

For once, a foreigner’s advice was heeded, and Ueno Park was built. The land is now home to museums designed by architects Le Corbusier and Kunio Maekawa, 1,200 cherry trees, Xiang Xiang the baby panda and a statue of Bauduin himself, which was redone in 2006 after they realized the bronze bust was in fact his brother’s. A clump of the monk Tenkai’s hair is also buried at Ueno Park.

Most recently, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen station, which delivered tourists to Ueno’s museums and zoo until 1997, was restored as a modern art museum.

Follow the rabbit to the museum’s latest exhibit, as well as a slew of other riveting events happening in Tokyo this weekend.

Wandering into the Rabbit Hole

Japanese Swords Dedicated to the Deities