Kiyosumi & Fukagawa: the canals and the coffee
A Meiji garden of carried stones, Blue Bottle's first Japan shop, and the birthplace of sumo. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Kiyosumi Teien
The *teien* (landscaped garden) the Mitsubishi founder Iwasaki Yataro laid out in the 1880s, with fifty-odd named stones carried from across Japan and a ring of stepping stones — the *isowatari* — set just above the water. Walk the stones slowly; that's the whole point of them.

2. Blue Bottle Coffee Kiyosumi-Shirakawa
The roastery that opened in 2015 as Blue Bottle's first shop in Japan, in a converted warehouse on a quiet back street. You don't have to queue for it — there's third-wave coffee on most corners now — but this is the one that started Kiyosumi's run.

3. Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
A short detour east into Kiba Park brings you to MOT — the big municipal contemporary collection, reopened after a long refit. Go in for the permanent rooms if the weather turns; skip it and keep walking if the morning's holding.

4. Fukagawa Fudo-do
The Tokyo branch of Naritasan, loud where the garden was quiet. Time it for one of the daily *goma* fire rituals — drums, chanting, a wall of flame behind the priest — and stand at the back. It runs several times a day.

5. Tomioka Hachimangu
The *jinja* (shrine) where organised sumo began in 1684 — the *yokozuna* stones in the precinct carry the grand champions' names, still being added to. The biggest *shitamachi* festival in Tokyo runs from here every August.

6. Monzen-nakacho
The old temple-gate town, named for exactly that. Streets of cheap izakaya and standing bars open early. Both the Tozai and Oedo lines run from here when you're done.

Kiyosumi & Fukagawa: the canals and the coffee