Imperial Palace and Kitanomaru Park 10K Running Route

Getting there

Start at the statue of Wake no Kiyomaro, right next to Exit 2 of Takebashi Station on the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line. Both circuits start and end at the statue.

There is nowhere to leave bags at the start, but there is a running station in the Palaceside Building by Takebashi Station. Toilets are in Kitanomaru Park and along the Chidorigafuchi Greenway.

On the run

The first circuit is our 6.4 km route. Run counterclockwise past Hirakawamon to Takebashi, then climb along Daikancho-dori into Kitanomaru Park. The park path runs along the pond and up to a partly unpaved viewpoint above the Chidorigafuchi moat, then past the Nippon Budokan and through Tayasumon, one of the oldest surviving gates of Edo Castle. Outside the gate, climb Kudanzaka and run south along the cherry-lined Chidorigafuchi Greenway, then rejoin the moat loop past Hanzomon Gate and Sakuradamon and return along Uchibori-dori.

The second circuit, about 4.5 km, repeats the park, Tayasumon and the greenway. From the end of the greenway, it heads back east along the moat-side path on Daikancho-dori, past the National Museum of Modern Art, to the statue.