Musashi-Seki Station (RotW)

RotW is my Railways of the Warrior project. Visiting all the Japanese train stations with Fuji in the name & the 12 castles with the original keep still standing wasn’t enough to satisfy my love of lists, so now I’m working through all the stations with Musashi in their name.

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Name in kanji : 武蔵関
Kanji meaning: barrier, gate
Station opened : 1927
Trainlines: Seibu Shinjuku
# Passengers daily : 28,803
Distance from CityHillsAndSea HQ: 73km
Located in: Nerima, Tokyo

Things to Do

There is a park. That is all.

All About Musashi-Seki Station

Another sleepy little Musashi without much of particular excitement going on around it. But you know what? I really liked this one.

Musashi-Seki is in Nerima ward, north west of the centre of Tokyo on the Seibu Shinjuku Line. It’s not an express stop, so to get to Tokyo as fast as possible you need to ride the train one stop and change. If you’re heading in the other direction, there’s three or four stops between you and the next express stop up that way, Takanashi.

I can’t figure out if this is why the area has such a lovely relaxed vibe. I imagine other factors may have been involved. Such as the fact that it’s spring at long last, with glorious sunshine and temperatures warm enough to make you forget about how many blankets you were using just a week ago. Connected to that could be the blossoms on the wane, scattering their petals to the wind with every rushing whoosh of the passing trains. Perhaps it was the fact that the only thing to do in Musashi-Seki was walk around a little park, which was a delight -there was a little pond with ducks & rowboats for hire, plenty of people out in the sun enjoying themselves and yet it didn’t feel busy or crowded.

Other than the park, there’s little else that I could find to put Musashi-Seki on the map – there’s a nice enough temple on the north side of the station, although it’s fairly standard Nichiren fare.

Despite all this ordinariness – or perhaps because of it – I left Musashi-Seki thinking that it was yet another Musashi I wouldn’t mind moving to.

Station Rating

I wouldn’t set aside a block of time to make a visit to Musashi-Seki but should you find yourself in the area for whatever reason, I’d recommend a trip to the park. Especially if it’s sunny.