The empty Dewa-zaka slope stretched toward Shinanomachi without a single soul in sight

Dewa-zaka Slope in Minami-Motomachi, Shinjuku — Dewa-zaka Slope

When the word "slum" is uttered, the mind often drifts toward the sprawling expanse of Dharavi in Mumbai—immortalized by Slumdog Millionaire—or the stark imagery of Manila’s Smokey Mountain. In the hyper-modern cityscape of contemporary Tokyo, the concept of a "slum" feels like a geographical impossibility, a relic entirely purged from its polished exterior. Yet, history tells a different story. Deep within the urban fold, nestled between what are now Yotsuya and Shinanomachi Stations, there once existed a place called Samegahashi.

Centuries ago, long before the JR Samegahashi Guard was a waypoint for commuters, this area was a desolate marshland. During the Edo period, its unfavorable environment made it a natural site for okabasho—unlicensed pleasure districts. By the Meiji era, as the impoverished migrated from rural villages to the capital, the hollow developed into a dense, sprawling settlement.

The poverty here was so acute that it birthed a unique and grim economy. Residents, unable to afford basic staples like rice or vegetables, relied on vendors who sold leftover scraps of food collected from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy dormitories in nearby Ichigaya Honmura-cho. For these people, survival was literally a matter of living off the remnants of the elite.

Alongside Shiba Shin-ami and Shitaya Mannen-cho, Samegahashi was once infamous as one of Tokyo’s "Three Great Slums." Today, however, that history is almost entirely invisible. Wandering through the neighborhood, the scars of the past have been meticulously healed by time and concrete. The only voice speaking of its former life is a modest historical plaque displayed at the Samegahashi Sekitome Inari Shrine—a lone, quiet confession of the town's origins.

As I walked away, climbing the Dewazaka slope that rises from the valley floor toward Shinanomachi, the path stretched upward with a serene, nonchalant grace, as if the shadows of the old world had never touched its stones at all.

Dewa-zaka Slope on Google Map

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