Yanaka is the rare Tokyo neighborhood that didn’t get rebuilt — twice. The temple compounds along Yanaka-zaka and the cemetery’s grid still hold their century-old hinoki and somei-yoshino. From late morning through 4 PM in July, the wall-shadow lattice between the temples covers almost everything.
These picks all stay east of Yanaka-ginza and skip the cemetery main path (no shade — wide-open paving stones). The Sendagi-station approach via the cemetery’s northeast walls is, however, the most reliable cool walk in old Tokyo. We route it as the default if you’re coming from Nippori.