Gotenyama, or Palace Hill, was the southernmost projection of the Shinagawa heights. It overlooked the Meguro River to the south and the Tokaido highway to the east as the road passed through the narrow settlement of Shinagawa, gateway to the city of Edo. The palace for which it was named was ascribed to Ota Dokan, the fourteenth-century founder of Edo, and was the suburban retreat of the early Tokugawa shoguns. After the shogunal villa burned, Gotenyama became one of the city's most popular flower-viewing sites.