Last year during my year in Thailand, I jumped on a plane to meet some of my closest family in Tokyo (it was only a few hours from Bangkok). So, on Sunday morning, we went with our guide visiting the Imperial Palace (which you can’t go to, but the outside is beautiful and very quiet ). Our guide was a sommelier, and she even took us (after having some sushis) in a place where we tried some sparkling sake (try it, it’s an excellent experience!)
We made a few stops. I will try to tell you a little about the history.
The Ote mon Gate was the main gate of Tokugawa Shogunate’s Edo Castle. Daimyos (feudal lords) used to come to attend ceremonies held inside the castle through this gate. A smaller gate and a more massive gate form a right angle, the structure which was to slow the advance of intruders. Trapped between the two gates, intruders would come under attack from points of the more massive gate. The enormous gate was destroyed in an air raid in April 1945 during the Second World War and was rebuilt in 1967. The decorative aquatic animal in the square was once in place of the roof of the lost massive gate. The inscription on the head of the sculpture reads the year 1657.
This place is like the entrance, and you can understand why it was built: defensive purpose (you can imagine coming through this place, and if you weren’t welcome, you would just be trapped)
The Galerie where you can see the Flowers of felicitations
It’s more like a little museum where you can see artifacts from the family of the emperor like vases, plates.
The Doshin banco Guardhouse
It is one of the three remaining guardhouses of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s Edo Castle. When Daiymos (feudal lord) attended ceremonies in the Honmaru (the main compound), their retinues were not allowed in and had to wait around here for their masters to return from the service. In this guardhouse members of doshin, a relatively low ranking warrior class of the Shogunate, kept watch on the retinues.
The O Bansho Guardhouse is one of the three remaining guardhouses of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s Edo Castle. It was located at the final checkpoint before entering the Honmaru (the main compound) of the castle. Members or relatively high ranking Bushi class served here. Even the house was altered to a workshop in the latter half of the 19th century; the original shape was recovered in 1968.
The guardhouses are very similar in their architecture, and it was interesting to see them as in the backdrop, we could see all the gigantic buildings!
The Tenshu dai (it is the base of the main tower)
The stone walls were build in 1659 as the base of the main tower. The plan to make the tower on the walls was abandoned soon after. After Tokugawa Ieyasu entered Edo Castle in 1590, its central tower was built three times. The third and the last one built in 1638 was 58 meters high from the ground, the tallest and largest castle central tower ever built in Japan. It burnt down in the great fire in 1657. The rebuilding project was stopped on the completion of his base as an influential uncle of Tokugawa Shogun advised him that, given the stability of the Shogunate, a new main tower was no longer necessary to Edo Castle.
The Shiomi zaka Slope (Tide viewing slope)
One of the approaches from Ninomaru (the second compound) to Honmaru (the main compound) of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s Edo Castle. At the top of the slope stood the Shiomi-zaka-mon Gate. In the old days, the hill had commanded a beautiful view of an inter nearby, which was reclaimed later.
The Stonewall between Bairinzaka Slope and Shiomizaka Slope Stonewall in the Imperial Palace, which used to be part of Edo Castle, is specified as a unique historic site, Ruins of Edo Castle. This stonewall was redone between July 2002 and March 2005 to fix the deformed stonewall to its original state.
The stonewall construction is considered to have been greatly affected by a big fire called Meireki Conflagration, which occurred in 1657, the next year when the stonewall construction commenced in 1656. During the restoration works, a large number of roof tiles and others were found behind the stonewall.
The Sua -no-chay, the Tea House
This building was built in 1912 upon the order of Emperor Meiji, the great-grandfather of His Majesty, the Emperor. Initially, it stood in the Fukiage Gardens, the western part of the Imperial Palace. It was transfer in 1968 to the current place to add elegance to Ninomaru Garden.
The Ninomaru Garden
This area was Ninomary (the second compound) of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s Edo Castle. Though palaces were build and gardens were created here, repeated fires destroyed the area before the closing of the Shogunate period. The garden was established in 1964, modeling a garden that existed here in the mid-18th century.
When we went there last May, the flowers were blooming, it was wonderful. The garden is a charming Japenese garden as you could imagine it. It’s the perfect place to end up your visit to the Imperial Palace.
Enjoy Tokyo and history!
