Nijo Castle

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 In 1601 Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of Tokugawa Shogunate, decided he needed a residence for the Tokugawa Shoguns in Kyoto.  He ordered all the feudal lords in Western Japan to contribute to the construction of the Nijō Castle. The construction on the castle began, but Ieyasu died before it was done.  It was completed by his successor, Tokugawa Iemitsu, in 1626.

Here is a map of the castle grounds.  There was construction being done on the main gate and it was covered by scaffolding and mesh, so we didn't get to see that. 

One of the things we found to be most interesting was the amount of fortifications that were created to protect the Shogunate.  On the outside of the complex, there is a wall with turrets at the corners and an outer moat.  For additional protection, there is an additional wall and an inner moat to protect Honmaru Palace.  Ninomaru Palace--where the shogun conducted business and ran the country--has a wall built around it to provide it additional protection as well.

Upon walking through the gate, we saw this display of samurai warriors reminding us that this place was the hub of all things samurai.

After going through the main gate, Audra began throwing a tantrum, some of us had to go to the bathroom, and most of the kids were complaining that they were hungry.  To the left is the Ninomaru Palace.  We went to the right toward the bathrooms and souvenir shop.  The souvenir shop had some snacks for the kids and really cool stuff that they all wanted.  Unfortunately, we spent way too much time eating and shopping.  By the time we got the kids all out the door to explore Nijo Castle, we only had a little over an hour before we had to leave to make it on time for our tour of the Imperial Palace.
We walked past the gardens, which were mainly pine trees. 

This is the inner moat and east bridge for the Honmaru Palace. 

The five-story central keep or donjon was struck by lightning and burned to the ground in 1750.  It was never rebuilt.  The rock foundation is still intact, however, and we climbed to the top.  This is the view toward the complex....and the Honmaru Palace.  The Inner Castle or Honmaru was destroyed in 1788, during one of the fires that ravaged the mostly wooden Kyoto. It was replaced with these buildings, which used to be a part of the Katsura Imperial Palace.  Originally the palace had 55 buildings, but only a small part was relocated to this spot.  This palace is only open a couple of times a year, so we didn't get to see the inside of it. The inside of the palace displays paintings by several famous art masters.

From the top of the central gate keep we also saw this view of the inner moat and the plum blossom garden on the other side...

....and this west bridge over the inner moat.

After walking through the plum tree grove, we came to the main gate to the Ninomaru Palace.  Wow!  Look at this gate!!

This gate is called the Karamon and used to be at the Fushimi Castle, but was moved here to demonstrate the prestige and power of the Shogunate.

After walking through the Karamon Gate, we came to the Ninomaru Palace.  Finally!  So exciting that we were able to go inside this place!!  Such an important part of Japanese history!

 This carving was above the entrance to the palace.

After changing our shoes for slippers, we quickly went through this palace.  It is very old and in need of some repairs in order to preserve this extremely important building.  They are working on the main gate first and then will move on to the Ninomaru Palace.  There were signs everywhere asking for donations.
Photographs are prohibited inside Ninomaru, but somehow we ended up with three pictures on our cameras.  This is the ceiling to the hallway.

And this is another ceiling.  The walls were sliding doors covered with washi paper.  It felt cold and drafty, like walking through a really old, musty house that hasn't been used for a very long time.  The woodwork above the sliding doors was exquisite.

This is one of the sliding doors.  The paintings on all of the doors and walls are not the originals, just replicas.  The original ones are housed in a separate building and you have to pay more money to get in to see them. 

Since photographs are prohibited in Ninomaru Palace, the following pictures are ones downloaded from the internet:

Ninomaru Palace is a series of rooms, one leading into another.  The people who entered the palace would be admitted into the rooms according to their rank as well as how trusted they were by the shogun.  One of the most striking features of Nijo Castle is the "nightingale floor" in the corridors. To protect the occupants from sneak attacks and assassins, the builders constructed the floors of the corridors in such a way so that they would squeak like birds when anyone walked on them.

 

The Tozamurai is the first room and was used as a waiting room for the feudal lords and samurai who had come to the Nijo Castle. The sliding doors for this room has a tiger and leopard drinking water. Tigers and leopards next to each other were often drawn on sliding doors during this time period, and it was thought that leopards were female tigers--which means that these two are a couple.

The next room is called the Shikidai, which was the formal reception room for the elders of the shogun council.

Next, we have the Ohiroma, or "Grand Rooms".  This is where a lot of business took place.  It is divided into a couple of different rooms. 

There are drawings of an eagle and two hawks in the Ohiroma Yon-no-ma. This is the most famous screen in the Ninomaru Palace, probably because these birds of prey were thought to display the qualities of the shogun. When the shogun visited Kyoto, it is said that this room is where his weapons were kept.



This part of the Ohiroma had these mannequins to show the importance of this area.  THIS SPOT IS A BIG DEAL!  This Grand Chamber was used as a meeting room between the shogun and the feudal lords.  Notice how the daimyo was on the floor facing the shogun, but the shogun's space was raised to illustrate his dominance over the daimyo.  To the left of the shogun, there was a closet where guards would be watching the shogun and ready to fight in case anyone tried to overpower him.  When the daimyo were dismissed to leave, they would remain in a kneeling position and scoot out backwards, always facing the shogun.

 

This room is the very spot where, in October of 1867, the shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu summoned the country's feudal lords together and declared that he was returning the control of Japan to the Imperial Court.  This is the place where 700 hundred years of Japan's control by the shogun ended.  A way of life--the samurai--was vanquished during this meeting. 

(The historical background for this:  In the 1100's, fighting between samurai warrior groups led to the collapse of the central government at Kyoto.  To restore order in the country, the emperor appointed the victor of the fighting, Minamoto Yoritomo, as Japan's first shogun in 1185. While a form of civil government continued under the emperor at Kyoto, he exercised no real authority.  The shogun was, in reality, in complete control of Japan.  He was supported in power by his samurai warrior vassals. The title of shogun became hereditary, and this form of military dictatorship continued in Japan until 1867.) 

This meeting was the birth of the Meiji Restoration.  Prior to this meeting, Japan had been isolated from the rest of the world.  Emperor Meiji, at the insistence of U.S. Admiral Matthew Perry, presided over the ushering in of modernization and Westernization into Japan.

SUCH AN AWESOME ROOM!!!  Moving on......

The Kuro-Shoin, or the Inner Audience Chambers.  It was smaller than the Ohiroma and was used as a room for meetings. On the screens are sakura (cherry) trees featuring a few remaining buds that reminds one of early spring.

Finally, there is the Shiro-Shoin.  This was the shogun's living quarters.  The only people allowed in this room was the shogun and the ladies who waited on him.  This room was a surprise because all of the rooms thus far were so beautiful and colorful, yet this room had ink paintings on the wall.  It was dark and uninviting.  The paintings are intricate and detailed, but lack any color. 

 

When the shogun stepped down and gave control over Japan back to the emperor, he also gave Nijo Castle to the Imperial Court.  The Imperial Court moved in during the spring on 1868, and Nijo Castle was used as part of the Imperial Palace while plans were under way to move the capital of Japan to Tokyo.

Nijo Castle was so amazing!  The fortifications were extensive.  The gates, especially Karamon Gate, were beautiful and large.  Ninomaru Palace was like something out of a dream......so beautiful inside and out.  We looked at every room, but we had to do it fast and then biked like crazy people to make our tour at the Kyoto Imperial Palace. 

If we have one big regret from our time in Kyoto, it would be that we just didn't have enough time here.  One needs to take about 3 hours to really take in all of the history and the many cool things to see at Nijo Castle, and we breezed through it in about 1 1/2 hours.  Grrrr....why do kids have to eat and go to the bathroom???