East Garden 1

Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Mon 16 Oct 2017 22:37
East Garden of the Imperial Palace, Tokyo
 
 
 
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Tipping with rain when we left our hotel, we had hoped that by the time we arrived to visit the East Garden of the Imperial Palace, that it would have stopped, but no, the drizzle just kept on and on. We crossed the moat and giggled as we watched a koi seeing off a swan, so busy looking down, I forgot all about taking pictures of the entrance.
 
 
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We went through the inner gates, very impressive and thick they were too. Free admission, we collected a ticket from a nice, white-gloved man and promised to return it before we left, that done on we went.
 
 
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Doshin-bansho Guardhouse is one of the three remaining guardhouses of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s Edo Castle. When daimyos (feudal lords) 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 ceremony. In this guardhouse members of the doshin, a relatively low ranking warrior class of the Shogunate, kept watch on the retinues.
 
 
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We rounded the corner of a very impressive wall.
 
 
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To find an even bigger guardhouse. The Hyaku-nin-bansho Guardhouse was positioned in the most critical point to guard the entrance to the Honmaru (the main compound) of the Tokugawa Shogunate's Edo Castle. Hyaku-nin means 100 persons, 4 teams, each consisting of 120 guards, stationed the house in shifts day and night.
 
 

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All the way along the wall were beautifully trimmed bushes and pine trees.
 
 
Shiomi-zaka Slope
 
The Shiomizaka Slope.
 
The first of the seven information boards about the wall. Stonewall in the Imperial Palace, which used to be part of the Edo Castle, is specified as a special historic sites, ‘Ruins of Edo Castle’. Stonewall between Bairinzaka Slope and Shiomizaka Slope was restored between July 2002 and March 2005 in order to fix deformed stonewall to its original state.
A cultural asset investigation was carried out simultaneously with the above restoration works. Stonewall construction is considered to have been greatly affected by a big fire called ‘Meireki Conflagration’ which occured in 1657, the next year when the stonewall construction commenced in 1656. ( ??? I’m lost) During the restoration works, a large quantity of roof tiles and others were found behind the stonewall.
 
 
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Nijyu-yagura (Two storied keep)
two storied keep, which used to be called ‘Shiomi taiko-Yagura’, had been built at the corner of stonewall in Bairinzaka slope. Inside the stonewall having a height of 11 meters above the ground level and being constructed around the two storied keep, broken pieces of roof tiles had been backfilled over a height of 8 meters. Most of the tile fragments were burnt and turned red or were melted down by the heat.
Toshosha-Ishigaki (Toshosha Shrine Stonewall)
Toshosha Shrine had been erected to enshrine Shogun leyasu Tokugawa before the stonewall was constructed. It was found during the restoration works that the stonewall for Toshosha Shrine had been utilized as underground part of the stonewall. OK, I have lost the will and scored three points for a refusal to type out the other six information boards, I just wish there was somewhere to get a cup of tea.........
 
 
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I do love a ‘You are Here’ map.
 
 
Tokyo Imperial Palace  Imperial Palace Japan 1979
 
The Imperial Palace from an old print and in 1979.
 
 
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A panoramic view of the Imperial Palace (thank you Wiki)

 

The Tokyo Imperial Palace is the primary residence of the Emperor of Japan. It is a large park-like area located in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo and contains buildings including the main palace , the private residences of the Imperial Family, an archive, museums and administrative offices.

It is built on the site of the old Edo Castle. The total area including the gardens is 1.32 square miles. During the height of the 1980’s Japanese property bubble, the palace grounds were valued by some to be more than the value of all of the real estate in the state of California.

 

 

Seimon Ishibashi Bridge

 

 The Seimon Ishibashi Bridge

 

The East Garden is where most of the administrative buildings for the Imperial Palace are located and encompasses the former Honmaru and Ninomaru areas of Edo Castle, a total of 2,300,000 square feet. Located on the grounds of the East Garden is the Imperial Tokagakudo Music Hall, the Music Department of the Board of Ceremonies of the Imperial Household, the Archives and Mausolea Department Imperial Household Agency, structures for the guards such as the Saineikan dojo, and the Museum of the Imperial Collections.

Several structures that were added since the Meiji period were removed over time to allow construction of the East Garden. In 1932, the kuretake-ryō was built as a dormitory for imperial princesses, however this building was removed prior to the construction of the present gardens. Other buildings such as stables and housing were removed to create the East Garden in its present configuration.

Construction work began in 1961 with a new pond in the Ninomaru, as well as the repair and restoration of various keeps and structures from the Edo period. On the 30th of May 1963, the area was declared by the Japanese government a "Special Historic Relic" under the Cultural Properties Protection Law.

The East Garden of the Imperial Palace is located the east of the Imperial Palace and under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Household Agency. It is open to the public for free in the daytime except Monday, Friday and Year-end and New Year holidays. You can enter the garden through 3 entrances; Otemon Gate, Hirakawamon Gate and Kitahanebaschimon Gate. There are the remains of the former Edo Castle such as gates, bansho (guard house) and stonewalls, Ninomaru Garden, a grove, etc. The site of Honmaru is now a large lawn field and familiar to citizens as a relaxing place.

 

 

Bomb damage

 

From 1888 to 1948, the compound was called Palace Castle. On the night of the 25th of May 1945, most structures of the Imperial Palace were destroyed in the Allied firebombing raid on Tokyo. According to the US bomber pilot Richard Lineberger, Emperor's Palace was the target of their special mission on the 29th of July 1945, and was hit with the 2000-pound bombs. In August 1945, in the closing days of World War II, Emperor Hirohito met with his Privy Council and made decisions culminating in the surrender of Japan at an underground air-raid shelter on the palace grounds referred to as His Majesty's Library

Due to the large-scale destruction of the Meiji-era palace, a new main palace hall and residences were constructed on the western portion of the site in the 1960’s. The area was renamed Imperial Residence in 1948, while the eastern part was renamed East Garden and became a public park in 1968.

The place was once the center of the former Edo Castle and there was the castle tower, Honmaru (the castle’s keep), Ninomaru (second bailey), Sannomaru (third bailey) and so on. After the Emperor Meiji moved to the present Imperial Palace, facilities related to the Imperial family and the Imperial Household Agency were built there. It was open to the public in 1968 and became a popular sightseeing spot.
The castle tower was burnt down in the Great Fire of Meireki in 1657 and after that it was not reconstructed and there remains only the foundation. It was used as the final strongpoint but it became unnecessary because peace came to Japan by the rule of Edo Bakufu (Shogunate government) in these days. Masayuki Hoshina, a cabinet official of the Shogunate thought the government should put the restoration of Edo (the former name of Tokyo) city before everything else and it was not rebuilt.

Honmaru was the place where the Shogun (the hereditary military dictator of Japan) and government officials of the Shogunate carried out political affairs and also the Shogun, his wife and maids lived. After burnt down in 1863 it was not rebuilt to this day. The place Honmaru was located is now a large lawn field.

Ninomaru was the place a villa of the Shogun and a palace of his heir were located. A garden and teahouses were also built there. The buildings were burnt down in 1863 and they were not rebuilt after that. When the East Garden of the Imperial Palace was open, Ninomaru Garden was built based on the drawing of a garden that was created in the era of the ninth Shogun, Ieshige Tokugawa (1745 - 1760). It is a beautiful garden having a pond in the center. Suwano-chaya Tea House near Ninomaru Garden was once located in Fukiage Garden of the Imperial Palace and rebuilt in 1912 and relocated to the present place according to the open. It is an elegant Japanese architecture. A grove nearby was created from 1982 to 1985 in accordance with the wish of the Emperor Showa to preserve disappearing nature.

Sannomaru was open area except the treasury and a small palace, and it was used as a waiting place for retainers of Daimyo (a feudal lord) who accompanied Daimyo when he went to Edo Castle. Now there are facilities related to the Imperial family and the Imperial Household Agency. You can enter the place except Otemon Gate and Sannomaru Shozokan (The Museum of the Imperial Collections). Sannomaru Shozokan is a facility for research, preservation and exhibition of the works of art, which were donated by the Imperial family, and was opened in 1993. No admission fee is required.

 

 

 

 

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