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NIJO CASTLE

SYMBOL OF THE TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE’S POWER AND INFLUENCE IN OLD KYOTO

NIJO CASTLE AT A GLANCE

FEATURES Moated castle with 3 main areas: Ninomaru Palace, Hinomaru inner compound and encircling gardens.

ACCESS From Kyoto JR stn, 15 mins by taxi or 20 mins by city bus 9, 50 or 101.

PRACTICALITIES 8.45–16.00 (gate closes 17.00). ¥600. Closed Tuesdays in July, Aug, Dec, Jan. Audio guide ¥500. Castle office tel. (075) 841-0096; fax (075) 802-6181. Allow up to 2 hours for a visit.

EVENTS March–April: Cherry blossom (over 400 trees). Early Aug: Tanabata Festival and illumination. Mid-Oct–Nov: Castle festival.

DATELINE

1603—Construction by Tokugawa Ieyasu

1626—Addition by Tokugawa Iemitsu of Ninomaru Palace

1867—Tokugawa Yoshinobu cedes castle to the emperor

1939—Emperor donates castle to the city of Kyoto

From 1603 to 1867, Japan was ruled by Tokugawa shoguns who lived in Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Nijo Castle was their base in Kyoto, serving as a reminder to the emperor in the nearby Imperial Palace of the shogunate’s watchful eyes. It is not so much for its military function that the castle is admired, however, but for the lavishly decorated palace that lies within. The rooms there speak even more eloquently of Tokugawa power than the mighty walls that surround them.

The castle was erected in 1603 by the founding figure of the dynasty, Tokugawa Ieyasu. It was enlarged and completed by his grandson Iemitsu, who relocated items from Fushimi Castle built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. These included a massive five-storey tower, which afforded views over the imperial palace until it burnt down in 1750. By that time, Tokugawa rule was so stable that reconstruction was considered unnecessary. The ruined steps of the tower can, however, still be seen today.

The Karamon (Chinese-style gate), brought here from Fushimi Castle, has a curved cypress bark roof above carvings of auspicious items.

The view from the Donjon (the keep) looks across the castle’s spacious grounds towards Mt Hiei and the Eastern Hills. In total, the castle measures 1,640 feet (500 meters) by 1,312 feet (400 meters).

The bridge over the inner moat connects the Ninomaru Palace area with the Honmaru (main enclosure).

Schoolchildren file past the entrance to the Ninomaru Palace, beyond which is a series of five lavishly decorated buildings with a total of 33 rooms.

The layout of the castle comprises two concentric rings within an outer and inner moat. Visitors enter over the outer moat and through the eastern gate, passing before a guardhouse with figures dressed in period costume. A Chinese-style gate brought from Fushimi Castle gives onto the Ninomaru Palace, highlight of the visit. It consists of five connected buildings, made almost entirely from cypress, which are arranged in staggered form like the formation of geese in flight. The Nightingale Corridors, popular with tourists, have an inbuilt alarm system by which the floorboards squeak when anyone approaches.

The Ninomaru Palace buildings extend in zig-zag form towards the pond garden n structures that seem separate but are connected by corridors. In the distance, the Shiro Shoin once housed the private rooms of the shogun.

The Seiryu-en Garden on the north side of the castle was created in 1965 and has over a thousand rocks in all.

There are 33 rooms in all, with over 800 tatami mats, and in keeping with the rigid ranking of Tokugawa society there is a strict hierarchy. The first building was for reception of imperial messengers and the second for reception of feudal lords by shogunate ministers. The third was for meetings of the shogun with the so-called Outer Lords, while the fourth was for trusted allies of the shogun known as Inner Lords. (It was in one of the rooms here that the fifteenth Tokugawa shogun, Yoshinobu, signed his resignation in 1867, bringing to an end the shogunate form of government and marking the birth of modern Japan.) The fifth and final area was the shogun’s private area, in which only female attendants were allowed.

The decor throughout is tailored to the room: intimidating images in the outer chambers, large-scale pines to suggest grandeur in the audience rooms, gentle landscapes in the residential quarters. The painters were directed by Kano Tanyu, top artist of the age, and in one famous picture a hawk surveys its surrounds as if the eyes of the shogunate were surveying the land. (Over 1,000 paintings are currently being replaced by replicas. The originals are occasionally displayed in a special gallery.)

To the southwest of Ninomaru Palace lies a garden attributed to the primary landscape architect of early Tokugawa times, Kobori Enshu. A three-tiered waterfall feeds a pond that has a central Horai Island (Chinese symbol of Eternal Happiness), together with Crane and Turtle Islands representing good luck. The starkness of the rock arrangements lends the garden a rugged feeling, in keeping with the military might of the shogunate. According to tradition, Iemitsu did not want anything to remind him of life’s transience, so there were originally no deciduous trees or plants, which would have heightened the effect.

The route back to the entrance leads past the Honmaru, an 1847 building from the Imperial Palace grounds donated by Prince Katsura. The Seiryu-en is a modern garden built by the city in 1965 for official events, with two teahouses and over 1,000 stones. Each cherry blossom season there is a special evening illumination, while in early June and November tea masters perform ceremonies for the public. A castle that was built to satisfy a shogun now serves the pleasure of the people.

The Honmaru Garden and Villa lie within the innermost compound of the castle. The building stood originally in the former Imperial Park and belonged to Prince Katsura, but was relocated here in 1893.

A turret guards the southeast corner of the castle, though the fortress was more of a shogunate showcase than a military base.

The Ninomaru Garden was designed specially for the visit of Emperor Go-Mizunoo in 1626, with a carp pond enhanced by careful rock placement and islands representing auspicious symbols.