The Kokyo (皇居), Imperial Palace

The Kokyo (皇居),  Imperial Palace 

 

From Nakano Station (中野驛) where I am, I can take the Tozai Line (東西線) and get off at Takebashi Station (竹橋驛) to reach the Imperial Palace (皇居). However, today I took a slightly different route. 

In reality, the inner area of the Imperial Palace where the Emperor resides is not open to the public, and only the Kokyo Higashi Gyoen (東皇居御苑), which can be considered the garden of the Imperial Palace, and the Kokyo Gaien (皇居外苑) are open for public viewing.

 

Usually, when I get off at Takebashi Station (竹橋驛), I cross this Hirakawa Bridge (平川橋) and enter through Hirakawa Gate (平川門), but today we went in through Kita-hanebashi Gate (北桔橋門), which is a bit further up. The bridge you see in the picture is Hirakawa Bridge.

 

Kita-hanebashi Gate (北桔橋門) comes into view. The castle walls are quite high, reaching about 20 meters from the moat.

 

Here's a map of the East Garden. The Kita-hanebashi Gate (北桔橋門) where we entered is located around the 11 o'clock position. And the gate we exited from is the Ote-mon Gate (大手門), situated around the 3 o'clock position.

 

 

This place that looks like a small pyramid is where the main keep, or tenshukaku (天守閣) –the tallest building often seen in Japanese castles – used to stand. Now, only the foundation remains. Originally, the Imperial Palace was Edo Castle (江戶城), which was used by the Tokugawa shogunate. After the Meiji Restoration, the shogunate was overthrown, and it became the residence of the Emperor. The imperial residence (gosho, 御所) was destroyed by fire in 1873 and rebuilt in 1888, but it burned down again in the 1945 air raids, leading to its reconstruction.

 

Tenshukaku ruins.

 

The path leading down to O-bansho (大番所)

 

 

These pine trees somehow remind me of Osaka Castle.

 

The weather was so hot that it was a bit tiring to explore the entire garden thoroughly, especially since the East Garden alone is over 200,000 square meters. We walked slowly towards the Ote-mon Gate (大手門), taking pictures along the way.

 

There are many fish patterns throughout the Imperial Palace. It reminds me of reading an article before that speculated on the relationship between the ancient Korean kingdom of Gaya and the Japanese imperial family, using the example of Gaya's twin fish emblem.

The moat and Kikyo Gate (桔梗門)

 

A building on the Fukiaage Goshō (吹上御所) side, where the Emperor resides. It was quite a distance away, but my 300mm zoom lens did a great job capturing it.

 

Building of the Imperial Household Agency

 

The Kokyo Gaien (皇居外苑) feels just like a regular park. I've passed through it before on a bicycle trip. Benches, pigeons, kissing couples... it felt very European.

 

Kusunoki Masashige was a figure who contributed greatly to the downfall of the Kamakura shogunate by assisting Emperor Go-Daigo, and he is a symbolic figure of loyalty to the Emperor. Even now, he stands guard before the Imperial Palace.