Edo Castle

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The main tower or donjon of Edo Castle, from a 17th century screen painting

The old Nijūbashi before it was replaced with a European-style bridge during the Meiji-era

View onto a moat, gate, turret and walls. None of the walls and many gates do not exist anymore

Sakurada-mon (left), the place where the Tairō Ii Naosuke was assassinated in 1860

Aerial view of the inner grounds of Edo Castle, today the location of Tokyo Imperial Palace

Edo Castle (江戸城 Edo-jō), also known under the name Chiyoda Castle (千代田城 Chiyoda-jō), is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan in what is now the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo, but was then known as Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate here, and as the residence of the shogun and location of the bakufu, it functioned as the military capital during the Edo period of Japanese history. During the Meiji Restoration, it became the residence of the Emperor of Japan, or in Japanese kōkyo. Some moats, walls and ramparts survive. However, during the Edo period, the grounds were much more extensive, with Tokyo Station and the Marunouchi section of the city lying within the outermost moat. It also encompassed Kita-no-maru Park, the Nippon Budokan Hall and other landmarks of the area.

1 Early history
2 Edo period
3 Modern Tokyo
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
7 Gallery: Castle in perspective

[edit] Early history

Around the end of the Heian or the beginning of the Kamakura period, Edo Shigetsugu became the first warrior to establish his base in the area. He built his residence in what is now the Honmaru and Ninomaru part of Edo Castle. The Edo clan perished in the fifteenth century as a result of uprisings in the Kantō region, and Ota Dokan, a retainer of the Ogigayatsu Uesugi family, built Edo Castle in 1457.

The castle came under the control of the Late Hōjō clan. The Siege of Odawara of 1590 left the castle vacant, and when Toyotomi Hideyoshi offered Tokugawa Ieyasu six eastern provinces, Ieyasu accepted, making Edo Castle his base. He later defeated Toyotomi Hideyori, son of Hideyoshi, at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, and emerged as the political leader of Japan.

[edit] Edo period

Tokugawa Ieyasu received the title of Seii Taishogun in 1603. Edo Castle was the center of Tokugawa administration. The grounds grew with the addition of Nishinomaru, Nishinomaru-shita, Fukiage, and Kitanomaru to the existing Honmaru, Ninomaru, and Sannomaru. The perimeter measured 16 km. Ieyasu mobilized the daimyo to carry out the construction, which reached completion in 1636, while his grandson Iemitsu was shogun.

Originally, Edo Castle had a tenshu, or central donjon, in the style typical of castles of Japan. However, the tenshu was destroyed along with many other sections of the castle grounds in the 1657 Meireki fire; it was never rebuilt. Despite this, jidaigeki (such as Abarembo Shogun) set in Edo usually depict Edo Castle as having a donjon, and substitute Himeji Castle for that purpose.

On April 21, 1701, in Matsu no Ōrōka (the Great Pine Corridor) of Edo Castle, Asano Takumi-no-kami drew his short sword and attempted to kill Kira Kōzuke-no-suke for terribly insulting him. This triggered the events of the Forty-seven Ronin.

After the capitulation of the Shogunate, the inhabitants including the Shogun had to vacate the premises and the emperor and his court moved in. The Edo castle compound was renamed Tokyo-jō (東京城, "Tokyo castle") in October, 1868, and then renamed Kōjō (皇城, "Imperial castle") in 1869.

Meiji 2, on the 23rd day of the 10th month (1868): The emperor went to Tokyo; and Edo castle became an Imperial palace.^[1]

A fire resulting from the carelessness of a chambermaid in improperly extinguishing some embers consumed the whole of the old Edo Castle on the night of 5 May 1873. The area around the old donjon, which burned in the 1657 Meireki fire, became the site of the new Imperial Palace Kyūjō (宮城, "Palace castle") built in 1888. The imperial palace building itself however is not on the same location as the Shogun's palace, which was locatedin the Honmaru.

After World War II and the destruction of the Meiji-era palace, the new palace was constructed on the western part of the site. The whole area was renamed Kōkyo (皇居, "Imperial Palace", literally "Imperial Residence") in 1948. The east part was renamed Higashi-Gyoen (東御苑, "East Garden") and is as a park since 1968 (It is opened from 9:00 to 16:00 except on Monday and Friday).

[edit] Modern Tokyo

Many place names in Tokyo derive from Edo Castle. Ōtemachi ("the town in front of the great gate"), Takebashi ("the Bamboo Bridge"), Toranomon ("the Tiger Gate"), Uchibori Dōri ("Inner Moat Street"), Sotobori Dōri ("Outer Moat Street"), and Marunouchi ("Within the enclosure") are examples.