Photo Gallery

Nijō Castle - 二条城 (built 1603 onward)

Nijō castle dominates the center of Kyoto. Built in 1603 by Togukawa Ieyesu, the first Shogun of a united Japan, it served as his official audience hall. Intended to impress visitors, the showy castle is more palace than fortress, with defenses designed for looks rather than combat. The cautious Shogun knew that the most likely avenue of attack would be from treachery within, so he had hidden guards posted in the rooms and "nightingale" floors that squeak at the lightest pressure. Regardless, the Shogun spent only a fraction of his time here, preferring to remain in the east where the real power centers were coalescing around Edo (Tokyo).

Nijō's floorplan derives from the copies of Heian-era mansions popular in the Muromachi period. Built in the 'Shinden' style, these comprise a main hall, called a shinden, flanked by subsidiary halls. South of the shinden is a large rectangular field that extends to the edge of a vast southern pond. From either side of the shinden hall, covered corridors extend southward to islands in the pond, framing the field between them. It is thought that noblemen held audiences in the courtyard and partied on boats in the pond. The cloistered atmosphere of the shinden mansions resulted from the small parcels of land available in Heian-Kyo (Kyoto).

Further influences were derived from Muromachi-era manshions constructed from the 14th through 17th centuries. Instead of a single shinden hall, these mansions are staggered into a number of diagonally linked 'shoins' (bays) which increase in privacy the further one is from the entrance. Depth of penetration into the palace is associated with social rank. Highly formal, the interiors are paved with tatami mats and aglow with rich decoration. Since emphasis is placed on progression, gates and thresholds become important moments of ostentation in the otherwise stark layout.

The Ninomaru Palace, constructed within the Nijō compound in 1626 for an imperial visit by the Emperor Go-Mizunoo, is strikingly similar to the Murumachi-era Hosokawa mansion. Both share the same staggered layout that recedes to the northwest, among other aspects. Because the staggering tends to elongate the southwest facade, the pond garden is located differently at Nijō for a better view. South of the main entry (and west of the pond) is a field entered through a formal gate (see plan below). This is a stylistic relic of the fields found in Heian-era shinden-style mansions.

Despite the glory of Nijō, it was used very rarely—three times for Ieyesu and twice for his successor, including the Imperial visit of Go-Mizunoo. When the Shoguns finally returned to Kyoto for visits at the close of the Togukawa era in the mid-1800s, the castle had lain empty for over two-hundred years. Curiously, the final Shogun decided to live in the castle for a time (there were more comfortable places), until the Meiji restoration abolished the Shogunate in 1868. From 1868 to 1884 the castle served as the Kyoto prefectural office and was not treated well. In 1939 the city took control and has since restored the structure as best it could, despite the loss of numerous buildings and the five-story castle keep over the years.

Though the architecture is the star attraction, the pond garden should not be overlooked. Designed by Korobi Enshu, the seminal figure in Japanese garden design, it remains a pleasant place.

Click on an arrow for a larger view.