Nijo (Samurai) Castle

Continuing the Kyoto trip . . .

Originally built in 1603 as the residence of the shogun (the de facto leader of Japan), it was used by the Tokugawa shogunate until 1867 when sovereignty was formally returned to the emperor and the castle became the property of the imperial family.

With inner and outer moats, it was defensible as well as ornate.  And of course, a display of wealth to this degree is also a display of power.  Within the outer moat is an area of almost 70 acres, including nearly 80,000 square feet of buildings and numerous scenic gardens.

Unfortunately this is another area where photography was not allowed indoors.  There are many, many valuable paintings (on screens, walls and even ceilings) to protect.  Besides the paintings, the other real highlight from inside the castle are the “nightingale” floors, which are designed to chirp when you walk on them so that intruders and other unexpected guests are easy to detect. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the details.

Logan zooms down the path.  This was about the time that he and Naomi both were mobbed by a group of Korean tourists. 
On a side note, we got very curious, quizzical and slightly incredulous looks from many people (including the aforementioned Korean group) when they asked us where we were from and we told them we live in Okinawa. 

At the gardens, post-mobbing.

Granted, I think she was definitely one of the cutest things I saw all day, but I still don’t quite understand why a complete stranger would want to take a picture of her or with her.  Oh well!

  A tranquil garden scene.

This is looking back from the exterior wall towards the second palace—yes, there are two of them in there.  While you get to tour every room of the main palace (which is more specifically called Ninomaru Palace), this second one, Honmaru Palace, is completely closed to visitors.

A teahouse overlooking another one of the gardens, and, if you look close, a turtle hanging out (probably half-frozen) in the pond.

Much more still to come . . .