Edo Castle
From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edo Castle (江戸城 Edo-jō), also known as
Chiyoda Castle (千代田城 Chiyoda-jō), is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan. It is located in
Chiyoda in
Tokyo, then known as Edo, Toshima
District,
Musashi Province.
Tokugawa Ieyasu established the
Tokugawa shogunate here. It was the residence of the shogun and location of the shogunate, and also functioned as the military capital during the
Edo period of
Japanese history. After the vacation of the shogun and the
Meiji Restoration, it became the
Tokyo Imperial Palace. Some moats, walls and ramparts of the castle survive to this day. However, the grounds were more extensive during the Edo period, with
Tokyo Station and the
Marunouchi section of the city lying within the outermost moat. It also encompassed
Kitanomaru Park, the
Nippon Budokan Hall and other landmarks of the surrounding area.
Gates
The inner citadels of the castle were protected by multiple large and small wooden gates (mon), constructed in-between the gaps of the stone wall. Not many are left today. From south to southwest to north, the main gates are located at Nijūbashi, Sakurada-mon, Sakashita-mon, Kikyō-mon, Hanzō-mon, Inui-mon, Ōte-mon, Hirakawa-mon and Kitahanebashi-mon. Only the stone foundations of the other gates (meaning the gap left in between the large stone walls for the wooden gates) are still preserved.
Large gates, such as the Ōte-mon, had a guard of
120 men, while the smaller gates were guarded by 30 to 70 armed men.
An eye-witness account is given by the
French director
François Caron from the
Dutch colony at
Dejima. He described the gates and courts being laid out in such a manner as to confuse an outsider.
Caron noted the gates were not placed in a straight line, but were staggered, forcing a person to make a 90 degree turn to pass on to the next gate. This style of construction for the main gates is called masugata (meaning "square"). As noted by Caron, the gate consisted of a square-shaped courtyard or enclosure and a two story gatehouse which is entered via three roofed kōrai-mon. The watari-yagura-mon was constructed at adjacent angles to each side within the gate. All major gates had large timbers that framed the main entry
point and were constructed to impress and proclaim the might of the shogunate.
- published: 04 Apr 2013
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