Nijo Castle - Kyoto, Japan

Ninomaru Palace

Karamon Gate

Gold Trimmings

love this motifs

Very well preserved

Japanese Sago Palm, covered with rice straw to protect from the cold winter time

Honmaru

Gold Koi

Crane Interior

Honmaru Palace

Nijo Castle was built in 1603 as the Kyoto residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo Period (1603-1867). His grandson Iemitsu completed the castle's palace buildings 23 years later and further expanded the castle by adding a five story castle keep. After the Tokugawa Shogunate fell in 1867, Nijo Castle was used as an imperial palace for a while before being donated to the city and opened up to the public as a historic site. Its palace buildings are arguably the best surviving examples of castle palace architecture of Japan's feudal era, and the castle was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1994.

Pictures by MSW

12:40 PM