Thank you very much for joining the tour of the day.
Before reporting, why not we celebrate TV drama, SHOGUN’s record breaking Emmy Award wins in this month including best actor whose role was SHOGUN, a character modeled after a real SHOGUN, TOKUGAWA Ieyasu, who established the current East Garden of the Imperial Palace premise, formerly Tokugawa Shogunate castle.
Japan Celebrates Historic Emmy Award Wins for ‘Shogun’
The drama is a fiction but it is based on the real historical events and figures including Shogun and his British retainer, William Adams. What surprised us was that the drama scripts are mostly Japanese and actors were mostly Japanese although it was broadcasted worldwide and gained popularity.
On the tour, guides discussed this award-winning drama with guests. We hosted 19 guests from USA, Poland, Canada, Germany, Australia, Portuguese and Netherland. Some of the guests were willing to watch the show. That made them more curious about the East Garden we escorted.
It was a tremendous opportunity for us to meet wonderful guests from many countries and share interesting conversations. As promised, group photos and snapshots are attached so that you can remember the fun times we had during the tour.
There are two main aspects in the East Garden. One is that the garden is currently part of the imperial palace, Japan’s symbol of national unity. The other is former castle of Tokugawa Shogunate, head of all Samurai lords in the feudal period (1603-1867).
In the feudal period, Emperor had resided in Kyoto. Kyoto still has a palace premise, which is still the imperial property. You can enter and view some exhibition inside.
In modern time Emperor was relocated to Tokyo to model after western monarchy and parliament system so that Emperor could host national and diplomatic ceremonies in the same capital city. This relocation is the cause of the city’s renaming from Edo to Tokyo. Tokyo literally means East Kyoto.
You might be interested in what kind of person SHOGUN really was. First Shogun, TOKUGAWA Ieyasu went through many hardships in life. He was born in a Samurai family in the middle region of Japan at Warring State era, when Japan was disunited and provinces frequently provoked wars to beat their rivals aiming to unify the whole country. In his childhood, he had to separate from his parents and live in his father’s master’s castle as a hostage. After he came back home as a successor and had a family, his wife was executed and his son was ordered to kill himself by his master. His strength and wisdom to conquer all his rivals were rooted from such hard life experiences.
After he successfully unified the whole Japan, he implemented very shrewd measures to govern the nation such as mandating all Samurai lords to visit the castle every other year to pay respect to him while their wives and heirs were forced to reside inside the city as hostages just like he was forced in his childhood. TOKUGAWA Shogunate had governed Japan for 15 generations without any rebellions. Thanks to such peaceful unification for so long, even after the feudal period ended, Japan could retain unity within the nation.
TOKUGAWA Ieyasu was indeed Japan’s founding father as well as Emperor. That may be the reason that the drama SHOGUN attracted so many world viewers.
Just as TV drama SHOGUN entertained the world audience, we, the guides can entertain guests in the tour. Why not join our tours!! We always welcome you.
Once again, thank you for choosing Tokyo Free Walking Tour during your precious time in Tokyo. In case you happen to be back in Tokyo, please join another one of our tours. Your feedback is important and helpful to us. If you enjoyed our tour, please consider posting a review on TripAdvisor/Facebook, etc. Your comments will help contribute to higher-quality tours.
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(Posted by Masa)