Many thanks to the guests who participated in the tour of the day. On that tour, we hosted 10 people from Russia, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. It was a cloudy and cold day. We felt we’ve already entered winter season.
We hope all of the guests enjoyed the tours and conversation with the guides. As promised photos taken during the tour are posted on this page to recall the fun memories we shared.
Some people might be disappointed in the tour because the East Garden, former castle premises of Tokugawa Shogunate which ruled Japan between the early 17th century and the late 19th century- has no significant structure but gate keeps, guard houses and stone bases. The castle tower and compounds disappeared by the fire in the feudal period and were never rebuilt.
But the stone bases guests see on the tour route have significance in knowing history of the castle and its owners, Tokugawa Shoguns.
Some of the stone bases during the tour guests pass and see are neatly piled and the surfaces are polished.
This was part of the Tokugawa Shogun’s strategy. As we describe to the guests, all the provincial lords in Japan had to visit the castle every other year. That was mandatory to retain their domains. Then they saw such beautiful stone bases in the castle premises and learnt how powerful the Tokugawa Shoguns were, meaning it worked as deterrence giving shocks to the visitors. They lost enthusiasm to rebel against the Shogun.
Having such great stone bases are the sign of powerfulness of the castle owner.
In other castle, like former Tokushima Castle premises in Tokushima prefecture, stone bases show the province’s specialty. Tokushima produced very beautiful blue stones and were used at the castle premises.
Stones wee kind of artworks in the old days and are still very significant objects in Japanese garden design. In the same premises the blue stones are used in the garden of former castle compound.
So please don’t get disappointed by not being able to see the castle towers or compounds. Only the stone bases have history to tell. In fact that is the significance of the East Garden of the Imperial Palace, former Tokugawa Shogunate Castle.
Why not join the tour to learn such significance!
To our guest on December 20th – we’d love to hear your feedback!
We would appreciate it if you could leave your comments possibly with names of the guides you were with, on Tripadvisor or our Instagram/Facebook pages. If you want more info about our tour, check out our website.