We would like to show our appreciation for those joined our tour on 16 December, 2017. We welcomed total 26 guests from around the globe including Australia, Malaysia, USA, Austria, Canada, Ukraine, Latvia, Singapore, Germany and Ecuador! The weather was fairly good and it was unusually warm despite the fact it was in the middle of December. Thanks to the perfect whether, both guests and guides enjoyed strolling around the East Garden of the Imperial Palace or former Edo Castle.
Although the place had a lot of historical attractions, you might notice only a few buildings or structures are remained from the Edo period (1603 – 1868) when the Shoguns resided there. In addition, the absence of Tenshu building or the Donjon makes us even more difficult to imagine those days when the place was politically and militarily centered of Japan. Edo castle is not the exception. Unfortunately, Tenshu buildings in most Japanese castles have been disappeared and today we only have 12 Tenshu remain intact.
If you want to explore existing Tenshu, we would recommend you to visit Matsumoto castle in Nagano. You can take an express train “Super Azusa” from Shinjuku station which takes around 2.5 hours to get to Matsumoto station, the nearest train station to the Matsumoto castle. The Matsumoto castle was built in late 16th century and its Tenshu building is one of the oldest of those 12 remaining Tenshu buildings . It also boasts its imposing appearance with five structures / six stories in the mood of the Sengoku era (The Japan’s warring state period before advent of peaceful Edo period made by the Tokugawa shogunate). The castle was designated as Japan’s national treasures in 1952. If your time allows, why don’t you visit the magnificent castle in Matsumoto?
Our next tour in the east garden of the imperial palace in Tokyo will be on 20 December and it will be our last tour there in 2017. Wish you all Merry X’mas and Happy New Year!
(Kenta.F)