After some retail therapy at the Osu shopping district we traveled to Nagoya Castle. This was going to be a big deal. Other castles we’ve visited were built by and for the regional samurai feudal lords (“daimyo“). Nagoya Castle was made by order of the shogun, so my expectations were higher. And they were met.
To start with, this was the first location where I found my vision of never-ending cherry blossoms. Prepare for sakura overload.
From the entrance gate we need to walk 180-degrees around the castle grounds to get to the inner gate. But even from the outer area the castle can be seen.
Nagoya Castle was built soon after the final shogun family (“Tokogawa“) gained power. The new shogun did a smart thing. The wars were just winding down and many daimyo still had large armies. So, the shogun ordered the daimyo to compete with each other in bringing large stones and assemble the castle walls. You can see signature marks on many of the stones are you walk by.
In Japan, no one lives in the castles, it is solely a military fortification. There would be barracks and houses nearby to live in. As this castle was built for the shogun, there is a palace within the walls for family living and receiving visitors. The actual castle is undergoing renovations for among other things to bring it up to current earthquake standards. However, the palace renovations were completed recently. And it’s amazing. The roof got us ready for the ornamentation and gold inside.
The three-leaf emblem is the symbol of the Tokogawa family. You will see it all over the inside as well. Let’s start simple and work our way up. Here is the entrance hallway (after taking off our shoes and storing them in lockers).
Then you see the reception rooms. And the gold. So much gold on the sliding doors and walls.
Our guide explained that at the time (1600s) the Japanese thought tigers and leopards were the same species, with the tigers being male and leopards female.
It wasn’t all tigers, there were also multi-color birds.
There are weight-bearing structure columns in the hallway, which they decorated in a manner that allows air flow.
Now, I’m going to geek out and show you the palace’s construction decorations. Remember the simple hallway at the beginning? This is what the ceiling looked like near the shogun meeting rooms.
Here is a simple door latch. Note the Tokogawa crest.
Visible nails or wood joint connections were covered by fittings.
Finally, as we left the palace there was a donation box (to help with the continued renovation). My reaction was: “Does having such a fancy donation box really bring in more cash?” On the other hand, it does fit the decor of the building.
In the outer areas were food stalls, souvenir stands and and costumed reenactors. Kind of like a renaissance fair.
We timed the visit to Nagoya perfectly, as the cherry trees were in full bloom. In fact, the breeze was starting to blow the flower petals off the trees. Out next port is Kobe (and our last port in Japan) may be our last chance the blossoms.