The Imperial Palace Gardens

On Saturday, we decided to go to the Imperial Palace (Kokyo) which is located on the former site of the Edo Castle.  There is a large park area surrounded by moats and massive stone walls and is located in the center of Tokyo and it is only about 4 miles from our apartment.  A different Edo castle used to be the seat of the Tokugwa shogun in Kyoto and the shogun ruled Japan from 1603 until 1867. In 1868, the shogunate was overthrown and the capital and imperial residence was moved from Kyoto to Tokyo.  In 1888 the construction of the new Imperial Palace was completed.  The palace was destroyed during World War II and was rebuilt in the same style afterwards.

All the water you will see in the photos with water are of the moat which is huge and surrounds the Imperial Palace grounds.

At the Satosakurda-man gate to the Imperial Palace grounds.

We took this photo so you can see how massive the doors are in length and in width.

This is the Nijubashi, two bridges that form an entrance to the inner palace grounds.  The stone bridge in front is called Meganebashi (Eyeglass Bridge) for its looks.   Everyone was getting their photo taken in front of it, so we decided we better do that, too! The inner grounds of the palace are only open to the public on January 2nd for a new year's greeting and December 23rd for the Emperor's birthday. The Emperor and his family make a few appearances on a balcony but our friends went last year and they said there was such a massive amount of people that they could hardly move let alone see the royal family so we didn't go to try to see them this year.

Here are the gates to go to the inner gardens.  We walked through the Imperial Palace East Gardens which are open to the public on most days of the year.

A guard in front of the gate entrance; kind of reminds you of Buckingham palace or something, don't you think?

We had to get a photo of a Tokyo crow. There are very many of them in some of the parks and places and even sometimes by our apartment, and they are very noisy!

None of the buildings that surrounded the castle area remain today but the moats, walls, entrance gates and some of the guardhouses still exist.

Taking a rest; it was a very long walk and very hot and humid.  We met a Church member who is a stake president in New Mexico while we were walking.  One of his friends was red as a beet as he wasn't used to so much sun.  Elder Chandler had his hat and I had my umbrella, so we were fine.  I know now why so many Japanese women use their 'parasols' in the summer, as it is very sunny and very humid and hot.

This huge area kind of reminds me of the Washington DC mall area.

Reading in Wikipedia, it says that the total area of the grounds is 3.41 square kilometers (1.32 sq mile) and the palace grounds has at times been valued by some as more than the value of all the real estate in the state of California.

Walls and guard tower

There are many massive trees in the gardens

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We followed the sign to see the cellar; not much to it but after the walk there, we thought we should take a photo!

The Tokagakudo (Peach Blossom Music Hall).

Maybe we're really in Hawaii and not Japan?

The sign said these were Varicolored Carp; pretty expensive in the U.S., I think.

I always love the lanterns that they place near the water.

A beautiful waterfall

To end the blog for today, here is one of our neighbor's own "palace gardens".  He doesn't have a yard but he compensates with his beautiful plants around his apartment.  Most people have one or two plants but his is the best with the most.  He is out at 6 am in every morning working away in his garden.  It is so beautiful, isn't it?  After all, "mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, be it ever so humble there's no place like home! I'm so grateful that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that he gave us this beautiful world to live in wherever we may live.  Have a great week everybody!