This is the castle of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun who established the 260-year-long era of the samurai. Learn its history and architecture as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
[Highlights]
・Tokugawa Shogun’s political base in Kyoto ・Garden admired by the Shogun ・Shogun vs. Emperor rivalry ・Chirping corridor for intruder detection
[Inclusions]
Admission to Nijo Castle 1.5-hour guided tour
[Full description]
Explore Nijo Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with a local guide. Learn about the hidden tension between two of Japan’s most powerful institutions: the shogunate in Edo and the imperial court in Kyoto. Meet your guide in front of Nijo Castle Main Gate and begin your tour. Walk through spaces designed not for defense, but for display, intimidation, and silent control — a physical manifestation of the shogun's strategy to dominate without war. Learn why the Tokugawa shoguns, ruling from distant Edo (now Tokyo), constructed a lavish palace just steps from the Emperor's own residence — a symbolic show of dominance, asserting: "We rule, even here." Walk through the Ninomaru Palace, where room size, floor levels, and ornamentation reflected strict social hierarchy. See the nightingale floors that chirp to expose intruders and observe the layered corridors and gates designed to psychologically overwhelm visitors. Stand in the very room where, in 1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu returned authority to the Emperor — a quiet act that ended over 260 years of shogunate rule and triggered the Meiji Restoration.
[Meeting point]
Nijojo-mae Sta.(Nijo-jo Castle) Nijojocho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-8301, Japan https://maps.app.goo.gl/u6kAkUaeqF6Sbeaz9
