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*''Built: [[1457]], [[Ota Dokan|Ôta Dôkan]]''
*''Burnt:[[1657]] (tenshu)''
*''Reconstructed: Showa period (yagura, Ôtemmon)''
*''Location:[[Musashi province]]''
*''Type:Flatland-Mountain''
*''Other Names'': 千代田城 ''(Chiyoda-jou)'', 皇居 ''(koukyo)''
*''Japanese:''江戸城''(Edo-jou)''
*''Japanese:''江戸城''(Edo-jou)''
Edo castle was the center of government for the [[Tokugawa shogunate]], and chief shogunal residence, during the [[Edo period]]. Since the [[Meiji period]], it has served as the [[Imperial Palace]].
==History==
First established by [[Ota Dokan|Ôta Dôkan]] in [[1457]], the castle was a secondary center of power within the Kantô, under [[Odawara castle]], through much of the [[Sengoku period]]. Following the [[Siege of Odawara|fall of Odawara]] in [[1590]], [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] established [[Edo]] as his new center.
The castle then became the center of shogunal residence & rule, from [[1603]] onwards. It suffered severe damage from fire on a number of occasions, perhaps most grievously in the [[1657]] [[Great Meireki Fire]], when the ''tenshu'' (main keep) was destroyed; the ''tenshu'' was never rebuilt.
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==Layout==
The ''ôhiroma'' (great audience hall) was among the spaces closest to the entrance to the castle, and thus furthest from the center of the complex. It was used for audiences with foreign emissaries or powerful ''tozama daimyô'', and for other highly formal ceremonies. By contrast, the ''shiroshoin'' ("white study / writing room"), closer to the castle's interior, was used for audiences with ''fudai daimyô'' and the shogun's relatives, while the ''kuroshoin'' ("black study / writing room"), closer still to the interior, was used for meetings with the shogun's most trusted retainers and highest-ranking officials.
The ''ôhiroma'' contained three platforms of different heights, called ''dan'', allowing the shogun to sit not only at a distance from his formal visitors, but also physically above them. Wrapping around an inner garden, and thus forming a U-shape with the three ''dan'', were three antechambers, known respectively as the ''ni-'', ''san-'', and ''yon-no-ma''. The ''shiroshoin'' was arranged similarly, though on a smaller scale, with two ''dan'', two audience rooms, and two antechambers.
Beyond these various audience halls lay the shogun's personal quarters, along with the [[Ooku|Ôoku]].
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==Links==
==Links==
*[http://npo-edojo.org/top.html npo-edojo.org] Rebuilding Edo castle association
*[http://npo-edojo.org/top.html npo-edojo.org] Rebuilding Edo castle association
==References==
==References==
*[[Nihon no Meijo Kojo Jiten]]
*[[Nihon no Meijo Kojo Jiten]]
*Anne Walthall, "Hiding the shoguns: Secrecy and the nature of political authority in Tokugawa Japan," in Bernard Scheid and Mark Teeuwen (eds.) ''The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion'', Routledge (2006), 334-336.
[[Category:Castles]]
[[Category:Castles]]
[[Category:Sengoku Period]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]
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