Edo castle

• Built: 1457, 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)

Edo castle was the center of government for the Tokugawa shogunate during the accordingly-named Edo period, and chief residence of the Tokugawa shoguns. Since the Meiji period, the Tokyo Imperial Palace has been located on its grounds.

History

First established by 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 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. The grand tenshukaku (tower keep), the tallest ever built in Japan at 58 meters high, was begun in 1607 and completed in 1638, following a series of repairs to the castle as a whole in 1622. 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.

The castle was guarded chiefly by the Koshôgumi (Inner Guard) and Shoinban (Bodyguards), who also defended the shogun himself when outside of the castle. Along with the Ôban (Great Guard) who guarded Nijô and Osaka castles, they constituted the three chief shogunate guard units. The commanders of these three units were selected from the highest-ranking hatamoto, but wielded little political power.

The castle burnt down again in 1873, and the Meiji Emperor, his Empress, and the Imperial Household Ministry relocated to the Akasaka Temporary Palace until 1888, when the castle's reconstruction as the Tokyo Imperial Palace was complete. In the intervening time before reconstruction began, the area in and around the castle grounds became overgrown with vegetation, and overrun with wildlife including foxes and badgers. One former retainer of Satsuma han lamented that it was "unbearable to look at."

Layout

The Ôtemon 大手門 was the main gate leading into the honmaru (central bailey) of the castle, where the majority of administrative and residential spaces were located. Low- to middle-ranking samurai were obliged to dismount from their horses or palanquins before passing over the bridge leading to this gate. Those granted an exception were known as jôyo ijô (乗輿以上, lit. "palanquin riders and up"), and included those over 500 koku in income, and those over fifty years of age. After passing through the Ôtemon, one would cross another bridge, then pass through another series of gates - the Ôtesan-no-mon, Chûnomon, and Chûjakumon - before coming to the entrance hall (genkan) of the honmaru palace. The highest-ranking visitors to the castle, including members of the Gosanke and the abbot of Nikkô's Rinnô-ji, were permitted to remain in their palanquins up until the Chûnomon, where they too had to dismount. Beyond each of these two dismounting points, visitors were restricted in the size of entourage they could bring along with them. For example, a kunimochi daimyô such as the Shimazu clan lord of Satsuma han could only bring with him six samurai retainers, one sandal-bearer, two hasamibako (luggage) carriers, and four palanquin carriers past the Ôtemon, and then had to leave three of those samurai retainers, half the luggage carriers (along with the luggage itself), and all of the palanquin carriers (along with the palanquin) at the second dismounting point. Finally, upon reaching the entrance hall (genkan), even such a high-ranking daimyô as this would be forced to enter the castle alone. This was perhaps in part a security measure, but was also a great show of the shogun's power (to be able to require that of even such a powerful lord), and of the daimyô's acknowledgement of that power & authority, and willing submission to it. Lower-ranking daimyô, as well as other official visitors to the castle, were restricted to even smaller entourages during this brief journey between the Ôtemon and the castle genkan.

Upon entering the genkan, one would turn left to enter the ôhiroma (大広間, great audience hall). Consisting of a number of connected rooms roughly 500 tatami mats in area, in total, the ôhiroma 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. These two rooms were constructed in white wood and black lacquered wood, respectively.

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. Only the highest-ranking retainers and guests were permitted to sit within the ôhiroma, and then only in certain dan, in accordance with their rank. 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.

Daimyô and others were divided, by rank, into association with particular waiting rooms.

1. Ôrôka: Members of the gosanke and gosankyô, along with a few of the highest-ranking daimyô (such as the Maeda clan of Kaga han, Shimazu clan of Satsuma han, and Matsudaira clan of Matsue han) were associated with the Ôrôka, or "great corridor."
2. Tamari-no-ma: Collateral houses of the Tokugawa, typically known as shinpan or kamon, including the various Matsudaira clan branch families of Aizu han, Kuwana han, and Takamatsu han, sat with the Ii clan of Hikone han and up to six other fudai daimyô and rôjû in the tamari no ma, adjacent to the ceremonial chambers, and closest of all the daimyô waiting rooms to the shogunal residence.
3. Ôhiroma: Around thirty lords were associated with the audience hall itself. These included shinpan/kamon collateral families not included in the higher ranks, as well as tozama daimyô above 110,000 koku.
4. Teikan no ma: Roughly sixty fudai and jun-fudai (semi- or quasi-fudai) clans were associated with the Teikan-no-ma, a room decorated with images of the "Mirror of the Emperors" (teikan). These included the Ôkubo of Odawara han, Toda of Ôgaki, and the Yanagisawa of Yamatokoriyama han.
5. Yanagi no ma: Branch houses of the clans associated with the Ôhiroma, along with tozama daimyô up to 100,000 koku in rank were associated with the Yanagi-no-ma, a room decorated with paintings of willows (yanagi).
6. Kari no ma: Fudai daimyô of castle-holding (shiro-mochi or shiro-nushi) rank and above were seated in the kari-no-ma, a room decorated with paintings of geese (kari).
7. Kiku no ma: Fudai daimyô not of castle-holding rank were seated in the "chrysanthemum room," or kari-no-ma. These included the Ôoka of Nishi-Ôhira, the Ôseki of Kurobane han, the Yamaguchi clan of Ushihisa han, and the Tanuma clan of Sagara han.

On special occasions, daimyô and others would be seated in and around the audience hall in accordance with their rankings by waiting room. To give an example, at the accession ceremony for Shogun Tokugawa Ietsugu, held on 1713/4/2, sobayônin Manabe Akifusa sat behind him in the upper dan of the ôhiroma, along with a number of maids, and on the western side of the room, the Konoe family former regent and Kujô family General of the Left. Envoys from the Imperial court, from the Retired Emperor, and from the empress, sat on the western side of the middle dan, and the Tairô & kamon-no-kami (head of cleaning), a member of the Ii clan, sat on the east side of the middle dan. Four rôjû sat on the east side of the lower dan. Members of the gosanke, along with the wakadoshiyori, sat in the veranda or corridor (engawa) on the west side of the middle dan, while daimyô of the tamari-no-ma and members of the kôke (high families) sat on the veranda to the west of the lower dan. Kunimochi daimyô sat in the ni-no-ma. Other daimyô sat in the san-no-ma, and other officials in the yon-no-ma.

On occasions such as New Year's, members of the gosanke, gosankyô, and other shogunal relatives, along with others of the 4th rank and above, waited in various rooms of the castle and met with the shogun in the shiroshoin one at a time, to offer their New Year's greetings. Following these individual audiences, the shogun would move to the lower dan (gedan) of the ôhiroma, and stand there as fusuma (sliding doors) were opened, allowing those of rank five and below, gathered in the ni-no-ma, to be seen by the shogun; all those assembled then bowed low, performing their greetings to the shogun all at once.

Beyond the various audience halls lay the shogun's personal quarters, along with the Ôoku.

Links

• npo-edojo.org Rebuilding Edo castle association
• Photos
• Edo Castle on Google Maps

References

• 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.