Tokyo Imperial Palace
- Date: 1889
- Japanese: 皇居 (koukyo)
The Tokyo Imperial Palace, or kôkyo (lit. "Imperial residence"), completed in 1889, is the seat of the Emperor of Japan. Located on the former grounds of the Tokugawa shoguns' Edo castle at the center of Tokyo, the palace compound includes imperial residences, meeting rooms, administrative offices, and ritual spaces, as well as several extensive private gardens and public parks, archives, and the Museum of the Imperial Collections, or Sannomaru Shôzôkan. While the former sites of the honmaru, ninomaru, and sannomaru of Edo castle are today mostly empty, the palace buildings being located elsewhere in the compound, a number of other buildings from the time of the shoguns either survive or have been rebuilt, along with many of the compound's gates, and much of the foundational stone castle walls.
History
Meiji Period
Much of the buildings in the honmaru, ni-no-maru, and nishi-no-maru areas of Edo castle were destroyed in a series of fires in 1863. The shogunate hastily threw up some replacement buildings in the nishi-no-maru, which later became the temporary residence of the Meiji Emperor in 1869 to 1873; however, nothing was ever rebuilt of the Honmaru Palace.[1] A fire destroyed the palace on May 5, 1873, beginning in the Momijiyama section of the compound, and rampaging through the nishi-no-maru and other areas in a matter of hours. The Emperor, Empress, and Imperial Household Ministry relocated to the mansion of the Kishû Tokugawa clan, just outside the moats, that same day, designating the mansion the Akasaka Temporary Palace.[2]
Reconstruction of the palace was delayed numerous times, both due to financial concerns given the newness of the Meiji state and government, and due to debates over the style and material the new palace should be built in.[3] Construction was finally begun in 1884, and completed in 1888, with the Imperial family taking up residence early the following year. According to numerous sources of the time, Tokyo was only an anzaisho, a temporary base for a Court in motion, until that time, with the 1888 structure being the first in Tokyo to be called kyûjô (宮城, "Imperial Palace") rather than merely terms such as kôkyo ("imperial residence"), and with Tokyo's status as the sole Imperial capital (teito) ongoing until that time.[4]
As construction neared completion, the Imperial Household commissioned numerous artists, textile producers, and the like, including Iida Shinshichi III of Takashimaya and Kawashima Jinbei II, in 1887, to produce works for decorating the palace.[5]
A series of broad thoroughfares which cut through the palace's outer gardens (gaien) were constructed explicitly as "triumphal avenues" (gaisen dôro) for the Imperial Military Review of April 1906, with the explicit intention of creating a space for monumental national ceremonies in the modern (Western) mode.[6]
Taishô through World War II
Post-War through Today
Layout
Inner Palace
The inner palace buildings, closed to the public, include the imperial residences, official State Meeting Halls, administrative offices, and shrines such as the kashikodokoro, where a variety of Imperial rituals are performed.
Gardens
The former honmaru, ni-no-maru, and san-no-maru areas of the castle today constitute the Imperial Palace East Gardens (higashi gyoen) and are generally open to the public, along with the Kitanomaru Park. The latter contains within it the Nippon Budokan, a major public sports arena and concert venue.
A famous statue of 14th century Imperial loyalist Kusunoki Masashige, sculpted by Takamura Kôun, stands in the palace's Outer Gardens (gaien).
