Nijo-jo (castle)

My second Shinobi Mystery, Blade of the Samurai, involved a murder set on the grounds of the Shogunate. The murder itself took place within the bakufu mansion, the building within the outer walls of the shogun’s compound where the shogun met with visitors and (in some administrations) where official government business took place. I based the shogun’s compound in Blade of the Samurai off of several historical structures, among them Nijo Castle, which was actually constructed after the date of the novel–between 1601 and 162–on the orders of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu.*  In the novel, I also describe the shogun’s personal palace,