Last Monday, we traveled (virtually) across the moat and onto the island that housed the Honmaru Palace, which served as the Tokugawa Shoguns’ personal residence in Kyoto. (Here’s the link to that post, if you want to catch up.) This morning, we continue that journey, starting from the courtyard just beyond the bridge: From the courtyard, visitors climb a set of stairs (constructed during the early 17th century, along with the rest of Nijo Castle’s grounds) to reach the elevated level of the Honmaru Palace and the lovely gardens that surround it. The palace and gardens were elevated primarily for defensive purposes, though their height also ensures good drainage–and
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Visiting the Home of the Shogun
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,
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