Nagoya Castle is one of
Japan's most prominent castles and is designated a National Historic Site,
considered the equivalent of being a National Treasure.
Nagoya Castle was Japan’s
first castle to be designated a National Treasure. Even after wartime air raid
destruction, it was deemed historically important enough to be designated a
National Historic Site. Restoration work was carried out and the Nagoya Castle
was brought back to its original condition. The attached photographs show me at
this historic Castle and Hommaru Palace.
Nagoya is the third-largest
city in Japan; it is located at a distance of 350 km by road from Tokyo.
Nagoya Castle was
completed in 1615 by the Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. Topped with golden
shachihoko, votive tiger-fish roof devices, and boasting the largest floor-space
of any tower keep, Nagoya Castle and its magnificent Hommaru Palace were
operated as a military facility. Tokugawa Ieyasu emerged victorious from the
decisive Battle of Sekigahara, which had split Japan into East and West
factions, and upon his investment as Shogun, established his government in Edo.
In 1610, he called upon former enemy daimyo to commence construction of his new
castle to be built at Nagoya.
The great tower keep was
topped with golden shachihoko tiger-fish ornaments and boasted the greatest
floor-space of any keep ever. The Hommaru Palace, the finest of all palaces and
the vast Ni-no-maru Garden further emphasized the power and might of the
Tokugawa clan. Its beauty was surrounded by high, strong walls of stone, a
reminder of its basic function as a superior military facility.
For the next 260 years of
the Edo Period (1603-1867), it thrived as the castle of the Owari Tokugawa
clan. The populace from the nearby castle town of Kiyosu had been ordered to
move to the new castle site, and the current city of Nagoya was formed.
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