Autumn 2025. We – Sam and Danny, Michel and Wille, and Timothy – are travelling to Japan for a quite classic tour of the Land of the Rising Sun. We are flying separately as we used miles. On the planning: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Shirakawa, Osaka, and Expo 2025, Hiroshima, Himeji, Miyajima, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, Hakone, and back to Tokyo. Three weeks plus some extra days.

After visiting Nishi Hongan-ji, I walked all the way to ‘Kyoto Castle‘, Nijō Castle.

Nijō Castle

Nijō Castle (二条城, Nijō-jō) is a flatland (plains) castle located in Kyoto. The site covers around 275,000 square metres, with about 8,000 square metres occupied by buildings. 

The complex includes two concentric rings of fortifications (known as kuruwa), the Ninomaru Palace, the remains of the Honmaru Palace, a number of auxiliary buildings, and several gardens. Nijō Castle is one of the seventeen Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto collectively designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

History

Construction of Nijō Castle began in 1601 under the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. Feudal lords from western Japan were required to contribute to its building, which was completed in 1626 during the rule of Ieyasu’s grandson, Tokugawa Iemitsu. 

Land was taken from the partially abandoned Shinsenen Garden to expand the site and supply water for its moats and ponds. Parts of Hideyoshi’s Fushimi Castle, including its karamon gate and main tower, were moved to Nijō in 1625–26.

The castle served as the Kyoto residence of the Tokugawa shōguns. Although Edo (modern Tokyo) functioned as the shogunate’s political capital, Kyoto remained the seat of the Imperial Court, with the Imperial Palace situated to the north-east of Nijō Castle.

The castle’s central keep (tenshu) was destroyed by lightning in 1750, and much of the Inner Ward burned down in a major fire in 1788. The area remained empty until 1893, when a residence from the Kyoto Imperial Palace was relocated there.

In 1867, within the Ninomaru Palace, Tokugawa Yoshinobu formally returned governing authority to the Emperor in the act known as taisei hōkan. The following year, the Imperial Cabinet briefly used the castle as its base. The Tokugawa hollyhock crest was subsequently removed from the buildings and replaced with the imperial chrysanthemum.

Nijō Castle became the property of Kyoto City in 1939 and opened to the public in 1940. Typhoons in recent decades have occasionally damaged the plastered walls, requiring periodic restoration work.

Fortifications

The castle features two broad moats and two defensive walls. The outer wall contains four gates, while the inner wall has two, one of which survives in partial form. Two corner watchtowers remain on the outer walls, and the stone foundations of a five-storey keep still stand in the inner enclosure.

The inner ward, or Honmaru, contains Honmaru Palace and its gardens, while the outer ward, or Ninomaru, includes Ninomaru Palace, kitchens, guardhouses, storehouses, several gates, and gardens arranged between the two fortification rings.

Ninomaru Palace

The Ninomaru Palace (Ninomaru Goten), covering about 3,300 square metres, comprises six interconnected buildings constructed mainly from Japanese cypress (hinoki). Its interiors are richly decorated with gold leaf, carved wood, and wall paintings by artists of the Kanō school, designed to convey the authority and wealth of the Tokugawa shōguns.

Visitors to the palace were received according to their rank: lower officials in the outer chambers and high-ranking guests in the inner rooms. The design also displayed the shōgun’s security arrangements openly, with guardroom entrances clearly visible.

The palace includes several reception chambers, administrative offices, and the shōgun’s private living quarters, which only female attendants could enter. A notable feature is the so-called ‘nightingale floors’ (uguisubari), which chirp when stepped on due to the movement of metal clamps against nails in the floorboards—a design often, though incorrectly, thought to serve as an alarm system.

The main halls are arranged in a formal sequence, including the Willow, Young Pine, Retainers’, Reception, Ministers’, and Imperial Messenger’s Rooms, followed by the grand audience chambers (Ōhiroma), consisting of four large rooms used for official ceremonies. Behind these lie the Kuroshoin (inner audience chamber) and Shiroshoin (shōgun’s quarters). Access is through the ornate karamon gate and the mi-kurumayose (‘honourable carriage approach’).

Honmaru Palace

The Honmaru Palace (Honmaru Goten), built in the late Edo period, occupies around 1,600 square metres and contains living quarters, reception and entertainment rooms, entrance halls, and kitchen facilities, all linked by corridors and courtyards.

The current structure was created in 1893–94, when a portion of the former Katsura Palace from the Kyoto Imperial Enclosure was relocated here, following the Imperial Court’s move to Tokyo. Originally consisting of 55 buildings, only part was reassembled at Nijō. In 1928, Emperor Hirohito’s enthronement banquet took place in the Honmaru Palace.

Gardens

Nijō Castle’s grounds include several gardens, as well as groves of cherry and plum trees. The Ninomaru Garden, designed by tea master and landscape architect Kobori Enshū, lies between the two defensive rings beside the palace. It features a large pond with three islands, arranged stones, and manicured pine trees.

The Seiryū-en Garden, completed in 1965 in the northern section of the castle grounds, was built as a reception venue for official guests and cultural events. It contains two tea houses and more than a thousand carefully placed stones, combining traditional and modern landscape design.

A visit

As I was quite late, I had to hurry to go inside Ninomaru Palace… where you’re not allowed to take photos. Of course, that speeds up a visit. 

For the gardens, I had more time. But in all, I didn’t spend too much time at Nijō Castle.

2025 Journey Across Japan

1. Japan’s Superconducting Maglev train breaks world speed record at 603 km/h.
2. Japan’s maglev bullet train delayed to 2035 or later as costs rise to ¥11 trillion.
3. QUESTION | Should you be stressed about travelling to Japan, and fear of missing out?.
4. Brussels Airport to Milan Malpensa with Brussels Airlines, operated by Air Baltic, ft. the 2025 check-in and boarding software hack.
5. REVIEW | Sala Montale Exclusive Lounge and Sala Gae Aulentin Premium Lounge at Milan Malpensa Airport, extra Schengen.
6. REVIEW | All Nippon Airways (ANA), Business Class, Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to Tokyo.
7. REVIEW | Toei Animation Museum in Nerima, Tokyo.
8. JAPAN | Tokyo Station, its Character Street and Pokémon Store.
9. REVIEW | Onyado Nono Asakusa Hotel in Tokyo.
10. TOKYO | Asakusa ft. Sensō-ji Temple.
11. JAPAN | The Odoriko train from Tokyo to Ito on Izu Peninsula.
12. PHOTOS & REVIEW | The Izu Teddy Bear Museum in Izu-Kōgen.
13. JAPAN | A visit to Ito on Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture.
14. REVIEW | Japan’s Saphir Odoriko in Premium Green Car from Ito on Izu Peninsula to Tokyo Station.
15. GAY TOKYO | 24 Kaikan in Asakusa (+ Ueno and Shinjuku).
16. TOKYO | Sawara in Chiba Prefecture, ‘Little Edo’ beyond Narita.
17. TOKYO | Omotesandō in Shibuya – AEON Shinonome –  Uniqlo – Muji.
18. PHOTOS | The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum in Koganei Park.
19. JAPAN | Solo in Tokyo.
20. REVIEW | Brussels Airport The View lounge.
21. REVIEW | Qatar Airways Business Class Brussels to Doha.
22. REVIEW | Qatar Airways Al Mourjan The Garden Business lounge.
23. REVIEW | Qatar Airways Q-Suite Business Class Doha to Tokyo.
24. REVIEW | Pullman Tokyo Tamachi.
25. REVIEW | The Railway Museum, Ōmiya, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture.
26. TOKYO | Imperial Palace East Gardens – Akihabara – Tamiya flagship store – Skytree.
27. JAPAN | Kanazawa Castle – Kenrokuen Garden – Higashi Chaya District.
28. REVIEW | Daiwa Roynet Hotel Kanazawa Eki Nishiguchi.
29. JAPAN | Road trip to Hida no Sato, Takayama and Shirakawa-go from Kanazawa.
30. OSAKA | Namba Parks – Dōtonbori – Glico Man – Shinsaibashi.
31. REVIEW | Swissôtel Nankai Osaka.
32. Experiencing Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai Japan.
33. KANSAI | Osaka Castle ft. Toyotomi Stone Wall Museum.
34. OSAKA | EGDE store – Umeda Sky Building – Grand Front – Namba Parks – Daiso – Luscious.
35. REVIEW | Mazda Museum in Hiroshima.
36. REVIEW | Candeo Hotels Hiroshima Hatchobori.
37. JAPAN | The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, the Peace Memorial Park and the Peace Memorial Museum.
38. JAPAN | Himeji Castle.
39. JAPAN | Itsukushima Shrine on Itsukushima aka Miyajima.
40. REVIEW | Miyajima Seaside Hotel.
41. REVIEW | Spending a night in a couples’ or love hotel: ホテルCOO玖 男塾ホテルグループ in Okayama.
42. KYOTO | Nishi Hongan-ji Temple.