Imperial Palace in Tokyo

Brief Information

The Imperial Palace in Tokyo stands on the site of the former Edo Castle, and this immediately changes the scale of perception: what we see is not only a residence, but a reworked center of former power. In 1869, the city castle became the Imperial Palace, and since the second half of the 19th century the grounds have been used by the emperors and the Imperial Court.

The present complex grew out of losses and reconstructions. The Meiji Palace burned down during the bombing of Tokyo in 1945, and the new ceremonial palace was built in 1964–1968 from reinforced concrete. At the same time, its halls are connected by galleries, have a Japanese roof with a strongly curved covering, and the interior is designed in Japanese style. Outwardly, the place reads as a combination of a castle foundation, a modern structure, and palace ceremony.

What to Notice First

The main clue to the layout of the place is its castle foundation. It is worth comparing the high walls with towers, the deep water-filled moats, and the very fact that the entire palace complex stands on the foundation of Edo Castle. These elements explain why the residence looks not like a separately placed palace building, but like a territory inside a former defensive shell.

The second focus is how the former baileys acquired new functions. The main, second, and third castle baileys became the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace; near the foundation of the main tower stands the Peach Blossom Music Hall. At the new palace, one can note a different logic: the halls are connected by galleries into a rectangle, there is an inner courtyard in the middle, and the reinforced-concrete building is covered by a Japanese-style roof. Thus the old castle and the postwar palace read as parts of one restructured system.