Nijo Castle

Occupied in 1603, Remodelled in 1626: Six National Treasures and Twenty-Two Important Cultural Properties

Nijo Castle (二条城, Nijojo) is a castle of 1603 at Nijojo-cho, Nijo-dori Horikawa-nishi-iru, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, whose twenty-eight buildings were designated Important Cultural Properties on 28 October 1939, with the six buildings of the Ninomaru Palace raised to National Treasure status on 29 March 1952. It belongs to the city of Kyoto.

The six National Treasures are the Tozamurai with its carriage porch, the Shikidai, the Ohiroma great hall, the Sotetsu-no-ma, the Kuroshoin and the Shiroshoin, all parts of the Ninomaru Palace. The twenty-two Important Cultural Properties comprise the east and north main gates, the west gate, the southeast and southwest corner turrets, the Momoyama and Naruko gates, the south and north partition gates, the Honmaru turret gate, three storehouses, the Karamon gate, earthen wall, kitchen and pantry of the Ninomaru Palace, and the entrance, study, living quarters and kitchen with the Kari-no-ma of the Honmaru Palace. The four Honmaru buildings were added on 5 September 1944.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs recounts the founding. Nijo Castle was built as the residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu on his visits to Kyoto; work was ordered in 1601 and probably began the following year, and since Ieyasu took up residence in March 1603, the main parts must have been complete by then. The third shogun Iemitsu carried out a major remodelling for the visit of Emperor Gomizunoo in 1626.

The whole precinct is a Historic Site, the Ninomaru garden a Special Place of Scenic Beauty, and the 1,016 wall and screen paintings of the Ninomaru Palace are separately designated Important Cultural Properties as works of art. In 1994 the castle became a component of the World Heritage site Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto.

The Most Typical Example of Shoin Style: Six Buildings in Echelon

The Agency places the Ninomaru Palace as the most typical example of the shoin style as perfected in the Momoyama period.

Of the exterior it writes that the Tozamurai, Shikidai, Ohiroma, Sotetsu-no-ma, Kuroshoin and Shiroshoin are joined directly or by connecting corridors and set in echelon, so that gables and roofs large and small overlap one behind another. Gankou, the term used, describes buildings staggered like geese in flight. The six run from southeast to northwest in stepped succession, each roof and gable layered against the next.

The arrangement matches the route by which a visitor moved into spaces of rising rank. Entering by the carriage porch, waiting in the Tozamurai, being received in the Shikidai, having audience in the Ohiroma, passing the Sotetsu-no-ma to the Kuroshoin and the Shiroshoin. The line of buildings gives ceremonial order a physical form.

The castle's own commentary notes that with the palaces of Edo, Osaka and Nagoya castles lost, the Ninomaru was designated a National Treasure as the only group of palace buildings surviving within a castle in Japan. The building type itself, a castle palace, survives nowhere else.

Raised Dais and Wall Paintings: Momoyama Technique

Of the interior the Agency writes that the principal rooms have a raised dais fitted with the tokonoma alcove, staggered shelves and writing bay that define shoin style, together with a decorated door bay; that every room carries colored wall and screen paintings by the Kano school, the transoms hold abundant carving, the coffers of the ceilings are painted, and rich metal fittings are struck on the lintels and throughout; and that these sumptuous techniques display the character of Momoyama architecture to the full.

The raised dais is the higher floor on which the shogun sat, and the four fittings of alcove, shelves, writing bay and door bay mark the rank of the room. The first room of the Ohiroma is the chief example, and it was here in 1867 that Tokugawa Yoshinobu announced his intention to return power to the emperor.

The wall paintings were made at the remodelling of 1626 by Kano Tan'yu and his workshop. Apart from the ceiling paintings, treated as part of the buildings, the 1,016 screen and wall paintings are separately designated as works of art. Most in the palace today are reproductions; the originals are conserved and shown in the painting gallery on the grounds.

Why Twenty-Eight Buildings Form One Item

The six Ninomaru buildings alone are a shoin-style palace. The east main gate alone is a castle gate. Only with the twenty-eight in view does the castle as a shogun's residence, gates, turrets, palaces and gardens together, become legible.

Enter by the east main gate, pass the Karamon and reach the Ninomaru Palace. Behind it stand the kitchen and pantry within the earthen wall. Corner turrets and their walls hold the perimeter, partition gates divide the baileys, storehouses keep the rice. The Honmaru Palace was moved here in 1894 from the residence of the Katsura princely house and differs in character from the Ninomaru, but a shogun's residence and a prince's palace standing together within one castle shows the layers of time the site has passed through.

National Treasure status is confined to the six Ninomaru buildings because the architectural value of the shoin style is concentrated there. The Important Cultural Property designation values the castle as a whole; the National Treasure designation values the palace as architecture.

Visiting

The castle opens from 8:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., closing at 5:00 p.m., with last entry to the Ninomaru Palace at 4:10 p.m. It closes from 29 to 31 December. The Ninomaru Palace is closed to viewing on Tuesdays in January, July, August and December, or the following day when Tuesday is a holiday, and from 26 to 28 December and 1 to 3 January.

Admission including the Ninomaru Palace is 1,300 yen for adults, 400 yen for junior high and high school students and 300 yen for primary school students. Castle entry alone is 800 yen for adults, with a 500 yen Ninomaru ticket added at the information desk.

The Honmaru Palace reopened in September 2024 and requires advance booking. Web tickets go on sale 30 days before the visit date, at 1,000 yen for adults, 300 yen for junior high and high school students and 200 yen for primary students. Enter the castle at least 20 minutes before the booked time; the walk from the east main gate takes 15 to 20 minutes. Groups of about 15 are admitted at a time.

Photography is prohibited inside both palaces. It is permitted between the Karamon and the Ninomaru Palace, without monopods or tripods. Allow an hour to an hour and a half for the Ninomaru Palace and garden, and two and a half to three hours with the Honmaru added.

Nijojo-mae Station on the Tozai subway line is at the gate, and JR Nijo Station is about 15 minutes on foot. Commemorative events for the 400th anniversary of the imperial visit of 1626 are planned for 2026.