Ōtemon Gate of Edo Castle

In front of you is the Ōtemon, the main gate of Edo Castle. This is where the daimyō, the feudal lords, came in when they arrived to pay their respects to the shogun. Today it is the usual entrance to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, open to the public since 1968.

1The largest castle in Japan

A first castle was built by Ōta Dōkan in 1457, but the great Edo Castle began in 1590, when Tokugawa Ieyasu arrived. His successors enlarged it for decades with stone brought from far away and with the compulsory labour of the daimyō. In 1657 the Great Fire of Meireki destroyed the castle's main keep, and it was never rebuilt: only its stone base remains, inside the gardens.

2A stone trap

The Ōtemon is a masugata-style gate: first a small gate, then a square courtyard and, after a right-angled turn, a second, larger gate. Any enemy who managed to get through the first gate found himself shut inside the courtyard, at the mercy of the defenders. The large gate burned in the air raids of 1945 and was rebuilt in 1967.

Inside you can see the head of a shachihoko, the mythical fish that protected roofs from fire, engraved with the year 1657.

It is a small irony: that very year, fire swept away a large part of the castle.

3What to look for

• The stone walls, built from enormous blocks fitted together without mortar.
• The right-angled turn between the first and the second gate.
• The shachihoko on display just past the gate, if you go into the gardens.