A 4 km walking audio tour guide in English in Tokyo featuring 22 highlights.
This guide is 3 credits.
Author: Patrick Lovell
Walk beneath the towering 400 year-old ramparts of Edo-jo Castle, the centre of power in Japan from 1590 to 1868 and seat of the Shoguns. Edo-jo, the largest castle in the world that influenced the growth and history of Tokyo and Japan.
Edo-jo, or Edo Castle, was the centre of power in Japan from 1590 till 1868 when the Tokugawa Shogunate fell and gave way to the Meiji era and return to power of the Emperor.
Located in the centre of ultra modern Tokyo, Edo-jo rose from the marshes at the mouth of the Hirakawa River on land retrieved from the inlets of Edo Bay over 400 years ago. The areas of reclaimed land below the hills that the main keep of the castle rests on today are now home to the Hibiya, Marunouchi, and Ginza districts.
Edo, the small muddy village that Tokugawa Ieyasu received in trade from the tycoon Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1590, grew into the largest city in the world by the 18th century surpassing in size European cities such as London.
After subjugating his opponents at the legendary battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu went on to design and build his castle and capital city in Edo, which was then, and perhaps for most of the 17th through 19th centuries, was the largest fortified castle works in the world.
First completed in 1640, Edo-jo was the largest castle in Japan. It had 96 gates and covered an area of 1.8 sq km. It featured 21 yagura, (watchtowers), and 28 tamon, (storehouses), and stretched from Toranomon in the south to Ushigomemon in the north, and from Asakusabashimon in the east, to Yotsuyamon in the west.
Tour Requirements:
Hours: 09:00 – 16:30
Closed Monday and Friday. If a legal holiday falls on one of these days the garden will be open. If this should fall on a Monday, the garden will be closed on the next day, Tuesday.
Closed from December 28 to January 3.
Admission free.
Coverimage: Tokyo in bloom by Bex.Walton (CC BY 2.0)
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Uchibori Dori
100-8111, Tokyo
Tokyo,
JP
Patrick Lovell has been living in Japan for more than 40 years. Fascinated by the history of the country, he shares this passion through these guided tours.
http://toursjapan.info
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This audio guide consists of 22 audio items 13 images
You will see and learn more about the following sights & subjects: