Japan Travel Tokyo - Kokyo Gaien National Garden 皇居外苑

Japan Travel Tokyo - Kokyo Gaien National Garden 皇居外苑 (2016 0419)

Location              1-1 Kokyogaien, Chiyoda-ku, Tōkyō-to 100-0002, Japan

Coordinates        35°40'48.026" N 139°45'30.301" E

Open: 0830-1715 Hours

Admission: Free admission (Outer Gardens of the Imperial Palace)

Guided tours - free of charge and conducted in both Japanese and English. Tours last about an hour and fifteen minutes on Tuesday through Saturday at 10 am and 1:30 pm.

You can make a tour reservation in advance through the Imperial Household Agency or on the day of the tour at the Kikyomon Gate. Two hundred advance registrations and 300 day-of tour spaces are available. 

Points of interest visited on the tour include the Kikyomon Gate, the Mt. Fuji-view Keep, the Lotus Moat, the Seimon Testubashi Bridge, and the Fujimitamon defense Gate. Note that none of the buildings are entered during the tours.

 

Getting There:

1.1) Tokyo Metro Chiyoda line Nijubashimae Station 二重桥前駅  Exits 2 or B6 2 minutes on foot

1.2) Exit D2 of Otemachi Station 大手町駅

1.3) Exit B6 of Hibiya Station 日比谷駅

2.0) JR Chuo or Yamanote lines Tokyo Station 东京駅 About 10 minutes on foot

Formerly a part of the imperial palace, Kokyo Gaien National Garden spans 115 ha, featuring a total of 12 moats and some 2,000 black pine trees, creating a striking scene with defunct old watch towers in part of historical Edo Castle.

Japanese Black Pines in front of Imperial Palace building, Tokyo, Japan

Otemon Gate Entrance (East Gardens). This gate is a watari-yagura or a building used for both storage and defense.

Guided tours Office & Admission Ticket

Gardens Paths

East Garden - especially popular for their dazzling cherry blossoms during the spring and their vibrant autumn foliage later in the year.

Moat

Moat-side stretch with lovely pink cherry-blossom in spring, and from April to November you can rent Paddle-boats on the moat.

Nijubashi bridge (Nijubashi二木桥) - The Nijubashi Bridge connects the Imperial Palace front Plaza called the Kokyo Gaien and the Imperial Place over a deep moat. It was once a wooden bridge with two levels which is why it was named Nijubashi or "double-bridge".

The wooden bridge was replaced with a steel bridge in 1964. It is best viewed from the large plaza called the Kokyo Gaien. Two bridges make up the entrance of the inner palace grounds. The stone bridge in front is called the Meganebashi or the Eyeglass Bridge and the other is the two-level steel Nijubashi Bridge.")

Fushimi-Yagura Keep 伏見櫓

Fushimi-yagura (伏見櫓) is a two-storey keep that still exists at the south-eastern corner of the Honmaru enceinte, s one of only three remaining keeps of the inner citadel of Edo Castle.

Shiomi-Zaka Slope 夕见扳

Tenshudai 天守台 (Remains of the Main Towel), Honmaru

Located on the northernmost side of Edo Castle’s inner citadel, this Tenshudai (main donjon or tower) rebuilt by each successive shogun: Tokugawa Ieyasu, Tokugawa Hidetaka and Tokugawa Iemitsu.

It was built as a symbol of shogunal power, but lasted for only the first 50 years of the Edo period.