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Published: April 27th 2013
Kikyo-mon Gate
Tim and I waiting outside to go inside the gate for our tourTim and I were very interested to see the Imperial Palace and it's grounds. We applied online before we left and were given a time to show up at the gate. Only a certain amount of tickets are given out and if you wait until you arrive there may not be any left. Slots become available online the first day of each month.
We arrived early to the Kikyo-mon Gate and waited until the guards escorted us onto the palace grounds. We were ushered into a building to watch a video explaining what we were about to see. While we were waiting, we heard the clip-clop of horses hooves and looked out to see the Crown Prince riding through the Kikyo-mon gate on a white horse. He was surrounded by his guards riding brown horses.
The Imperial Palace is nestled in a park protected by 16th century stone walls and moat. It was once the site of Edo Castle where Shoguns lived from 1619-1868. The palace was rebuilt in 1968. The Nijubashi Bridge in front of the palace is famous and there are always crowds to view it. We saw stones that Shoguns had carved their names on. The
Guard house
Guard tower on the Babasasuka-bori moat stone walls were enormous and it must have taken hundreds of men to build them. There were many watch towers...the two prettiest being the Fujimi Tower and the Fushimi Tower. You can see Mt. Fuji from the Fujimi tower and the Fushimi tower looks over the Nijubashi Bridge. The trees were just beginning to bloom and the grounds were beautiful.
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