Built in 17^th century as the Kyoto residence of the famous shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, Nijo Castle is an expansive historic precinct in the heart of Kyoto. A registered World Heritage site, Nijo includes the inner ‘Honmaru’ (primary defences) and outer ‘Ninomaru’ (secondary defences) defined by their imposing stones walls and moats, more than twenty historic buildings and structures and landscaped gardens. As such, visitors to Nijo should allow at least a couple hours to explore the castle completely.

On the eastern side of the Ninomaru, Nijo’s ‘Ninomaru Palace’ is considered the finest remaining example of feudal era palace architecture in Japan. featuring 33 rooms across 5 buildings. Each room was designed by artists from the ‘Kano School’, elaborately decorated the rooms are a splendid in every regard.

Crossing over to bridge to the inner sanctuary of the castle, Honmaru Place is not regularly open to the public and sadly, the 5-storey that once stood here was destroyed by fire in the 18^th century. Like many former castle grounds, much of this area is today populated by hundreds of cherry blossom trees, maples and gingkos making spring and autumn especially beautiful times of year to visit.