Nagoya (Part 1-Hommaru Palace)

Nagoya Castle (Hommaru Palace)

Today I wandered around Nagoya's castle grounds. This castle is one of the original 12 created in Japan and is notable for its size and the pair of gold-plated dolphins mounted on top of the donjon (principal keep). Built on land artificially raised, the castle is protected by giant stone walls and two moats. The moats were only filled with grass when I visited, but I can imagine how intimidating the castle would look had the moats been filled with water. The current castle was built in 1612 but re-built after WWII in 1959. Currently they are working on restoring it to its original grandeur and all renovations are supposed to be done in 2018. The castle itself was absolutely gorgeous, but the surrounding grounds were picturesque as well. The inside is six stories of exhibits and the top boasts a 360 degree view of surrounding Nagoya. Of course I took a bunch of pictures.

Tea House

This is the Southeast Corner Tower. The bay windows have trap doors for dropping stones on the enemy and it was also a place to hold weapons.

This is Kato Kiyomasa, a renowned samarai ordered to supervise the construction of the stone walls of the castle towers. It is said that he issued commands from atop this very stone.

This is the former East Second Gate.

This is the Genkan (entrance hall). Inside it is filled with gorgeous tiger screen paintings and ornamented sliding doors. I got to tour the inside and main hall but couldn't take any pics. This was the first part of the big restoration project started in 2009 and only became open to the public in May last year.

The Palace...Ta da!

This is a replica of the two gold dophins sitting on top of the palace. It's one version of kinshachi. Shachi are imaginary animals that are said to be able to summon water. They are used as charms for preventing fires. Gold coins are hammered into sheets to cover the outside of these impressive creatures.

If you look closely at the back wall of stones, you can see some interesting symbols. Some of the stones that make up the castle walls have the same symbols. These symbols are a variety of seals for the daimyo lords to distinguish stones of their property.

This is a panel from inside the original castle walls.

Apparently these are stirrups...

This was an original kinshachi dolphin made of bronze that was partially destroyed in fire.

Nagoya!

On my way out I met this cat.

Strange tea ceremony with live action!

This is a Japanese nutmeg. This particular tree is a natural monument in Japan because it is over 600 years old. Tokugawa Yoshinao, the first lord of Owari Province, is said to have eaten nuts from this tree before leaving for battle in Osaka.

Good-bye castle!