Tokyo Imperial Palace
From a modest hilltop fort in 1457 to the largest castle complex in the world, and then to the imperial seat of Japan's living Emperor β the story behind the grounds you walk today spans nearly 600 years.
The story of what is now the Imperial Palace begins with a samurai lord named Εta DΕkan, who in 1457 constructed a modest fortification on a hill overlooking the marshlands at the mouth of the Sumida River. He called it Edo Castle β "Edo" meaning "estuary door" in reference to the tidal inlet below. At the time, the surrounding settlement was little more than a fishing village of a few hundred people.
DΕkan was both a warrior and a poet β a relatively rare combination in 15th-century Japan β and his castle was strategically positioned to control the water routes into the Kanto plain. After his assassination in 1486, the castle passed through several lords before eventually coming under the control of the HΕjΕ clan, who held the surrounding Kanto region until 1590.
When Εta DΕkan first built on the Edo hill, the Tokyo Bay shoreline came almost to the base of the castle. Centuries of land reclamation have since pushed the coast kilometres further east β the Ginza and Marunouchi districts where you step off the train today were all underwater in 1457.
Everything changed in 1590 when the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi, having unified most of Japan, reassigned his rival Tokugawa Ieyasu to the far east β to Edo. It was a political manoeuvre designed to keep Ieyasu occupied in what was then a remote province. It backfired spectacularly.
Ieyasu set about transforming Edo Castle into the most powerful fortress in Japan. He mobilised daimyo lords from across the country to contribute stone, labour, and materials β a construction project of almost incomprehensible scale. By the time Ieyasu was appointed Shogun in 1603, Edo Castle's outer walls enclosed an area of roughly 70 hectares. The city growing up around it was already one of the largest in the world.
The castle's Tenshukaku (main keep) was completed in 1638 during the reign of the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu. Standing five tiers high, it was the tallest structure in Japan β visible across the Kanto plain on clear days. Then, in 1657, the Meireki Fire β the deadliest urban fire in Japanese history β swept through Edo, killing an estimated 100,000 people and reducing much of the city to ash. The Tenshukaku burned with it.
The shogunate chose not to rebuild it. The stone base β the platform on which the keep stood β survives to this day in the Imperial Palace East Garden. Visitors can climb it for a panoramic view over the grounds, standing on the very stones that once supported the tallest tower in feudal Japan. No roof, no walls β just the foundation, and everything it implies about what once stood here.
The Meireki Fire of 1657 was so catastrophic partly because the Shogun had forbidden construction of firebreaks in the densely packed city for security reasons β he didn't want clear sightlines into the castle district. The decision to not rebuild the Tenshukaku was in part a lesson learned: a simpler skyline was harder to target.
A strategic hilltop fortress above the Edo estuary β the first structure on what is now the Imperial Palace site.
Reassigned to Edo by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Ieyasu begins transforming the modest castle into a fortress of national scale.
The Tokugawa shogunate is established, with Edo Castle as its seat. Two and a half centuries of military rule begin.
The five-tiered main keep β the tallest structure in Japan β is finished under Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu.
The Great Fire of Meireki burns through Edo, killing roughly 100,000 people. The Tenshukaku is destroyed and never rebuilt β its stone foundation still stands today.
The Meiji Restoration ends 265 years of Tokugawa rule. Emperor Meiji relocates from Kyoto to Edo β renamed Tokyo ("Eastern Capital"). Edo Castle becomes the Imperial Palace.
The first Western-influenced imperial palace building is completed on the castle grounds, replacing the old shogun's residence.
Much of the palace complex is destroyed in the Allied bombing campaign of May 1945. Emperor Hirohito broadcasts Japan's surrender from the grounds in August 1945.
The modern palace building β the one that stands today β is completed and the Emperor moves in. The East Gardens are opened to the public the same year.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako reside in the Fukiage Garden section of the grounds. The East Gardens β on the site of the original Edo Castle inner compound β are open to the public free of charge.
In January 1868, a coalition of samurai from the southern domains of Satsuma and ChΕshΕ« overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate and restored direct imperial rule β an event known as the Meiji Restoration. The young Emperor Meiji, then 15 years old, moved from the ancient imperial capital of Kyoto to Edo, which was immediately renamed Tokyo: "Eastern Capital."
Edo Castle became the Imperial Palace almost overnight, though the physical transformation of the grounds took decades. The first purpose-built imperial palace β a two-storey Western-influenced structure called the Meiji Palace β was completed in 1888 after eight years of construction. It was this building that Emperor Meiji used for state functions, and where he promulgated the Meiji Constitution in 1889.
By 1945, Tokyo had endured months of incendiary bombing by United States forces. On the night of May 25β26, 1945, a raid targeting central Tokyo destroyed the Meiji Palace, along with most of the Imperial Palace compound. Emperor Hirohito and his household escaped to an underground shelter.
On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito broadcast Japan's surrender to the nation via radio β a recording made inside the palace grounds the previous day. It was the first time most Japanese citizens had ever heard the Emperor's voice.
Reconstruction of the main palace building β the current Kyuden β began in 1961 and was completed in 1968. Designed in a modernist Japanese style by architect ShΕzΕ Uchii, it incorporates traditional Japanese rooflines and materials alongside reinforced concrete construction. It remains the Emperor's official residence and the venue for state ceremonies today.
The Imperial Palace grounds cover approximately 3.41 square kilometres of central Tokyo β an area of forests, gardens, moats, and stone walls occupying some of the most valuable land in the world's largest metropolitan area. The grounds are divided between the Emperor's private residence (not open to the public), the East Gardens (open to the public free of charge since 1968), and the outer gardens and moat (accessible year-round).
Emperor Naruhito, who ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne in May 2019, and Empress Masako reside in the Fukiage Garden area of the compound. The traditional ceremonies that have defined the imperial role for over a millennium β including the New Year's Greeting on January 2, where the Emperor and imperial family appear on a glass-fronted balcony β continue at the palace today.
For a more complete understanding of what visitors see on the grounds, our Imperial Palace tours place every stone, gate, and garden in its historical context β from DΕkan's original fort to the Meiji Restoration and beyond.
Book an expert-guided Imperial Palace tour β from $16 per person, with free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance.
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