Whew, It's Not a Temple Photo

I have more Kyoto photos today!

There are two palace complexes in Kyoto. One is the Imperial Palace, which was the Emporer's residence when Kyoto was the capital of Japan. It isn't open to the public. The other is Nijo Castle, the official Kyoto residence of the Kyoto Shogun (the local feudal lord).

Nijo was built during a time when the Emporer's power was weak compared to the power of the shogun. The Imperial Palace was a very modest, easily defended construction. Nijo was built to flaunt the power of the shogun in the Emporer's face. It actually consists of two palaces. The first one, Ninomaru Palace, was built to be the residence of the shogun at about the time when the capital of Japan moved to Edo (Tokyo).

It was rarely used as a residence, but the shogun did stay there when he happened to be in Kyoto, and it was filled with elaborate paintings and carvings as a status symbol. There were more than 3,000 paintings inside, which are in the process of being restored. I couldn't take photos, but to my untrained American eyes, the paintings looked a lot like this (from Ginkakuji):
The carvings were on the outside, and they looked like this:

So elaborate!

There is a second palace further inside the walls, Honmaru. The Emporer paid a visit to Nijo and this was built later as a place to entertain him. It was not open to the public, but apparently it is even more elaborate, because the shogun was trying to make his palace more impressive than the last one the Emporer visited. I think the shogun may have had some vanity issues.

These palaces aren't nearly as visually impressive as the castles we saw later. However, they were uniquely designed inside because the shogun that built them was paranoid. The floors are specially constructed "Nightingale Floors" that squeak when people walk across them, making it impossible to sneak up on the shogun to kill him. I don't mean squeak the way the floor in an old house squeaks. These floors emitted a high pitched squeak that almost sounded like a bird call. The castle also had false walls and secret rooms where the shogun's body guards could hide to protect him. There were also several moats and a maze of walls and gates separating the palaces.

Outer Gate

Ninomaru Gate

Inner moat and "dungeon" (it just looked like a watch tower to me)

These palaces had beautiful gardens, but I will post those photos next time.