The Tayasu Mon (Tayasu Gate) is one of the remaining portions of Edo Castle (now the Imperial Residence). Originally built in 1607, the gate that we see today was built in 1636.
Tayasu mon in relationship to The Imperial Palace. This all would have been part of Edo Castle under the Tokugawa Shogunate.
(Source: Google Maps)
Looking towards the Nippon Budokan.
The remaining moat and earthen walls of what was Edo Castle.
Interesting work on those walls and gate, somebody knew what they were doing TB.
ReplyDeleteNylon12, when these gates were originally built Japan was still just emerging from the Age of War (Sengoku Jidai) and had been building such things for 40-50 years (since the arrival of European arms in 1543 had improved their gunpowder technology). This was maybe not the apogee of Japanese castle construction, but still darn near the top.
DeleteI've always enjoyed looking at Japanese woodworking. Always so simple and timely with very few metal fasteners or wooden ones like dowels.
ReplyDeleteEd, I love it as well.
DeleteIf you Instapic, you might follow yoshi_yuki_makino. He writes a lot about traditional Japanese Woodworking and Forestry.
And for a book I think you really might enjoy, you might get the book Japanese Woodworking Tools: Their Tradition, Spirit, and Use by Toshio Odate. It is written by a Japanese woodworker who grew up in the Depression and WW II Japan and was apprenticed to his step father as a sokunin (craftsman) in wood. The history and description of the tools is fascinating, but I equally found it engaging as a martial artist in his description of the idea of craft.
The construction of the gate looks quite interesting. It's amazing it was left standing all these years.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, someday I would like to actually be a tourist in Japan again and go to the major castles.
DeleteIt is extremely amazing, considering the destruction during WW II.