National park
Imperial Palace East National Gardens
1-1 Chiyoda, Chiyoda City, Tokyo 100-8111
Landscaped former castle grounds where a shogun's fire-ravaged keep base still stands, never rebuilt.
This guide to the Imperial Palace East National Gardens in Tokyo starts with the five-story keep Tokugawa Iemitsu raised over Edo Castle in 1638, the tallest tower in Japan. It follows the great fire of March 1657, which burned most of the city and the castle with it, and the argument that followed between the shogunate and a councilor named Hoshina Masayuki over whether to rebuild. Climb the stone steps at the north end of the gardens to see what he was arguing about.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.